Comic Con

COMIC CON: Dark Matter Cast Promises An Exciting End to Season Three

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This year, I had the pleasure of attending SDCC with a Pro Badge (apparently writing novels that boil down to “Lois Lane becomes Supergirl” makes you topical for SDCC, who knew?). Since I sold my soul to SyFy for awesome lady characters and all they demanded in return was my summer Friday nights, I was happy to cover the Dark Matter press room and panel. Mostly to fill up my bottle from the water cooler before schlepping back to the con floor, but also to see some of my favorite actors in person.

Stay hydrated, folks.

Courtesy of Spoiler TV

For those of you who don’t know Dark Matter, imagine the best show on earth and then come watch it with me on Friday nights. An unlikely batch of crewmates wake up on a ship with absolutely no memories of their past. For lack of better options, they go by the number order in which they woke: One (he’s gone), Two (Melissa O’Neil), Three (Anthony Lemke), Four (Alex Mallari, Jr.), Five (Jodelle Ferland), Six (Roger Cross), and their friend Android (played by Zoie Palmer of Dr. Lauren fame). Season one covered the discovery that they were the bad guys, season two dropped them in the middle of a corporate conflict, and season three is the perilous journey of trying to do the right thing even when it’s difficult. It’s a joyful return to spaceships and gun battles, with a core of found family. Androids! Time travel! Doppelgängers! Really big guns! Bring popcorn; you can sit by me.

The Dark Matter panel had the privilege of being the last panel of the day on Thursday, meaning that everybody in that room was there specifically to see Two, Three, Four, Five, and exec. producer Jay Firestone. Clearly riding high on memories of last year’s panel, the cast led the crowd in chants of “RAZA CREW!” while Alex ran excited laps all over the room, getting the crowd on its feet to start the panel off right. His enthusiasm never dimmed. He welcomed the jeers and boos when Ryo Ishida was mentioned, tried to make #4yocookie happen, and posited that perhaps Ryo simply needed a hug—which Jodelle was happy to provide, to the amusement of the “aww”ing crowd.

Highlights:

A surprise video from Zoie, unfortunately not at SDCC, with a message to the fans.

Anthony asking Melissa if Two keeps a spreadsheet of her considerable body count, inspiring a truly beautiful “Fight me!” moment that I got on film below:

Jay polling the crowd about things they’d like to see if Dark Matter gets a fourth season. The final consensus:

Melissa nearly spoiling the entire room about a moment in Two’s heroic arc as the captain of the ship, realizing midway that the episode might not have aired, checking with Anthony, and chirping, “Nothing!”

The Dark Matter blooper reel “with a slight Canadian twist” (the first full minute shows multiple takes of the cast saying “Sorry”). An eagle-eyed viewer might spot some unaired scenes in the reel. *eyebrow wiggle*

Jodelle making the room explode with cheers when she cited Firefly as an example that people want to go back to the days of solid sci-fi with spaceships and aliens. From that point on in the panel, other cast members would just shout “Firefly!” if they were stumped or needed the audience to react.

Jay’s breakdown of what each actor brought to his or her role that expanded the character:

Ending the panel with a brief, cryptic things about what the cast is looking forward to at the end of the season:

  • Jodelle: “The final moment of the season. I can’t wait to see your reactions because I don’t even know what’s going to happen next. So I’m very curious to see what your theories are.”
  • Alex: “Ryo vs. Two. And literally the most extensive fight sequence we’ve done to date.” (“It was a blast fighting you, man,” Melissa tells him. This aired in Episode 3×08)
  • Anthony: “Black ships from episode four, we heard Jodelle say that, so keep it in your mind. And also, my kid—when asked what their set visit was like—said the following, ‘It was really cool. I saw Daddy carry his girlfriend in a little can.’”
  • Melissa: “Two. Android. Chicken. Egg. And who is Two at the end of this show?” She also promises that we need to get it out on social media that we want season four because season three “ends in a way where there’s a lot of loose threads.” She swears it’s crazy.
  • Jay: “Gateway. Something’s coming. And based what I learned five minutes ago [about no romance], I’ve got to change a few things.”

Alex ending the panel by getting the entire room to chant “RAZA CREW! RAZA CREW!” until the building shook. You’ll have to take my word on that. It was an amazing, thoughtful panel, with great fan questions and a very excited crowd. If you’re curious about Two and her character journey, how the cast feels about social media, how Alex is liking his new sets on Zairon, make sure to watch the full press room interview with Alex and Melissa in the press room here:

Dark Matter airs on SyFy on Fridays at 9/8c.

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Lexie is a sci-fi author. She's an avid TV fan and an even bigger Fringe fan. She can be found on Tumblr or on Twitter. Drop by and say hi. She bites, but she's had her shots.

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