Preparing for the Vs latest plan with Laura Vandervoort

When V signed off at the end of last season, humans were about to face the wrath of a terribly angry Anna, whose million member V-baby army was destroyed by the Fifth Column.  When Season 2 picks up, no one is prepared for what comes next, as both sides amp up their plans to rid the Earth of each other.  I talked to Future-Queen-of-the-Visitors Laura Vandervoort about what’s coming up, and how she’s approaching the role of Lisa for Season 2.  Follow the jump after our chat for a link to the first V Podcast of the season, with host Scott Wolf!

I was just saying to someone that V does really well with finales and premieres, and now I’m excited to see what the rest of the season brings!
I’m glad you’re excited.  I am too, actually.  I haven’t seen any of them, and they’ve been so much fun.

It seems like the energy is amped up, there is so much more at stake.  What have your thoughts been as you get each different script for the year?
I can guarantee that most of the cast was pretty excited reading the premiere episode.  Especially the premiere episode because we left on such a high note with the red sky, Anna releasing it.  Half of us don’t really know what’s coming next.  It’s cool when we read scripts, and we’re usually pretty shocked when we read it.  It’s great.  It explains what the Red Sky is in the premiere episode, there’s more of the mythology this year, which I think a lot of the sci-fi fans wanted to know about, you know, where the Vs came from.  Why we’re there.  What characters are on what sides.  Everything’s amped up.

With a character like Lisa, you’re playing both the V side, and the human side.  She’s starting to feel the human side more than she expected.  Is that difficult to play?
Oh yeah! When I first started playing Lisa, she was, I hate to say one note, but she didn’t have emotions.  She was just the right hand man to Anna, and then you found out, not only is she Anna’s daughter, but she’s in love, and she’s experiencing emotions for the first time.  This season, she’s completely emotional, but she’s still hiding it.  She’s still in love with Tyler, but she’s also got the weight on her shoulders of whether or not she’s going to overthrow her own mother.

That’s not a typical problem that most teenagers deal with, ha, “should I over throw my mom?”
I mean that’s just 1 percent of what she’s dealing with this season.  There is so much more going on this season with Lisa than with last season.  It’s been a lot of fun to play especially towards the end of this season.  You’re going to see a lot of what’s going on with her.

Why should people tune in to the premiere episode?
If you loved the first season, you’re going to love the second season.  I think we really figured out what we want with each of the characters.  All of the actors were shocked where their characters were going this season.  I know that I was.  I don’t think that people will be able to guess what side people are on.  Characters that you thought were one thing are actually another.  We’ve got 2 people from the original V now on the show.  You have new relationships starting, there’s deaths, there’s explosions.  You’ve got more lizard skin, more mythology, it’s a really amped up amazing show.  I’m not just saying that.  It really is.  I’ve been really blessed to be on it.

I love the relationship between Lisa and Tyler.  How does that continue to progress?
She definitely is in love with him, and if she ever pushes him away, it’s to protect him.  Their relationship does progress this year.  They are being torn apart with their differing views on things. They’re both dealing with a lot of issues in their own lives.  As any couple, they’re dealing with their own issues and hopefully can get through it.

Not many teenagers have to deal with the end of the world coming.
Yeah, you know, most teenagers don’t have to decide if they want to be queen of an entire race, or you know, save the human world.  Other than that, they’re fine!  They’re going to movies.

You’ve gotten to interact with more of the cast as season 1 progressed.  When we talked last year, you were only dealing with Anna and Tyler.  You’re more involved with the team now.  Has it been more exciting to play back and forth with more of the whole cast?
Yeah, just working with the actors that I did last season was having a lot of fun.  This season, Lisa’s world has opened up to a whole realm of characters.  I’ve had the chance to work with a lot of the characters from the Fifth Column, and get off the ship a little more, out of the green screen room.  It also allows the audience to see more of Lisa and who she is.  When she’s on the ship, she’s always hiding her emotions and sneaking around.  Off the ship, when she’s with the people she knows she’s safe with, you see who she really is and what she’s dealing with.

It seems like the show is once again ramping up to a huge finale again this year.  Is it a lot of episode after episode of excitement, for 10 episodes, to a huge finale at the end?
Yes, exactly!  We have 10 episodes, and there are 8 main cast members and storylines, so there is always something going on.  Characters that didn’t always interact are interacting and developing relationships, so there is always something for the audience to watch and the finale is going to blow everyone’s mind.  I don’t think they see what’s coming.  I definitely didn’t, and I had a lot of fun being a part of it!