The Alphas season 2 finale aired on October 22, but one actor from the show is still keeping busy. Erin Way, who joined the cast this past season as Kat (the girl whose Alpha ability allows her to learn things incredibly fast, but at the cost of her long-term memory), will be guest-starring in the highly anticipated episode of Castle, called “The Final Frontier.”
Taking time out of her busy schedule, Way spoke to us exclusively about both projects.
What is Monday’s episode of Castle about?
Erin Way: It’s a sci fi convention episode directed by Jonathan Frakes, who is a Star Trek: The Next Generation alumni. He directed the episode, which is very appropriate. It takes place at a sci fi convention. There is a murder that takes place one of the sets, that’s supposed to be a replica of a spaceship set of a very popular cult sci fi show.
Who is your character in the episode?
Erin Way: I play the best friend of the victim. She’s one of the suspects, obviously because she’s very close to the victim. I’m not going to give too much away because it’s a very unusual way that the victim dies. I think that the fans will not be disappointed. It’s a cool crossover: the director being from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Nathan’s background in sci fi, and then my affiliation with Alphas. It’s a cool little homage to all the sci fi fans that watch the show.
Did you get to work with any of the other guest stars in the episode?
Erin Way: I worked mostly with Nathan, Stana and the guy who plays my boyfriend, a guy named John. There was a big group scene with a few people, but I didn’t really have much interaction with them. Most of my work was really one-on-one with Nathan and Stana.
What was it like to work with everyone on Castle?
Erin Way: I was really honored to be cast in Castle because I feel like it’s my destiny to work with everyone from Firefly. So I’m slowly checking them off. I have Nathan and Summer, and I’m slowly working my way through the cast. It’s awesome and so far they’ve been like the nicest people. Summer is a friend of mine and Nathan is just a gentleman, so kind. Having been on a show, I know that guest stars come in and — you’re shooting long days and you don’t necessarily have to give the guest stars any kind of specific attention. I know how much energy that takes to do that. [Nathan] was nothing but considerate and generous and I was very impressed by that. It was very, very cool. Was very happy to find out that [Nathan and Summer] were both incredibly kind people. I’m a Joss Whedon fan.
Have you ever gone to a big convention like the one portrayed in the episode?
Erin Way: I went to Comic-Con this year in July. It was my first sci fi convention and it’s the one to go to. It was intense. I had the privilege of going with my cast from Alphas, everybody but Ryan went. For most of us, except for David, everybody else had never been before. It was a really cool experience to be able to go for the first time with my other cast members. So we were all able to experience it for the first time together. That was super fun.
What was it like at Comic-Con?
Erin Way: The majority of Friday we didn’t have anything to do, except for some parties in the evening. Warren, Malik and myself; we arrived there first. We walked the floor for maybe an hour and we were exhausted. You could barely move; there were thousands of people. We were exhausted after just an hour so I can’t imagine people that go there all day. After about that long we were like, “Okay it’s time for a cocktail.” We were completely worn out. But we were able to catch up with Brent Spiner, who had done a guest appearance on season one. I really got the true fan experience that first day, which was really fun.
Are we going to be getting an Alphas season 3?
Erin Way: We don’t [have any word on another season of Alphas]. We have to know by Thanksgiving, [that] is the deadline. We’re all pulling for it and really, really hopeful that the network gives us another season. That would be awesome. I would really love it and I think the rest of the cast would as well. I think the season went over very well with the fans, so I’m hopeful that they’ll give us another go. It would mean a lot to me because I’d be able to really flesh-out my character more. That would mean a lot to me; to be able to do that for another season. That would be really cool.
What would you like to see for Kat in future seasons?
Erin Way: I think my biggest curiosity is kind of to see what really took place in her past. I have my own theories about [it]. Because she does have the memory problem, [I think] that there are people that she has been involved with or worked with that she probably doesn’t remember, and would probably be really bummed if she did. There was a little bit of that already this last season, but [I wonder]: did she work for Stanton Parish? Did he or anyone like him take advantage of her memory problems to infiltrate the team? Just those kinds of things are very intriguing to me.
Kat learns really fast. Have you had to learn anything new in order to play her?
Erin Way: There are a couple of things. I had to learn crazy kickbox training when I first arrived in Toronto. Because my first episode was like a Fight Club episode, I was put into pretty intense kickbox training and I’d never done anything like that before. Obviously we had a stunt double as well, but the ideal is to get as much of the real person as possible, so I trained pretty hard at that. I’ve never been quite so sore in my entire life. Then the other thing I had to learn very last minute.
Then there was an episode where I put a carburetor back together, and I’m supposed to do it super, super, fast. I was able to practice that a little bit over a lunch break and then come back and shoot it. You have to try to learn things really fast. It’s good, it’s fun; because there’s always something new that you’re having to learn.
Did you ever get hurt doing some of the tricks and stunts that Kat does?
Erin Way: There’s an episode where I do this knife trick. Basically they just handed me this knife which was dulled down, but it was still – it could do a little damage. And they were like, “So basically the knife trick is you put the knife in between all of your fingers really, really fast. Okay, go!” And I was like, “Wait, could you just give me like a couple of seconds to practice?” and then they said, “We need you to do it as fast as possible.” So I had to kind of just go “Alright.” I kind of nicked myself a little bit, but I just kept going. Not like bleeding, but there were some pinches that occurred from the dull blade.
Any other wishes for Alphas season 3?
Erin Way: We’re all rooting and hoping that Summer gets added to the cast next season as a more regular character. Not only would it help our show popularity-wise, because she has such a crazy following, but I think it would be a really cool addition to the female characters, so we’ll see what the network decides to do.
Don’t forget to watch Erin Way on Castle this Monday, November 5 at 10pm on ABC. Then keep your fingers crossed that we all hear about Alphas season 3 by the end of this month.
(Image courtesy of Syfy)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
