One of the more elusive cast members from “Battlestar Galactica” has been Michael Hogan, who plays Col. Saul Tigh. On his podcast commentaries for each episode, producer Ron Moore has praised the work of Hogan but said the star prefers to have his work on the show speak for itself and rarely does publicity interviews for the show.
Which makes this article from “Entertainment Weekly”‘s web site that much more special. Hogan recently conducted a phone interview with the magazine. Also included was co-star Katie Sackoff, who plays Kara “Starbuck” Thrace on the hit show. The duo talked about season three and its big revelations, the future of the show and dropped the bombshell that Hogan will be guest-starring on “The Bionic Woman” in the fall.
Here are some highlights of the interview (and they probably include SPOILERS)
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Let’s start at the end — last season’s finale was quite the humdinger. How did you two react when you first got the script?
MICHAEL HOGAN: Disbelief. I couldn’t believe it. And I still can’t believe it. That was my reaction to it.
KATEE SACKHOFF: I think everyone was pretty shocked. My feeling was that it made sense that the four [final Cylons] were all aligned with a person in power who could individually take down the fleet if they wanted to. Col. Tigh’s with Adama, Tori’s with the president, Tyrol controls the ship, and Anders is with, you know, Starbuck.
EW: Speaking of that, Katee, do you know what the heck Starbuck is?
HOGAN: [Chuckles]
SACKHOFF: No. And even if I did, I couldn’t tell you. I have no idea what she is. I have no idea if I’m alive or if I’m dead.
EW: Can you at least confirm if you’re, you know, corporeal? That you’re not just a figment of poor Apollo’s mind?
SACKHOFF: Well, I do know that I am [corporeal]. Not a figment. And if I am, I’m a figment of everyone’s imagination.
EW: Michael, had you ever thought that Tigh would be a Cylon?
HOGAN: Never. Never at all. Someone told me that there was a survey on the Net and that Tigh was the second lowest of everyone ever involved in Battlestar Galactica [suspected] of being a Cylon.
EW: How are you managing that?
HOGAN: Well, I haven’t had to manage it yet, because we’re [shooting] the flashback movie, but it hasn’t been that much of a problem yet because Tigh doesn’t believe [he’s a Cylon]. He doesn’t know what’s going on. And Hogan’s not convinced that he’s a Cylon.
SACKHOFF: [Cackles] I love it. I love that you can justify anything on a sci-fi show.
EW: Katee, how will you manage your role on Battlestar and your recurring role on NBC’s new Bionic Woman series?
SACKHOFF: I hope to be able to do both well, and to do both as much as possible. That’s every actor’s dream. They’ve certainly facilitated it enough for me, considering they’re [shooting] both of them in Vancouver.
EW: Michael, any non-BSG projects in the hopper?
SACKHOFF: Michael’s in Bionic Woman!
HOGAN: Yeah, man, yeah. But aside from that, no. It’s Battlestar, Battlestar, Battlestar .
EW: Katee, at the end of last season, we’re definitely left with impression that Starbuck could very well be the final unknown Cylon. Any resolution to that question?
SACKHOFF: No. I think there’s better choices out there for the final Cylon, to be honest. Even if she was, I don’t think she’d ever believe it. I just don’t think that she would ever wrap her brain around that. It will be very interesting to find out.
[Story submitted by SoSF Journalist Michael Hickerson] For more of the interview, go to the EW web site link shown above.
[Photo by Justin Stephens for EW]
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