Morena Baccarin and friends dropped in for a chat about the future of 'V' at the Apple Store in London last week...

With the UK SyFy channel currently half way through airing the first season of V, last week saw three of the principle cast members giving an interesting Q&A at the Apple Store on Regent Street. Also, while we’re on the subject, did you know that the entire reason SciFi changed its name to SyFy was because the old name was uncopyrightable? No, me neither.

Struggling through a patchy first season, V saw ratings frequently rocket and tumble in equal measure like some sort of BP share price graph. Yet, says Scott Wolf, who plays Anderson-Cooper-wannabe newsman Chad Decker, “nowadays there’s a lot more pressure involved – now just getting into a second season is a huge achievement for a show.”

After an initially high ratings showing, following an enforced four-month sabbatical the show returned to dwindling viewers and less positive reviews. Elizabeth Mitchell however, in her role as distraught mother Erica Evans, found that to her “the show was attractive and different because it is full of strong women – the main protagonist was female and the main antagonist, Anna (leader of the Visitors, played by Firefly’s Morena Baccarin), was female also. They’re both mothers and they’re both trying to fight for the survival of those that are important to them.” Baccarin concurs that “I learned my lesson the hard way when it comes to reviews in the early days of Firefly. Now I try to avoid them.”

Yet despite what Wolf noted as “the pressures at the network and the studio making the first year hugely difficult,” V has been picked up for a full second season. “We’re really excited about where they’ll go in season two” says Baccarin, “Erica and Anna are kind of switching roles – Erica is getting more badass and I’m starting to feel more emotionally... I’d love to see Anna struggle with emotion. Maybe she falls and becomes more connected.” Wolf however has other ideas about where he feels Chad may end up come return of the Visitors: “I think it would be nice to see him support the Fifth Column, but maybe in a position of power.”

"We want the audience to consider complex and serious stuff... this show is a mirror to our real lives, and hopefully more than just science fiction"

Some of the criticism levelled at the first series addressed what was perceived as a lack of depth and complexity, especially amidst the allegorical brilliance of other recent sci-fi shows like Battlestar Galactica and Lost, in which Mitchell starred as Juliette. According to wolf, much of this again came down to the network’s indecision concerning exactly what direction they wanted the show to take. “I’ve seen scripts involving certain of Chad’s family members, to give him more of a background, and then it gets changed. They would see something and decide they didn’t like it and change direction. But now they’re working on building an entire second season.”

With shooting on the renewed show beginning in August, it seems that the increased stability of having a second season guaranteed may well have the kind of effect both audiences and the actors hope for, with plans for deeper and more complex storylines and less focus on flashy green-screen effects. “We want the audience to consider complex and serious stuff... this show is a mirror to our real lives, and hopefully more than just science fiction.”

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