Kevin Hanchard – Orphan Black

Q) It seemed to take quite a long time for Season 2 of “Orphan Black.” Were you enjoying the anticipation or feeling a bit restless?

A) I think it’s inevitable that you feel restless in a situation like that. I think it’s basically the nature of the beast with our show because we’re only a ten episode season. Due to the pocket in which we shoot, it has to sort of shake down that way. At the same time, it did feel a bit weird because the show started airing in March of last year and I think we were done by the end of June. We didn’t go back to the camera until the end of September – the start of October. The fact that people were clambering for a second season, we didn’t go back for months and months on end. It did feel like forever. For people to have to wait until now, I can understand how it felt like forever and a day. We’ve been full of anticipation as well.

Q) The show has become so popular, domestically and internationally. Was that something you expected?

A) I think people who expect this thing are lying when they say they knew it would take off. There are other shows that have been well written that haven’t achieved as much success as they should have or could have. For our show, we knew it was a great idea with good scripts and great writing. That’s not always a barometer for a show that is really going to catch on and take off. You never really know what you’ve got until it is out there and people respond to it. It’s gone well beyond anything I could have imagined. Last week I was contacted by a friend of mine that I hadn’t seen since high school and I found out is now living in Thailand. He contacted me through Facebook and said his wife was watching the show and that one day he sat down with her and saw it had his friend from high school. Thailand! It’s gone well beyond anything I could have imagined.

Q) Each episode feels so intense and it draws you in. Why do you think that people have become so obsessed with it?

A) It’s a character based show. It’s a character driven show. Although, you have certain things like that on other shows (I don’t want to disparage other series) like “Law and Order,” you do have a certain set of characters you follow, but each week is based on a certain set of circumstances and scenarios that they have to follow with a case. Right now on the show we have a big case, but it is about how each of the characters find their way through. It’s about how each of the clones find their way through. It’s about those clones’ relationship with each other, with the other characters and with the conspiracy involved in the show. That’s the debate that people seem to have…Who is your favorite clone? Who is your favorite character? I think that’s where a lot of the suspense and the loyalty from the fandom comes from. It’s that the characters are so well written and so well sculpted that people can’t help but latch on, root for them and hope for the best/worst for them. I do think that’s where nine-tenths of the suspense comes from. People are so invested in the individual outcomes of characters on the show.

Q) You get to branch out this season and work with more characters. Will there be more and are you enjoying Art connecting with other characters?

A) I think so! I enjoy my fellow actors when we’re just on set together. Jordan (Gavaris) has a fantastic personality and it’s great to share the screen with him a little bit. It’s been a dream to work with him. You always want your character to have the broadest base of knowledge to have the ability to explore things from A-Z. It’s fun. Although, it is fun to be in the dark sometimes and find out bit by bit. It’s also fun to be “in the know” and see what that entails for you as a character or as an actor. Art is able to shine his light into a few more corners and uncover some things and some things are uncovered for him. That was a lot of fun this season. I look forward to more of that this season.

Q) Do you believe something went on between Art and Beth before she found she was a clone or a possible story we may pursue?

A) Anything is possible. To be honest, I don’t know where the writers want to go with that. If I did, they probably would have me under lock and key. I am not quite sure. There are some decisions that I made, just for myself, in order to play the scenes we shot for season one and even some of the ones for season two (as far as the backstory). I’ve tried to speak with the writers as far as that is concerned to make sure I’m not betraying something they have laid out for later on or not. I think that’s one of those things that is revealed down the line. It’s a wait-and-see down the line.

Q) Talk a little bit about that backstory that you added for Art.

A) A lot of it is completely mundane, to be honest. It’s stuff that you, as an actor, have to fill in because the show isn’t called “Art.” It’s not Art’s story. It’s the story of Sarah and the clones. You can’t expect the writers to write these long protracted storylines that aren’t based upon you. So, it’s up to you to fill in the gaps that allow you to jump from A to B in certain scenes. This season, we’ve seen where Art lives. It’s stuff like what is his marital status, how many kids does he have, what does he value and what does he like to do on weekends. It’s the minutia that allows you to flesh out a character and allows you to say, “I am Character X today” as opposed to Kevin Hanchard. That’s what I am talking about, as opposed to big story arcs that if I tried to do that the show would be pretty boring because my imagination isn’t as big or exciting as the writers. I leave it up to the writing team to come up with something a bit more viable.

Q) What can you tease is to come in the next few episodes for Art?

A) As much as it pains me to say, all I can share is that as the show goes on more gets revealed to Art. He goes deeper and deeper into the “Clone Club” and into the conspiracy. Art sort of takes the position of the audience as far as that is concerned. The audience sort of rides along with Art. As things are discovered by Art, they are discovered by the audience. As we learn things, Art learns things and as Art learns things, we learn things. So, hang on. There is a wild ride in store.

Q) What makes the relationship between Art and Sarah so different and unique from the other people in her life?

A) Their relationship was based on a deceit. There is something about that that makes it unique. Usually, relationships are based on truths and deceit comes in and you have to work to rebuild that relationship. Their relationship was built on lies – the persona of his dead partner. Through that, Art saw something more. He saw there was a reason why she did it and that there is something afoot that his senses picked up on. His relationship with Bess, through Sarah, is sort of rooting that relationship. Sarah’s need to find out what is going on, Art’s need to find out what happened to Bess and get justice for her and her need to survive. It’s what the common bond is that anchors them in spite of the start to their relationship. It’s odd. It’s twisted. It’s real and it’s visceral. The way it is written is a lot of fun to play.

Q) It seems you have this really easy partnership with Tatiana Maslany. Was that something that developed naturally?

A) Yeah, I think so. I do think so. From day one, Tatiana has just been a joy to work with. I have said in other interviews, in this business you get to work with extremely talented people and other people that aren’t as talented. A lot of times the really talented people are all consumed with the work and don’t have time to open themselves up personally. Tatiana is the total opposite. She’s one of the most talented people I’ve come across, but she is also one of the most generous persons I’ve ever worked with as well. The relationship is fairly easy, to be honest with you. Whether it is her relationship with Jordan/Felix or the multitude of people that she does a lot of scenes with (since she plays so many characters on the show). You don’t just believe in each of the clones, but you believe in each of the relationships for the person that they are involved with. That comes from someone like Tatiana who is able to develop real relationships with people that she works with and take them even further into the work. She makes it easy. She’s really special and that’s why she’s receiving as many kudos as she has been over the last little while because it doesn’t happen every day.

Q) Are you enjoying the instant fan feedback after each episode that you have been receiving through social media?

A) Yeah! It’s still a little new to me. I guess I’m sort of part of the Facebook generation that is making the transition to the Twitter generation. As you said, the instant feedback from Twitter is remarkable to me. It’s nice because there are times when I am able to sit down and have conversations with fans one-on-one and then there are other times when life takes over and you miss like a week. It’s surprising, but it is exciting at the same time because if we really want to go back, I’m from the generation where you wrote fan letters to people and prayed you’d get a response. I wrote about 7,000 letters to Michael Jackson as a kid and I don’t think I ever got anything back. On Twitter, if you’re lucky, you can get a response in five or ten minutes or a couple of days. To me, that’s exciting. It’s great to reach out to people who genuinely enjoy the show and genuinely like your work or are curious about what you do or the storylines. It’s a tool. Sometimes it gets abused, but what isn’t? For the most part, I’m learning how to use it to my advantage and the show’s advantage. So, it’s been great.

Q) What else do you want to be sure to share with fans?

A) There is a lot that I want to say, but what I want more than anything else is to maybe come back for a season three. Because of that, I can’t say anything! Everyone has gotten a taste in two short episodes of the direction of where we are going. The one thing that I can sort of tease out a little bit is that as the season goes on, “Orphan Black” is going to single-handedly light the Twitter universe on fire. There is some stuff in store as the season goes on that is going to absolutely blow people’s minds. I don’t say that lightly and I don’t say that tritely. The writers and everyone have really outdone themselves this season. There is going to be a lot of sort of slack jawed people going, “What did I just see?!” And there will be a lot of DVR’s whirring backwards trying to rewatch scenes and people wondering, “Should I rewind it now or wait until the end of the episode?” There is a lot in store that is going to get people excited, confused and perplexed, but it is all going to be in a good way. And I think it’s going to be exciting to see the ramifications of that.