It’s a known fact that clerics need their coffee. Now, can you explain the general overarching premise of the show?
I play Tallis, an Elven assassin who works for the Qunari. She’s sent on a mission to retrieve a renegade mage. And, he proves to me a more formidable foe than she thought, so she has to gather allies along the way–who don’t necessarily have her best interests at heart–to accomplish her mission.
Even though you don’t name WoW specifically in The Guild, MMOs and that type of game are such rich kind of fodder for narrative because of the inherent social aspects of playing the game, right?
Yeah.
So, how do you transition from that–where you’ve got other characters you can ping off of–to this, where the game experience you’re drawing from is single-player, like you said. Is there as much meat to be had in creating a story from a lone player’s quest to do X,Y, and Z?
Well, it was actually easier. Yeah, WoW inherently has a lot of people playing together, but have you ever heard what a raid sounds like? That 100 minutes does not entertainment make. I mean, it does in a sense but it’s not a narrative story. It’s very difficult to create believable scenarios and I have to write six individual character arcs. It’s a lot to juggle. So actually writing Dragon Age: Redemption has been easier because it only happens in a fantasy world. I can do anything, without having to worry about the real-world component. I do have a limited budget, though, and I have to write for my budget. But I know that the costumes, the make-up and the sets we make are going to look amazing because of the people I have. So it was almost easier because I had a whole new world to explore, not something millions of people already know the fiction of. I sat down and I created a character I loved. A character who can kick ass but also has a sense of humor. A strong female character. That was a dream come true to me.
Was it hard getting back to stunt work and fight choreography?
On Buffy, I did a lot of fighting and I just did Red, a SyFy Channel movie last year and there was a lot of fighting in that, too. And doing that kind of inspired me. I really want to write a kick-ass character but with a little bit more humor. I wanted to add a little bit of Buffy into this series. Overall, it’s a more serious piece than the stuff on The Guild and it was awesome to do to stretch myself as an actor.
I was in gamer shape, when we started so I definitely trained a lot. So let me tell you. I would go to class, and these women, they would do the whole class without dropping a weight. And I could not get through the first five minutes at first. I was like, who are these people?
That kind of thing is required of you for work.
Oh yeah. Listen, you’ve got to admire these lead actresses to make sure their hair, their nails are perfect…I mean, listen, that’s a full-time job. I don’t have the patience for it. Putting together an outfit, doing my hair… it’s awful. But, some people do that for a living and it’s hard work.
And I’m not saying that with tongue-in-cheek. I’m saying that is a job. So you’ve got to admire being able to do that at the same time as acting or whatever. But, for two months straight, I did knife fighting and choreography just so I could do the very best job that I could.
And you guys have wrapped filming?
Yeah, we wrapped filming. We have a teaser online now. So that’s cool. But, yeah, we are going to be working on post-production for several months.
So what’s the airdate? I mean, Web date?
It will be this summer.
And how deep are you in Season 5 of The Guild?
We just got picked up last week. But I had an outline ready. You’ve got to go, go, go.
Yeah. Not knowing whether or not you’re going to be renewed must be like, “OK, if we get picked up, we hit the ground running.”
Yeah, I did. I had a little bit of a leg-up because I knew some aspects of the season. I’m almost through my first draft now. And we are going to go into preproduction as soon as I get that done in the next couple of weeks. And we are shooting later this spring. And so that will be a late summer rollout.
What can you tease for the fans of the show?
There might be some convention action going on. We set it up at the end of the season last season. So, the Knights of Good may be out from behind their computers a little bit more.
It seems like Dragon-Con is a natural fit. Are you making up a convention for the show?
That’s our plan right. We’re so early I can’t say one way or another.
It seems like an opportunity for one of these conventions to kind of get some free advertising.
Yeah, but then we’re so recognizable at a convention. Any of our characters would be surrounded. We’re situationally well known.
That is an excellent way of putting it.
And I am very, very blessed for that because I’d rather not be well, well known. Because that involves doing your hair everyday.