BEING HUMAN Cast Gets Chatty

I recently had a great opportunity to sit in on a conference call with Being Human actors Sam Witwer (“Aidan”) and Meaghan Rath (“Sally”) and producer Anna Fricke. Then on premiere night I joined the cast Google+ Hangout, including Sam “Sammy” Huntington (Josn and Kristen Hager (Nora). Last year at the Dallas SciFi Expo I saw Sam (can I call you Sam? I think I will!) and experienced how easy-going, funny and open he is, and on the call and the Hangout I can tell that it seems to be endemic to the the cast and crew of Being Human. He, Meaghan, and Anna were not only insightful into their characters and the show but were having such a great time interacting with each other that you can tell it is a family.

Related: 3-Minute Recap of the Season Four Premiere “Old Dog, New Tricks”

WELCOME BACK! The first question posed to them was which guest stars of season 4 are they most looking forward to having back? Sam called it their “greatest hits” with the return of some of the cast and fan favorites, including:

• Kyle Schmid (Henry)
• Connor Price (Kenny)

• Amy Aquino (Donna)

• Katharine Isabelle (Suzanna)

• Deanna Russo (Kat)

• Jesse Rath (Robbie)

• Blake (Janine Theriault)

• Marcus Damnian (Vincent Leclerc),

• and of course the fabulous Mark Pellegrino (Bishop).

The return of Suzanna and Kat poses an interesting dynamic for Aidan since Suzanna is the ONLY character that really knows Aidan before his vampire days so she understands him, but he wants to protect his relationship with Kat… even though she doesn’t understand and he feels he can’t let her in. Sam made sure to point out that they wouldn’t  be violating any of the “death rules” … but with a supernatural show like this, what does that mean.. hmmmm.

“SAM WITWER HATES SEASON 4!” Well, not quite. Sam really thinks that everyone was “swinging for the fences” and taking risks but that season 4 is not necessarily as even as season 3. This caused Meaghan to exclaim he hated this season… all in jest. ”This season feels full circle, it seems personal,” and she continued by stating that in season 3 they found their places in the world but now they are really in sync and know their strengths. Sam does think this is the funniest season and also the most physical. And they all agreed that this season they could do things that SyFy “wouldn’t let them do in season 3.”

NO DAY AT THE SPA! Despite how it may have looked, Meaghan did HATE the spa scenes! “It was hot and steamy and the crew was sweaty… not relaxing at all!” That first scene took about 3 days to film. Then they had to do the ‘vortex of blood’ which was partly a practical effect (meaning they really did it, not CGI)… at the center of the vortex was a giant fan, which they kept reminding Meaghan to not really go into or it would be a real pool of blood… yikes! She also did all her own hanging stunts.

BINGE WATCHING IS GOOD! Across the board the three felt that the marathons have really helped the show, as well as the availability of the show on things like Netflix and iTunes. Sam is being approached more on the street for Being Human… Meaghan not so much. “I live in Canada! They don’t care!” But she has seen a lot more activity on Twitter when the marathons are on. Anna said that she was glad to see that SyFy had the opportunity to make all seasons, not just S3, available for the public to binge-watch, which she does think helped their show.

RAPID FIRE Q&A

Do you feel a comparison to the UK series?

No, partly because the cast made a conscious decision not to watch it. Some of the writers have seen the whole UK series, but they realized early on that these characters were their own people and could do their own thing.

Are Sally and Aidan going to get together, like their counterparts in the UK series?

Sam and Meaghan say it started out as more brother/ sister, but the characters’ connections are growing. “Whatever happens has been planned…” and Meaghan says they’ll take it as it comes. What does the other half of the cast think about Aidan and Sally hooking up? While Kristen exclaimed “YES!!!” Sammy countered with “NO! EWW! GROSS!” (what do you think?!?)

What advice do the actors have for their characters?

Sammy to Josh: “Suck it up!” (before was about accepting what he is, now he has to contain and control things while enjoying what he does have… friends and love.)

Meaghan to Sally: “Let go of the idea of what happiness is… live in the moment… keep hope alive”

Kristen to Nora: “Chillax more! Have more fun!”

(Sam was oddly quiet about his advice…)

HAUNTING, CRAY CRAY, AND EPIC They all agree that season 4 is their best ever. Favorite episodes were 4.1 (Sammy), 4.8 (Meaghan), 4.10 (Sam), and 4.12 (Kristen)… so be on the look out! They were very careful not to let too much out, even avoiding this seemingly innocuous question… would your characters be friends if they were not tied supernaturally? “We explore that later in the season so, sorry, no answer,” said Sam. The finale was something Sam felt was the best script they had ever had, and it really affected Anna. Sam and Meaghan stayed cryptic with the statements “It was so cray!” and “That’s one way of ending a season!” Sam continued to say that episodes 8 and 9 are crazy and will “blow your mind” and that episode 10 has a moment that will “haunt me until the end of my career!” (yes, even more than Sally noshing on Aidan’s flesh last season!) He said that episode 10 has one of the biggest moments of the series but that you need the whole season, really the whole series, to get there. The scene actually was becoming shorter in edits, but Sammy said that the scene needed to be protected at all costs as it was the best Being Human scene ever… and he’s not even in it! (I am intrigued!) Anna continued that they cut “like, 40 pages from that script” to give that scene what it needed, with Sam saying that they really allowed for the time shoot this large sequence…a luxury not easily afforded a series shooting schedule!

So it looks like we’re in for an even wilder ride than we’ve had! I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait for each new episode! (Oh, and Ben Stevens at Dallas Comic Con, both Sam and Meaghan said they’d LOVE to do a panel at one of the upcoming cons! They said, so I’m just sayin’…) We’ll be doing 3 Minute Recaps of the episodes, and SciFi4Chicks will do multi-episode discussions on our podcast! Until next time, keep on Being Human…

[polldaddy poll=7726539]
__________________________________