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EXCLUSIVE: Zoie Palmer talks “Lost Girl,” cats on Twitter, and the power of lesbian fandom

Zoie Palmer‘s cat is on Twitter. That’s how Dorothy Snarker sold Lost Girl to me. Later, I would fall in love with all the things AfterEllen.com readers love about the show: the female-fronted action, the legendery mythology, the leather, the love story, the way queer sexuality is never an issue, and, of course, Dr. Lauren Lewis’ flawless brain and face. But in the beginning, all I knew was that the woman behind the show’s unflappable lesbian doctor was an English-born, Canadian-raised LGBT ally who let her cat have internet access.

Last week, Palmer chatted with me about good ol’ Cloverblob, about the show’s continued success in both Canada and the U.S., about the Doccubus victory in E! Online’s TV’s Top Couples poll, and about my decision to sort her character in Hogwarts’ Hufflepuff house. AfterEllen: Thanks for taking the time to talk to us again, Zoie. It seems like the whole internet is buzzing about Lost Girl right now, from the show’s ratings success on Showcase and Syfy to the E! Online poll that Bo and Lauren just won. Congratulations on both of those things. Zoie Palmer: Thank you. We’re excited. With that E! poll, our fans were on a mission. We have extraordinary fans. Truly, just extraordinary.

AE: Let’s talk a little bit about our favorite doctor. We have gotten to know so much about Lauren over two and a half seasons, enough to fall in love with her, for sure. Can you talk a little bit about Lauren’s character development so far? ZP: You know, when we met Lauren, there were all of these questions about her, about who she was, about where she came from, about what her intentions were with Bo, and with the Fae as a whole. Just the idea of trusting her was up in the air. We knew almost nothing about her. She was one of two humans on the show, along with Kenzi, but we didn’t have any sense of who she was. AE: And now? ZP: Now, after two seasons, we’re starting to really know Lauren. She’s interesting because I feel like Lauren could surprise us at any time. I’m never totally relaxed with who she is. But we’re starting to get a three-dimensional picture of her now. She’s had a pretty interesting history, right? I mean, she was in the Congo. But I don’t think she could ever go back to that life. Obviously, I don’t know what will happen, but I don’t get the sense that Lauren could ever be a regular doctor working with regular human beings again. And, of course, I think we finally understand that her love for Bo is honest and genuine and real.

AE: When you say Lauren could surprise us at any time, do you mean there could be more comatose girlfriends in the closet? ZP: [Laughs] You know, it’s funny. We do these table reads every episode after we get the scripts, and I’ll feel like I know everything about Lauren, and then suddenly it’s like, oh, Lauren was in Afghanistan. And I’m like, “I was? Man, I’m amazing! I’ve been everywhere!” It’s fun, as an actor, when the writers reveal those kinds of things because it just adds layers to Lauren and allows me to grab a hold of her even more. Our writers have done a great job with every character in that way, I think.

AE: When I talked to Anna, she said that you guys were both a little surprised when Lauren and Bo were together-together right off the bat in season three. ZP: Yes, we were both really surprised but really pleased. We didn’t know where season three was going to go, so to find out we were a couple right away, it was unexpected, but it was also really great. It’s been such a good journey for Bo and Lauren so far, but we haven’t really seen them as an official couple until now. Their relationship has been tumultuous and back-and-forth and Bo-and-Dyson and Bo-and-Lauren, and so to find out that Bo and Lauren are girlfriends, it was a nice surprise. AE: In the first episode of season three, when Bo called Lauren her girlfriend, I think it shut down Twitter. ZP: Bo and Lauren have broken Twitter a couple of times!

AE: What are you enjoying most about Bo and Lauren’s season three relationship? ZP: I’m enjoying what I’ve enjoyed about their relationship from the very beginning: the way the writers and the show handle the story. It is filled with all of the things any relationship is filled with. It’s just been treated so respectfully. A lot of times same-sex couples of TV get treated in all sorts of negative ways or tossed off or the couples are just given lip service. But Bo and Lauren have been treated the same as Bo and Dyson, and Kenzi and Nate.

The reason I think our gay audience, our bi audience, our transgender and even straight audience have responded to Bo and Lauren the way they have is because our writers have said, “This is a relationship that matters.” And it does matter. It’s relevant, it’s real, and it’s honest. I think that’s why – no matter how our audience identifies, gender-wise or sexuality-wise – Lauren and Bo resonate.

And it is very important to Anna and I that we approach it that way, that we approach it as something honest and real, that we give it 100 percent. AE: One other thing I really appreciated this season, just as a woman, is that Kenzi and Lauren have sort of found a begrudging respect for another. ZP: Yes, I liked that too. I think people have always wondered what the issue was with them, and it was nice to see that their animosity was really just based on insecurity on both sides. Kenzi because Bo is really her only true comrade in life, and the only person she can trust, and the idea that Lauren could take her away, that was a struggle for Kenzi. So, Kenzi and Lauren had created this kind of rivalry for Bo’s affection and attention and time. Ksenia [Solo] talked a bit about it, like this should come up some time, how we are with each other. And I actually really liked how the writers did it, because it wasn’t just like, “OK, now we’re best friends!” There’s still some tension there, but at least now they understand that they both love Bo.

AE: OK, let’s get real for a second. My cat is in love with your cat. She reads your cat’s Twitter every day. ZP: Your cat uses the internet too? We can never let them meet. Do you know what I find most amazing about my cat’s Twitter account? There are people who follow my cat that don’t follow me. It’s kind of my favorite thing ever. She has her own independent fans who have no interest in me whatsoever.  

AE: Before I let you go, I need to ask you something really important. I recently sorted every lesbian TV character ever into Hogwarts houses, you know, from Harry Potter, and I sorted Lauren into Hufflepuff, because while she’s obviously a super-genius, she’s also really loyal and accepting and she works her ass off. But I got kind of reamed by our readers who are just absolutely convinced that Lauren is a Ravenclaw. ZP:Wait, hang on. Let me ask you a question: Isn’t Hermione Granger a Gryffindor?

AE: Yes. ZP: And isn’t she also crazy smart and loyal and a hard worker, but also full of courage and bravery, and isn’t she the best friend ever?

AE: Yes. ZP: Right. Lauren is a Gryffindor.

AE: I can’t believe Zoie Palmer is schooling me on Harry Potter right now. I didn’t even realize this was a dream of mine. ZP:OK, how about this: If Dr. Lauren had a daughter, you know who it would be, right? Hermione. She goes off to Hogwarts and comes back as Dr. Lauren’s apprentice.

AE: You have no idea how many fan fictions you just spawned. Real quick: Any word on whether or not you guys are getting a season four pickup? ZP: We haven’t heard yet, but I’m going to say, cautiously, that I’ll be surprised if we don’t. I really hope so. Our writers still have so many stories left to tell.

Lost Girl airs in Canada on Showcase on Sunday nights, and in The U.S. on Syfy on Monday nights.

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