Interview with Amanda Tapping.
Interview about Stargate Atlantis Season 4, Stargate Atlantis Season 5 and Sanctuary.
Author: Giles Nuytens

Gilles Nuytens: Now that Stargate SG1 the series is over and the filming of the movies is also over, how do you feel?
Amanda Tapping: Tired, but good. Because I’m still shooting Atlantis it does not feel like the ride is over yet. So it is actually pretty good. It was very sad the last day of the movies but I think that our fingers are crossed that we will come back and do some more SG1 movies. It never really feels like goodbye, when the cast was saying goodbye to each other it never really feels like goodbye, we’re just sort of saying see ‘ya later.

Gilles Nuytens: Sam is a scientist and not really a leader, how do you explain that she is now is charge of Atlantis?
Amanda Tapping: Well I think that she is actually a good leader. Because she has both a military and a scientific background, I think that she is the perfect person to go over to Atlantis. She has never had her own command but she certainly lead missions for SG1. She certain has a huge history with the military so I think she is in a lot of ways a natural born leader. I think the way that she is going to lead Atlantis is not going to be, you know like a heavy handed commander. She is going to be a lot more aware of her people and how to best utilize them and draw on their strengths so I think she is going to be a really good leader.

Gilles Nuytens: In the last episode of Stargate SG1 we received all the knowledge of the Asgards, how will the team and the show manage that?
Amanda Tapping: Well it is really interesting, it’s like any society when you get all this information, how does it change what you do and how you do things. I don’t think that the effect is hugely felt in the first two movies, you won’t see it as much. I think that subsequent movies you may see more of what that knowledge does to this team. But in the first couple of movies you won’t see it. I think that we are smart enough, we’ve come a long way that we are not as arrogant a race as we were at the beginning of the series, you know what I mean? We were sort of young and full of ourselves and now we have a better perspective on things so I think they will handle that knowledge well. If you had given them that knowledge 10 years ago maybe not so much.

Gilles Nuytens: If a 5th season of Atlantis is confirmed are you ready to come back as Samantha character for a 12th year?
Amanda Tapping: Yeah I don’t know, I think if it does come back and they ask me then yeah I defiantly would consider it. You know I don’t think of it in terms of “oh my god I have been playing the same character for 12 years”, I think of it in terms of am I still being challenged as an actor, am I enjoying what I’m doing, am I working with people that I enjoy and all of those things are still true for me. All of those things are an answer yes. So I don’t see any reason to leave a job that is secure, happy, challenging and interesting. When all those things are in place it makes sense to stay. So if they were to ask me to come back then sure I would consider it.

Gilles Nuytens: Let’s talk a little bit about “Sanctuary”. What was it like to work with Emilie Ullerup?
Amanda Tapping: Oh she is awesome. She is a young actress, she has really great instincts, she is a lot of fun and she is game for anything. You know she will try all of the stunts and the fight sequences. She is just great, she has a really, really good attitude and she’s got a fun perspective. I’m really excited for her because I think she is going to be quite a huge star.

Gilles Nuytens: So Helen Magnus is 157 years old, that makes her some kind of mutant I think, like the other creatures? Is that correct?
Amanda Tapping: Well, she has been given this gift and it has not been explained yet how she has managed to live this long and maintain her youth. I don’t think that she is a mutant so much as she has been given an elixir that has allowed her to do this. She is not like the creatures that she brings into the Sanctuary. Or at least she will not admit that she is like the creatures that she brings into Sanctuary. But it is a very interesting part of her character because it just speaks to her loneliness and to be around for that long and to watch the people that you love and care about grow old and die around you and to still be young so in some ways yeah she is a mutant in that sense. I think the emotional toll is a lot different. And I think that she would not acknowledge it, that she would hate it if someone called her a mutant. She would be deeply offended by that.

You can read full interview on TheSciFiWorld