The TV Chick

Many of you have read my interview from the beginning of the season with Bridget Regan (Kahlan) from Legend of the Seeker. At the time, I professed myself not a real sci-fi fantasy fan, but I loved the premiere of LOTS. My love for the show has continued, and I think this season has been particularly intriguing and great. One big storyline that has just emerged is the Sisters of the Light/Sisters of the Dark appearing and not knowing what their agenda is. Jolene Blalock, best known for her role as T’Pol on Star Trek: Enterprise begins her guest starring role tonight. I recently had the chance to chat with Jolene about her role, filming in New Zealand and working with the cast.

Can you tell us a little bit more about your character Sister Nicci or Sister of the Dark?
Sister Nicci…Sister of the Dark or Sister of the Light…I just believe that she has lost focus of the bigger picture because she’s become blinded by her own passion–the passion of her intentions, which she truly believes are the way to go, the path to take.

How did you initially become involved in The Legend of the Seeker?
It’s odd because I auditioned ages ago and I wanted to say over three years ago. And the casting director at the time held onto my tape. The producers remembered me, and when Sister Nicci came up — when they were writing her, they thought of me, and brought me in for it. So it’s sort of interesting.

Were you familiar with the story, the books and the show before you got involved in the auditions?
Honestly, I wasn’t. Once I learned about the character, that’s when I started doing my research.

What has it been like filming the show for you, especially in New Zealand?
New Zealand is an incredible, incredible place. The landscape is breathtaking. But even more special are the people. The cast and the crew, they went out of their way to make me feel at home. And we’re just incredibly hospitable to me, and I am grateful for their efforts.

You seem to act mostly in the sci-fi/fantasy genre. What about this genre attracts you?
Well, sci-fi/fantasy is always going to attract me, because it’s something that’s special to my heart. Growing up, I grew up on the original Star Trek. Also, when I was in sixth grade, I would come home from school and watch the Star Wars trilogy back to back every day for the entire year. It’s something that brings humanity outside of itself. It makes us think outside of ourselves, it presents the question what if, what if we could jump the timeline, what if we could meet another intelligent species, what if we could colonize on another planet. It deals with very big ideas, so sci-fi/fantasy, you can do [anything].

Can you give us a little teaser of what’s coming up for your character on the show?
Well what’s going on in the show is basically a battle of agendas. Because the set up is we’ve got Richard, who has his quest, of course, so that’s one agenda. You have the sisters of the light, they have their agenda. And then we have, dis-affected Sisters of the Dark, led by Sister Nicci, who has her agenda. So it’s really a battle of agendas, but who Richard is going to choose as right, I think it’s — each person believes their agenda is true. So it’s really an outlaying of — so for Sister Nicci, her agenda and her intention has been a plan long awaited. She’s plotted this for possibly thousands of years, so when Richard arrives on the scene, it is a long awaited event and each moment with Richard — between Richard and Sister Nikki — each word that she says to him, each sentence that she says and the way that she says it is very well rehearsed because she’s had all this time to salivate over how this will unfold. So as she’s actually watching it unfold, moment-to-moment, I think she’s just satisfied with herself, with her mastery of manipulation. And the subtleties of it. Because it’s not blatant, it’s very subtle.

What are some of the acting challenges you have found with this particular character?
What drew me to the character was the fact that there was a deep sell. She wasn’t blatantly sinister, she wasn’t blatantly evil. And with a seed of doubt, we have a lot of space to move and a lot of space to grow. A lot of space to color a picture, or color a perspective, so what drew me to this character was this ability to have maybe a darker soul but be able to play that innocence. And then also the fact that she calculated — the word calculated sort of has a darker tone to it in and of itself. But everything was so planned out. So those two elements sort of drew me to the character. I’ve never really played a character that was so calculated.

How does it feel to trade lasers for wizards?
It’s different. It’s definitely different. It’s always fun working with magic and working with powers. It literally does empower you.

What did you enjoy the most about playing your character on Star Trek: Enterprise?
I enjoyed her ability to suck the air out of a room. I enjoyed her — what I mean is — the boys could be having their boys moments and she would walk in and all the air would just be sucked out of the room. I enjoyed that. And she didn’t have to say anything. I loved her inability to take a joke. Or to get a joke. And through all of that, I mostly loved her ability to make bonds with her Fellowship mates.

Can you give us any stories about working with the cast members?
Tabrett was incredibly hospitable to me. Being so far from home, that was incredibly special for someone to do especially as hard as they work. Craig, who I did most of my scenes with (inaudible) is just an incredibly hard worker. And then Bridget was just incredibly kind. They’re a special group.

Are you enjoying the more effeminate role on LOTS as opposed to your Vulcan role on Enterprise?
Yeah. I enjoy every role that I take, for different reasons. Effeminate — I feel that T’Pol was quite feminine in her own right, and I feel that all of my characters have been quite feminine. They’ve been strong females. So I think what I enjoyed about Sister Nicci is the fact that she spoke with a sense of urgency. Each line was just laden with intention and also with this sense of innocence in order to win Richard over. And it’s playing with that seed of doubt that I mentioned earlier. I’m presenting to you this picture, but really I’m holding this picture back here.

Are we going to see things get hot and steamy between your character and Richard’s on LOTS?
No, no you’re not.

Have you had any reactions from your fan base about your new role?
I’ve had people tweet me, saying Sister Nicci was my favorite character in the book, and I’m so glad you’re playing her, I’m really looking forward to it.

I’m crazy about the costuming on LOTS. Can you talk about that a little bit?
Yeah, they did an incredible job with the robes and the veil. You’ll notice that Sister Nicci is portrayed in the Sister of the Light garb and you don’t actually see her change [costumes] to the Dark, which would have been incredibly cool but there was just no time to do that, because the story continues on, there’s just no time to say “Oh wait, I’m going to change this now.” They did an incredible job with these gowns, and it’s a lot of upkeep on set. A lot of steaming, a lot of fussing. But beautiful, beautiful costumes.

Are we going to see you any more after these episodes?
With Legend, only if they bring me back.

Be sure to tune in tonight to see Jolene Blalock play Sister Nicci on Legend of the Seeker. Check your local listings.