Comic Con 2013 Flashback: Orphan Black Debuts at the Convention

Last July, the cast and creative team of the critically-acclaimed BBC America series Orphan Black, that made its debut back on March 30, 2013, took the stage at Comic Con 2013 in one of the smaller convention center rooms to an over-capacity crowd. On the stage were cast members Dylan Bruce, Jordan Gavaris and the multi-talented Tatiana Maslany as well as series creators Graeme Manson and John Fawcett.

As can be expected given the growing popular of the show at that point, the crowd response was overwhelming with many fans of the show ending up outside the room because there simply wasn’t enough room inside the room for everyone. Despite the show having already aired its season finale on June 1, 2013 and the buzz still building for the show, the fan response was more than Comic Con organizer had anticipated.

But for those of us fortunate enough to be in the room, we got to experience the cast at their first Comic Con appearance and get a little bit of insight into the show that would eventually be one of the most buzzed-about new shows of 2013. Orphan Black would also garner Tatiana all the acclaim she so richly deserved (given her amazing performances in the show) not to mention a few awards, including the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series, the Television Critics Association Award for Individual Achievement in a Drama, the Young Hollywood Award for Breakthrough Female Performance and the Canadian Screen Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Dramatic Role (among a few others).

One of the more interesting questions asked of the cast and creative team was which of the clones was their favorite with the panelists answering:

Dylan: Allison
Jordan: Allison and Cosima
Graeme: Sarah and Cosima
John: Helena

For Tatiana, it was hard to choose because “it’s been an exhilarating experience with new characters to explore”. And, of course, that lead into the creative team sharing that “I don’t think anyone would be surprised if we unveil a few more (clones)”. Of course, it has already been revealed that another clone will be introduced in season two; a clone that is suffering from the very disease that is just starting to cause problems for scientist Cosima.

With the discussion of season two underway, the creative team revealed that they were already – at that point in time – “in the midst of writing for a couple months now” and would be back to shooting the new season in September.

Tatiana was then asked how she prepares to play each clone with the reveal that she has different playlist for which she listens to in order to get into character. They are as follows:

Allison: Show tunes
Cosima: Electro, Indie and Rave Dance
Sarah: The Clash and UK grime rap
Helena: Prodigy and Thom Waite
Rachel: 90’s slow jams

In addition to the music helping Tatiana get into character, her being able to keep each character straight and remembering each clones’ mannerisms is more related to “the writing and my own imagination”.

While it seems like Tatiana can do almost anything because of her ability to handle all of the clones on Orphan Black, but she did admit that there is one thing she fears: certain accents. She shared that Scottish or Irish accents are “scary” to her and she is uncertain about a Boston or New York accent.

Make sure to check out the season premiere of Orphan Black on BBC America to find out what will happen now on Saturday, April 19 at 9 PM.

Photo Credit: Dominick Dusseault