Of Flesh and Bone - Interview with Dark Matter's Melissa O'Neil
Melissa O'Neil as Dark Matter's Two. Photo copyright of SPACE/Syfy.
Season one of Dark Matter proved to be one hell of a romp through space for all concerned, including Two a.k.a. Rebecca/Portia Lin. She and her fellow crewmates on board the Raza were suddenly awakened from suspended animation with no memory of who they were or details of their mission. The ship’s Android eventually managed to repair some of the Raza’s damaged computer files, revealing, among other things, the identities of Two and the others. With the exception of One and Five, they all had criminal records and were running from the Galactic Authority. Six, however, turned out to be an undercover GA officer who, at the end of the show’s first season, turned his friends over to his employers.
In the season two opener Welcome to Your New Home, Two along with Three and Four become inmates at the Hyperion-8 maximum security lunar prison. It is quite the eye-opening experience for Two as well as the actress who plays her, Melissa O’Neil, but for entirely different reasons. “Starting off in the Galactic Authority prison and seeing our characters in that environment was a stark contrast to the end of last season,” says O’Neil, graciously taking time out of her workday on Dark Matter’s Toronto set to sit down for a chat. “At that point we had kind of gotten a handle on who we are, but now we’re stuck in this new situation.
“We regain consciousness upon entering the prison, and that opening sequence was a trip to shoot. Two, Three [Anthony Lemke] and Four [Alex Mallari, Jr] along with some other new inmates are ordered to strip down and have to go through quarantine as well as decontamination before entering the prison. When the episode’s director, Amanda Tapping, as well as the show’s first AD [assistant director] Brandon Tataryn were hiring the extras for that scene, they meticulously combed through people in order to find interesting background performers, and that really changed the entire feel of that whole environment for me. When Two and the others walk into the prison it looks dynamic, futuristic and imposing in nature, but the background performers were the icing on that cake.
“One of the things I appreciate and love so much about the Dark Matter experience is that every single person truly plays a part in helping us tell this story. Without our background performers looking the way they did and being as engaged as they were with us, it would have detracted from the environment. If the entire world you’re trying to create isn’t alive and teaming with such positive energy, it doesn’t matter how talented your leads are. So kudos to Amanda and Brandon who, again, handpicked these people and really helped set the tone for what has been an incredible second season.”
Having learned about her criminal past early on in season one of Dark Matter, Two as well as the viewers was later made privy to the fact that she is an advanced synthetic human. Our heroine was made by Dwarf Star Technologies, and not only possesses advanced strength and agility along with stamina, but is also a quick study. The one flaw in her programming is that she is prone to violence. Two’s physical and mental attributes made her the natural choice as leader of our merry little band onboard the Raza, but even a supposedly perfect creation has room for growth. With a limited amount of information made available to her when initially stepping into Two’s shoes, O’Neil has enjoyed discovering more about her character and sharing in that growth process.
“I would say that in season one I was a bit more reserved as well as hard about who Two was with regards to the original character description that I had to work with, which stated that my character was strong, a proficient fighter and a fast learner,” recalls the actress. “This year, having spent 13 prior episodes with the other characters, I think there’s a more human element to her. It’s funny, last season I had this sneaky suspicion about my character. After reading the first six scripts from season one, I thought there was something ‘off’ about Two as far as how she was being written, I even told my trainer, ‘I think Two is an android.’ One night I went out to dinner with Joe Mallozzi and Paul Mullie [series creators, executive producers and writers] where I explained to them, ‘Guys, I really need to know if she’s an android because it affects the way I perform,’ but they told me, ‘No, it actually doesn’t, so you don’t need to know.’
“Ultimately, we find out that Two has been bio-engineered and has these nanites inside her. However, if you were to open her up, she’s still flesh and bone, and she has a brain as well as a heart. It’s all there, she just happens to heal very quickly. That said, because, again, I had those kind of sneaky suspicions about her, I played Two with slightly more stoicism than I think I might have otherwise. So this year, I’ve approached her in a more human way and allowed her to be wrong as well as acknowledge that she doesn’t know everything. That, I feel, is a sign of a true leader, someone who is able to say, ‘I don’t know. I defer to you.’ Not only am I coming at things in that way, but the way the story is being written this year, every single character goes on a massive journey, especially Two. We see her in such a different light compared to season one. She not only experiences peaks and valleys from a physical standpoint, but also with regards to her inner landscape.
“That’s a wonderful challenge that I’ve been happy to take on. I love exploring that part of myself, as well as Two, and it’s really been fun, especially when it comes to the dynamic between her and Five [Jodelle Ferland]. We see a lot of butting heads there, whereas last year it was a very maternal, younger sister/bigger sister kind of energy with them. This season, that gets shaken up a little, and rightfully so. Five is a young woman with her own thoughts, ideas and beliefs and is coming into her own as an individual. As the ‘senior’ woman onboard the Raza, Two naturally wants to take care of and kind of coddle her, I guess you could say, because she wants to protect her.
“We’ve also been exploring who these characters were prior to the mind wipe that erased their memories. Unfortunately I can’t get into specifics, but I’ve been enjoying that as well because you’re essentially creating an entirely new person. The themes we explored last year were all about nature versus nurture. Do our experiences what dictate who we become and how we behave with others, or is it already decided when we’re born, or in Two’s case, created? When I take a moment to think about her real background when she was Rebecca and with regards to Dwarf Star Technologies and Alexander Rook [the company’s president, CEO and Rebecca’s creator], played by Wil Wheaton, who would Two be had she not had her memories wiped? This is a woman who was created in a laboratory, experimented on, and then murdered several people in order to escape. Two was pushed so far that she felt it necessary to fight her way out, and then ended up with her own ship as well as crew. What type of woman accomplishes something like that, and how does she behave? So it’s been incredibly interesting exploring who that person is as well this season.”
Besides Two’s and Five’s relationship, how would O’Neil describe her character’s interaction in season two with the rest of the Raza crew, including their newest recruit, Nyx Harper, played by Melanie Liburd. “My character’s relationship with One [Marc Bendavid] is definitely challenged in an unconventional way, and a way that I didn’t really see coming” she notes. “With Three, all I can say is it’s always a pleasure to work with Anthony Lemke. He’s very smart and brings a great deal of humor onto the set, which makes it very easy to be in the moment with him during our scenes together.
“When it comes to Six [Roger Cross] it’s tough because Two was the only one on her feet when everyone else was down at the end of season one. She was the last person to see Six before he tasered her and knocked her out. So their relationship gets challenged as well this year, but at the same time, I think Two and Six have always been the leaders and the level-headed, critically thinking minds onboard the Raza. They are able to get a birds-eye view of what’s going on, and for the most part, aren’t too swayed by their emotions. The two of them are rational thinkers and that’s what I’ve always appreciated about their relationship. I love the scenes where Two and Six get to play together because they’re cerebral and emotionally intelligent.
“With Four, I always love working with Alex Mallari, but with regards to his character and Two this season, I think things remain more or less the same,” continues the actress. “I think there were clues to that at the end of last year as far as who these two people are, which is ruthless. On a business level, they are very calculating and, I believe, see eye to eye for the most part. As far as Two’s and The Android’s [Zoie Palmer] relationship, well, that continues this year, and I think The Android’s journey might just be the most interesting of all our characters in season two. She goes through quite a bit and we get to see so many different facets of her that I don’t think we’d have expected from a typical android, but then again she is not your typical android.
“Last but not least, Melanie Liburd, who plays Nyx, is just so beautiful and a wonderful addition to our cast. I’ll admit that when I first met her, I totally geeked out because she was on Game of Thrones. We’re very lucky to have Melanie as a series regular and she brings so much to the mix. Nyx is a fascinating character and her backstory as well as its revelations further opens up our Dark Matter world to a different type of storytelling that’s going to change things up a bit. So there will be plenty to see on that front.”
During her hiatus between seasons one and two of Dark Matter, the actress worked on a variety of other projects. “I had a guest-spot on the CBC [Canadian Broadcasting Corporation] series This Life playing Sarah, who ended up becoming the love interest for Lauren Lee Smith’s character of Maggie,” says O’Neil. “That was a great deal of fun. Then I worked on Direct TV’s Rogue, which was only supposed to be a two-episode arc, but it ended up turning into something much bigger, which was fantastic. That character of Jennifer is incredibly different from Two on Dark Matter and goes through quite a journey. I also voiced a character named Faye Lau for the UbiSoft video game The Division. Basically I’m the voice that talks to the player through them game and tells them what to do. The motion capture work was very different from anything I’d done before, but it was such a blast to do, and I thoroughly enjoyed working for the Ubisoft family.”
Steve Eramo
Dark Matter airs Fridays @ 10:00 p.m. EST on Syfy US and Canada's SPACE Channel. As noted above, photo copyright of SPACE/Syfy, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!