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Tatiana Maslany, Jordan Gavaris and “Orphan Black” producers on Cosima, sexuality and clones

Orphan Black was a sizable presence at Comic-Con this year, with a Clone Club day celebration, a “Clone Booth” in the exhibit hall, and a panel for the show including stars (Tatiana Maslany, Jordan Gavaris, Dylan Bruce, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Kristian Bruun and Ari Millen) and creators (John Fawcett and Graeme Manson). During the fan Q&A portion of the panel, Tatiana teared up while answering a question from a fan who says she has come out to her homophobic mother and used the show as a bonding opportunity because of Cosima’s being so accepting of her own sexuality. This made Tatiana tear up.

“My question is,” the girl continued, “What’s it like to have that affect on peoples’ lives and know you’re changing peoples’ lives and making people more comfortable with who they are? You’re saving lives. That’s what you did for me. So, I just wanted to know what’s that like?”

“That’s amazing,” Tatiana said. “I mean, I have no words. That’s incredible.”

Tatiana, a celebrated actress for the several roles she takes on in now two seasons Orphan Black, is emotional about many facets of the show. When we sat down with her during a roundtable before the panel, she became teary-eyed talking about Tony, the transgender clone she played for the first time in Season 2.

“I did a lot of research and it’s a subject that’s really important to me,” Tatiana said, tears forming in her eyes. “Yeah, it just means a lot to me that we could tell that story. And you know, I’m not a trans actor so is there a political sort of situation there and it’s not the most ideal, but what our show does is it explores identity. And what better way to explore it than through a trans male? We don’t see trans men on screen very often at all. And, you know, the best thing for me was when we heard the response to Tony, which was very polarized. But the best thing about it is it opens up a debate, and it opens up a discussion, and it makes the subject relevant and important and present in people’s thoughts, regardless of how they felt about Tony, whether they felt represented, whether they didn’t understand-whatever it is, these stories need to be told and we need to talk about trans stories and we need to have them represented to the point where it’s just, it’s just a given and it’s not exceptional anymore and trans actors get to step up and play these parts as well in the same way cisgender people have been doing it for a while. I felt a responsibility but I felt a large amount of gratitude and-“

“Joy?” co-star Maria Doyle Kennedy offered.

“Fuck yeah, joy!” Tatiana said. “Totally.”

The Tony and Felix relationship was a new one for Tatiana and Jordan Gavaris to play this season, one that both actors appreciated the chance to play.

“It was cool for me, especially with Tony, because he-I’ve just been in the process, even it began in Season 2 and has continued even after we wrapped, of reinvestigating my work; investigating where the character exists for me and I think it was something I was doing, something I’ve been doing that has worked very well because it’s part of who Felix is is avoiding the deeper, murkier, messier territory and surfing the text and just surfing the surface of the character,” Jordan said. “Tony offered me an opportunity to take the masks off, drop the theatrics, drop the defenses, the armor, and you see what real discomfort and fear looks like on this human being, this person. You saw him vibrate or exist in this fear; this uncertainty. And also, self-confront. Tony holds a mirror up to Felix and, conversely, Felix holds up a mirror to Tony. And that was pretty spectacular.”

Tatiana praised Jordan for making her job easier but speaking to her in character as soon as she steps on set, no matter what clone she’s playing that day.

“I don’t even have to do anything and he’s giving me a snarky remark when I’m Allison or with Sara it’s very tactile and, you know, the history,” Tatiana said. “And then with Tony, the two of us got to explore this whole level of not knowing each other and meeting each other for the first time. But at the same time, we can recognize something in each other, so all that history works as well. It’s interesting how the dynamic can kind of influence each other.”

As the gay hustler Felix, Jordan plays a snarky, blunt sidekick to all of the clones, but his work is just as impressive in his one part as Tatiana’s is as several. He takes his job very seriously, and is quick to defend Felix’s slightly illegal lifestyle.

“I think that there’s an inference that he’s in any way aware that maybe his lifestyle isn’t the healthiest,” Jordan said of Felix, who makes his money from sleeping with men and selling drugs. “I’m not sure, I mean I’m sure there’s some awareness there, but there’s an inference that he’s doing something bad. I think that Felix is just-he operates to survive, similarly to Sara. They’re just survivors. So by any means necessary. I that includes prostitution, drug dealing-if it means he can survive, if he means he can stay safe in some capacity, he’s going to keep doing that. He’s not going to put himself at risk, especially not after everything that’s happened with Sara and Dyad, by getting a job at McDonalds just because it’s a little bit more traditional or conformative.”

Which, of course, makes him that much more fun to watch.

“I like that the show doesn’t change him, either, for anything,” Tatiana said. “He’s out in himself and he is sexual and unapologetic about that and there’s no kind of sense that…he feels like he’s, in a weird way, one of the most sure of himself kind of characters on the show.”

All through Season 2, Clonesbians and other Cosima fans were concerned about the sickly science nerd’s health, as well as her relationship with Delphine (played by Evelyne Brochu, who was supposed to attend Comic-Con but had to film another project). Tatiana gave some hope for the pair.

“I think the two of them are-they’re absolutely in love with each other,” she said. “They stimulate each other emotionally, physically, mentally, intellectually, everything. And yet the only thing that separates them is the fact they’re on two different sides of the equation. And that grey area is where they exist and I think that’s what’s so exciting about their relationship and sort of relatable. Oh god yeah, there’s hope. Definitely.”

Meanwhile show creator and executive producer Graeme Manson doesn’t want us to get our hopes up completely.

“She’s never safe! She’s not. She’s not safe,” he said at his roundtable. “She’s not better but she has options. They have options. I think what happened at the end of the season with Kira might be-how should we put it? It might be sort of a-almost more of a spiritual beat for her. What really happened in that moment? Was it a dream? Was it something more than that? I think that there is some mystery involved in that. But you know, her health is still an issue.”

Those who might see Delphine as not such an ideal partner for Cosima should also take to heart that the producers love to play around with the good vs. evil in each character.

“One of the things that I like so much about doing this show is I like the sort of ability is to set someone up as dangerous or untrustworthy and then swing sympathies toward them, you know?” John Fawcett said, citing how Donnie was hated at first and then, by the end of the season, “beloved.” “And then kind of swing it away again. It’s a fun dynamic. It’s a really interesting kind of dynamic for the characters and the story.”

While waiting for Season 3, fans will be able to find out more about their favorite (and least favorite) Orphan Black characters in the new comic book adaptation (coming in 2015), which John said will have familiar scenes from Season 1 but also some new additions.

“For me, I love the idea-certainly in the initial wave of comic books, showing the fans in a graphic way scenes we have already seen but kind of going into what happened to this character while we were off with Allison,” John said. “I want to see kind of stuff that fits into the framework of, say, Season 1, but here’s what you didn’t see. And I think that’s really cool. And I also love the idea including some flashbacks into the past and seeing how Donny met Allison’s parents for the first time. things like that I think would be really exciting and those are the kinds of the stories we want to tell in the comic books.”

As for the show itself, the creators know how the story of Sarah and her seestras will end, but they think it could (and should) take a while to get to that point.

“We want to go for a long time. We do know the endpoint for our series,” Graeme said. “The question becomes…how long can you kick the end down the road and maintain an interesting forward drive? We really do have a strong drive forward in the show. As long as we can maintain that momentum, I think we can run a good long time.”

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