Exclusive Interview with Chris Heyerdahl of Stargate Atlantis, Sanctuary, Hell on Wheels, The Twilight Saga
Interview by Jamie Ruby
Written by Jamie Ruby

One can see Chris Heyerdahl it seems everywhere these days, even if he's not always recognizable. Heyerdahl has played a variety of characters both in movies and in television, but he almost never looks the same. Some of his more popular roles include his role of Todd the Wraith on Syfy's Stargate: Atlantis (where he also played the more recognizable Halling), Marcus in the hugely popular Twilight film series, his dual roles on Sanctuary as both Biggie (Bigfoot) and John Druitt. More recently Heyerdahl has also joined the cast of AMC's Hell on Wheels as the Swede.

Heyerdahl recently sat down with Jamie Ruby of SciFi Vision to talk about a variety of his roles.

Once again SciFi Vision will be attending the Syfy Digital Press Tour at Universal in Orlando, Florida. The event starts this Sunday, 10/09 with a luau hosted by Josh Gates as well as a visit to Halloween Horror Nights, and continues with panels on Monday. Be sure to follow @scifivision on Twitter for the latest updates (as well as Facebook which I will be setting up shortly).

I will be tweeting live during the events and panels and will be posting photos and videos as well as exclusive interview clips, and of course some quotes live during the panels. The day will conclude with our exclusive private tour of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

I will also be taking questions starting now so please submit those to me through twitter. Please be sure to include the appropriate show hashtags so I know who the questions are for.

Once photos and videos are posted into my gallery I will post the links on twitter, and eventually here once I get the chance. If there are any specific photos you would like to see, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Stay tuned to SciFi Vision for coverage on the tour as well as an upcoming special announcement on some other cool things you can expect. All of the posts will be under the hashtag #syfytour.

The panels this year are as follows:

By Jamie Ruby

The season four premiere of Sanctuary, entitled "Tempus," airs tonight at 10pm ET/PT on Syfy. The episode starts where the finale left off with Dr. Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping) having traveled to the past in order to stop Adam Worth (Ian Tracey) from altering history. Worth previously traveled to 1898 London to save his daughter, and Magnus knows that he could irreparably change the future, and she must stop him at any cost.

By Jamie Ruby

Sanctuary, which originally started as a web series on Syfy.com, is shot almost entirely on green screen. The show follows Dr. Helen Magnus, played by Amanda Tapping (Stargate SG-1; Stargate: Atlantis) and her team, including Dr. Will Zimmerman (Cruel Intentions 2; The Skulls II), as they use their unique skills to help beings that lay outside of the realm of what most people consider normal. Some abnormals pose no threat, while others need to be kept away from humanity.

The series also stars Ryan Robbins (Battlstar Galactica; Riese) as tech Henry Foss and Christopher Heyerdahl (Stargate: Atlantis; The Twilight Saga: New Moon) as John Druitt.

This October, Sanctuary enters it's fourth season with the episode "Tempus." The season boasts great guest stars, both new and returning, including Gil Bellows (Ally McBeal; FlashForward), Peter Wingfield (24; Caprica), Jonathon Young (Eureka; Stargate: Atlantis) and Agam Darshi (The Guard; The L Word) who reprises her role as Kate Freelander.

The stars of the series, Tapping and Dunne, sat down with the digital media to talk about the upcoming season of the show, as well as the first-ever musical episode, airing Thanksgiving weekend on November 25th.

Here is the information that has been released so far to us from Syfy on Comic-Con:

Friday, July 22:

EUREKA
PANEL: 3:00 PM-4:00 PM; Ballroom 20
PRESS ROOM: 4:00PM-5:00 PM; Room 33A

Small town. Big panel. Syfy's smash hit Eureka is back at Comic-Con. Colin Ferguson (Jack Carter), Salli Richardson-Whitfield (Allison Blake), Neil Grayston (Douglas Fargo) and guest star Felicia Day (Dr. Holly Martin) join executive producers Jaime Paglia and Bruce Miller for a chat about the big secrets of America's smartest little town. Moderated by guest star Wil Wheaton (Dr. Isaac Parrish; Wesley Crusher, Star Trek: Next Generation).

By Jamie Ruby

Anyone who has watched Syfy in recent years already knows who Amanda Tapping and Robin Dunne are. Stars of Syfy's Sanctuary, Tapping, probably best known for her work in Stargate: SG-1 and more recently Syfy's web series Riese, and Dunne, who fans should recognize from his lead role in Syfy's Beyond Sherwood Forest, sat down with the digital media last week to talk about the series. As of Friday, Sanctuary premiered the second half of its third season. The series has already been renewed four a fourth season, for which the cast has already begun table reads.

Sanctuary was originally written as a web series before it was made into a full television series, but things have changed since then, according to Tapping. "We were I think a bit ahead of our time in terms of how to monetize on the web, in terms of utilizing - social networking even has changed since Sanctuary first came out. I mean Twitter and Facebook and all that has blown up way bigger than what it was when we started.

"So, I think the possibilities on the web are far greater now than they were. And, I think it's an amazing tool. Riese is another prime example of a web series done well - with good production value...They've got amazing production values and they were able to utilize the web as an advertising tool. And it brought them the notoriety of the networks, which is much the same as what happened with Sanctuary. And I think it's just going to happen more and more. It's an amazing tool.

"But what I think is going to happen - I think the paradigm really is starting to shift, where shows will live and breathe and stay on the web. That they don't necessary have to transition to television. That there will be a whole contingent of not just you know, the squirrel riding a skateboard on You Tube kind of shows, but real production value on the Web in ongoing series."