April 15, 2011 ι Jarett Wieselman
"Fringe" delivers so many game-changing episodes, the big brains behind the sensational sci-fi drama will soon be forced to conjure up brand new games simply so their show can change to them. This season has ramped up the dual world drama by not only adding in a Doomsday Machine, but also a little unplanned true love, a preponderance of backstory and the first baby to have dual citizenship in two universes.
Tonight kicks off the final four episodes of season three and to mark the occasion, PopWrap turned to the woman who has knocked every challenge, or hair-color, "Fringe" threw at her out of the park. Keep reading to find out what Anna Torv reveals about tonight's "Inception"-esque episode, how Alt-livia's baby factors in and their -- no shock here -- game-changing season finale!
PopWrap: From accelerated pregnancies to universe-jumping characters, "Fringe" has really given you a lot to work with this year. What have you thought about the season? Anna Torv: I’ve had so much fun this season. I'm just so grateful for everything the writers' have given Olivia. You want to be engaged when you’re at work and I have been completely immersed in it. I never thought in my wildest dreams that any show would give me this much to play.
PW: Quite literally in some cases when both Olivia's are in the same episode. Anna: [laughs] I know. I’m excited they’re both still alive. I didn’t know how long this would last – they don’t tell us anything, so I didn’t know at the beginning of the season if playing two Olivia’s would be a little thing or not. I think they were probably waiting to see what the reaction was. The producers have their ear to the ground and are absolutely influenced by the fan’s enjoyment.
PW: Then they even took it up another notch and had you playing Olivia playing William Bell. Anna: Yea .... I didn't ask for that one [laughs]. I was petrified and I haven’t watched that episode yet. I’m going to wait until the season is over to look at that because I don’t know how I feel about it. I mean, what do you do? I just jumped in both feet, I don’t think there was another option.
PW: Tonight's episode picks up where the last in this universe left off with William not being able to leave Olivia's body, right? Anna: Yes, when we come back William is still there. Essentially we realize that Olivia is trapped and the question becomes, how do we get her back? So Peter & Walter go into Olivia's subconscious in an attempt to get her back. It's a really cool concept and I’m interested to see what Olivia’s mind looks like since I didn’t actually get to be on set.
PW: Then on the flipside, Al-livia just had a baby. Does having a baby with someone in the other universe alter the way she views its destruction? Anna: Yes, without a doubt. And that’s just not the child, but we saw it when she returned after falling in love with Peter. I think she had the realization: “what we’ve been told isn’t totally true. These are good people too in the alternate world.”
PW: What about as a character, does becoming a mother change her? Anna: It was interesting because I feel like I would have had a better sense on how motherhood would change our Olivia. Having played her for so long, I think I know how having a baby would change her worldview. I wasn't as sure how maternal Alt-livia was or how the baby gear is going to suit her. I mean, how can she wear that sling thing with her holster? [laughs] There’s a woman we work with and one day her son just showed up and it was like, “oh sh**, you are a mother!” It becomes compartmentalized a bit and I think that’s how Alt-livia will handle it. When she’s with the baby, she’s with the baby, but when she’s at work, there is no baby. Becoming a mother doesn’t always change every aspect of your personality. She’s always been a protector and that certainly won’t change now. It’s truthfully an extension of that.
PW: Lincoln made no bones about his desire to help her raise the baby -- is that something she's going to act on? Anna: There’s no big relationship leaps between the two – I think Alt-livia has got a lot on her hands, so she’s not really trying to start anything right at this moment [laughs].
PW: What excites you about the remaining four episodes of the season? Anna: They are really brisk – we move quite quickly. There’s so much story coming up, and that’s another thing I really love about the show. They have a really elegant way of keeping the audience in the dark, so you never really want to miss an episode because there's consistently dribbles of information. Then all of a sudden it’s bang-bang-bang, one reveal after another. I like that the pace shifts around a bit because whenever you get lulled into a false sense of calm, we pick up and shock you.
PW: Last year's finale was pretty game-changing -- how does this year's compare? Anna: It's just as big. I couldn’t believe where the finale goes – I’m quite speechless about it. I called Jeff Pinker & Joel Wyman [executive producers] and just said, “oh my god, what does this mean?!?!”
"Fringe" airs Fridays at 9pm on Fox
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