Inside the World of Caprica: A Look At What’s To Come

Back in July (while attending Comic Con), I had the chance to join other bloggers and entertainment writers inside the Syfy press room for their new series Caprica, getting to interview the creative minds behind the show – David Eick and Ronald Moore– as well as speak with some of the actors – Sasha Roiz and James Marsters – who are part of the cast.

The following is an excerpt of that experience, which was actually my first chance to be inside the press room (and I must extend a gigantic thank you to Syfy for providing NiceGirlsTV this great opportunity):

PS: The interviews were held with each gentleman individually, but I grouped together the best parts to make it a bit more interesting to read.

Caprica's Ronald Moore, Alessandra Torresani, & David Eick at Comic Con / Wireimage

Question: Can you kind of tease us about what is coming up in the fall on Caprica?

David Eick: Well, I would say, by and large, the show slams into a new gear in terms of directions we are taking characters that the audience isn’t expecting. Primarily, Amanda (Paula Malcomson), who is going to betray [her husband] Daniel (Eric Stoltz) and forsake him for someone else. But who that someone else is is pretty understated. And Lacy (Magda Apanowicz) is another example of a character who seems so mild-mannered and sort of reactive in the first half of the season [but who] come into her own realm [in the latter part]. So character-wise I think that is definitely a fresh, new direction that the show is going in and that is primarily from a production standpoint. From a story standpoint I think the audience is going to see a show that is much more suspenseful. It has a much more epic [sic] grandeur and is more action, more visual effects. [It’s] just a bigger, beefier, more masculine show than in the past.

Question: Are we actually going to see parts of the other worlds?

David Eick: Yeah, Geminon is a planet we’re going to see and I think the audience really wants that. I think the idea that the show takes place in a universe where there are multi-colonies almost like different nations, different cultures, different artistic influences that’s the kind of thing that once you have that conceptually you have to meet the challenge to explore it visually and in story terms. For the first half of season one we really wanted to define Caprica, but as we start to expand on the second half of season one we definitely get to Geminon. There’s a lot more presence of Tauron in terms of story points and emotional motivation. And, in the second season, if we get one, that expands significantly beyond that so that is definitely an agenda for us as storytellers.

Question (NGTV): So then you haven’t been told whether you’re getting a second season yet or not?

David Eick: Not yet, we won’t know until sometime between now and August 15.

NOTE: That time has obviously expired, but there is still no confirmation from Syfy if Caprica will be getting a second season or not. The anticipated announcement may come in November while new episodes for the remainder of the first season are expected to begin sometime in January.

Question (NGTV): Is there any kind of new story line you will be introducing that we might not be expecting?

Ronald Moore: Yeah, in the second half you’ll see Graystone Industries go through some pretty radical changes [in terms of] who’s in charge. [We will also see how] Daniel’s role in it will be challenged and changed; where they’re going and [what sort of] big transformations [they go through].

Question: How far ahead do you have things planned out?

Ronald Moore: Well, for a change, we have the second season planned out in a fair amount of detail for once. We sort of took our cues from the way the first season ended and had discussions about what could the second season set up and we realized there was a plan that was emerging. [There was a] “this is what the plot of the entire season would be” moment. We went through all the different characters and, if we get the pick-up, we are kind of ready to go. Whereas, traditionally, we would kind of wait to get the writers room and have a general idea of where we were going and maybe sort of [figure out] what the cliffhanger of that season would be without a lot of detail in between. This time out we have a fairly detailed blueprint; so we sort of have something ready to go.

Question: What about the VR world?

David Eick: Well, that’s where I think Zoe’s (Alessandra Torresani) character really sort of evolved. She remains a character whose steadfast belief in her heart is that the culture cannot be sustained without a moral code. She used New Cap City, in ways, as a breeding ground for all that’s contemptible, amoral and unethical about the society. And, rather than sit back and watch in the second half of season one, she really takes matters into her own hands to basically correct them. It’s a lot of fun and sort of shocking and violent and wonderful.

Question: Does Joseph Adama (Esai Morales) find a little bit of peace?

Ronald Moore: No, there is not a lot of peace for Joseph on the horizon for a while. He’s on an interesting journey that actually doesn’t start to make big turns for his character until we get to the second season.

Caprica's Sasha Roiz at Comic Con / Wireimage

Question: Is there more of an evolution between the brothers (Joseph and Sam Adama) that’s coming up as the season progresses?

Sasha Roiz (who plays Sam Adama): Well, they definitely overcome… [sic] Joseph finally puts to rest some of the mourning he’s been doing so he’s able to come back to his own life. [Then] the brothers come back together and become a bit more involved in the Tauron side of things.

Question: Can you talk about the Tauron culture?

Ronald Moore: We drew from a lot of different traditions, a lot of nations and ethnic groups. We decided to make them as stand-ins for a lot of different experiences, but [with] Caprica you’re telling sort of the immigrant experience, how the cultures collide and the difficulty of being a melting-pot society and yet maintaining their own identity as [a] people. And, then also telling the story of what’s going on in the old country and that kind of a tale. So as a result we drew from a lot of different circumstances that have been formed in Western society.

Question: Will we actually see Tauron?

Sasha Roiz: You may not see the world so much as our [lives] in it. I know Ron and David said [that] in the second season they would like to visit it – that would be great as that is where a lot of my storyline is leading towards.

Question (NGTV): Kind of involved in that is the language that they have.  I know that you speak a number of languages so has that helped you in the dialect that they have created for this world?

Sasha Roiz: (Joking) Not at all. Do you know the old saying, “It’s all Greek to me”? (Laughs) It’s impossible to base it on anything. [However], they [do] have a linguistics professor who translates everything. It’s broken down [into] phonetics, [but that] hasn’t been overly extensively. In fact, if anyone has to be speak to an extent, the biggest block of Tauron spoken by anyone in the second half is probably Eric Stoltz. He has quite a big speech [and] he handled it great.

Question: Have we seen the last of Tamara Adama (Genevieve Buechner) [now that we’ve] seen her shoot her dad [within the VR world that exists] near the end of the (first half) of the season?

David Eick: It’s not something I can go into without revealing spoilers, but let’s just say you probably haven’t seen the last of her.

Question: What about the strife between the resistance with the Barnabus (James Marsters) character is that going to play a bigger part?

David Eick: [A] significantly bigger part starting as early as the first couple of episodes in the second half of season one. That idea of the internal conflict within a terrorist sect is a great engine for storytelling in the second half of season one.

Caprica's James Marsters at Comic Con / Wireimage

Question: The internal strife within the organization itself between [Barnabus] and Sister Clarice (Polly Walker) is really interesting. Is that going to continue?

James Marsters: I hope so because really it’s interesting when you get a group of people who KNOW they are right, who don’t [just] think they’re right – or that they might be wrong – but KNOW they are right. What are the internal politics of that organization when everybody is thinking they are right?

Question: How does the pace (of the show) feel for you, Sasha?

Sasha Roiz: Well, I know people have mentioned that season one was a little slow going and I understand that. We were very much trying to establish a world, our own world, separate from Battlestar, separate storylines that were very distinct. And, we were also trying to establish a world that is [like a] post-911. How does everyone handle the grieving that is going on, the sadness? We just let it breathe for a while. The second half is going to be utterly different where it just takes off and you’re going to see the world [sic] spinning out of control very quickly and it’s going to culminate with every episode.

Question: Do you view the show as a human drama with sci-fi aspects or sci-fi aspects with human drama?

David Eick: I think the similarity to Battlestar has always been human drama first and there were references in Battlestar where there were virtually no visual effects and the sci-fi of it all was almost an afterthought and certainly that remains in Caprica. At the same time, we are aware that we are a genre show, we have genre fans and it’s on a genre network and we don’t want to get so navel-gazy that we lose our way in terms of also being showman. We want to put on a good show, we want the audience to be excited and I think there’s a great nod in that direction in the second half of season one.

Question (NGTV): Will there be any special guest stars that you can talk about or that you wanted or were hoping for?

David Eick: Well, I will say this is one unusual guest star only because she has basically been retired from acting, but Meg Tilly is going to be playing a very prominent role in a small arc of episodes. She is just wonderful and you watch her and just want to tear your teeth out that she isn’t acting more.

Question: Will the Vergis Corporation be playing a larger role as the series goes on?

David Eick: Well, certainly Tomas Vergis (John Pyper-Ferguson) plays a larger role and is an actor who I can’t say enough good things about. He’s so great with Eric [Stolz] (who plays his adversary Daniel Graystone). They are tremendous together so, yeah, he will definitely play a larger role.

Question: With Caprica do you feel like you have a good handle on what the show is at this point?

Ronald Moore: Yes, we do [but] it took a while. It was a similar experience with Battlestar. The first season [sic] if you stood back and looked at it episodically you would see us trying different things, figuring out the balance of story and character and how fast to move the story, how slow and how many stories you can cram into one episode. Over the course of the first half of season one, I think we figured that out and the second half we had a little bit more confidence and the stories started picking up speed and momentum and so by the end of year one we were, “okay, this is what the show is” so we feel like we could actually move into the second season with a fair amount of plot and planning.

And with that we come to the end of the press room coverage for the Syfy series Caprica. Remember to check your local listings for the return of the show sometime in January on Syfy.

UPDATED: Syfy announced today (Sept. 9) that the last half of season one for Caprica will begin at 10 PM on October 5. Mark your calendars!