The following contains spoilers for episode two.

An expansion of the original series, Orphan Black: Echoes takes place in the future and continues the exploitations of science. Krysten Ritter stars as Lucy in the sci-fi thriller, a woman who wakes up without a past and soon discovers that she was not born, but printed. Although she doesn’t know it yet, her creator is none other than Kira Manning (Keeley Hawes), Sarah (Tatiana Maslany)’s grown daughter from the original series. 

In episode two, which premiered last night, Lucy took the kidnapped Jules (Amanda Fix) to Settlement House, getting Craig (Jonathan Whittaker)’s help in an interrogation of the teenage girl, who she believes is the same as her, hoping to shed some light on what’s going on.

According to John Fawcett, who co-created the original series and serves as an executive producer and director of this news series, there was discussion even back at the end of the original series that they wanted to have some kind of continuation of the Orphan Black story. “[Graeme Manson and I] always made jokes about what the spin off could be,” Fawcett told SciFi Vision during a recent interview. “Ultimately, Boat Rocker and Anna [Fishko] came up with the concept for Echoes and brought me on to help develop it.” 

They knew, however, that the new series would never be the same as Orphan Black. “That show is special, and there's no real way of making a copy of it,” said Fawcett. “That bar is really, really high. So, it was more interesting to me, and I think, to Anna Fishko, to create a show that shared some DNA, but really was its own thing and then was meant to kind of stand on its own…For better or for worse, that was the goal. The goal was to make a kind of a new vibe out of the show.” 

Being its own thing, of course cinematically the new series was also different. “[I]t's got a very different structure in the way the mystery is laid out, and that was kind of on purpose,” explained the director. “…where Orphan Black had this kind of, like rock and roll, edge of your seat, roller coaster, thrill ride vibe, this has more of a kind of polished, sort of cinematic, meditative approach to discovering the characters and the mystery.” 

Fawcett admitted he does enjoy the connections, however. “I loved putting Easter eggs into the show, wherever I could. It was great.” 

A big connection was Felix Dawkins (Jordan Gavaris), Sarah’s adopted sister in the original series, who returned in episode two last night, which was a great surprise for fans. “[T]hat was a really fun challenge,” the director told the site. “It was really cool to go, ‘What are these characters like now? What have they been up to?’ and for the actors to come up with the old versions of what those beloved characters that they created were. So, I think that that was a real exciting part of the show, and whenever we could dip back into Orphan Black lore. Those are the kinds of things I appreciate, and I certainly know the fans do as well.” 

For more, including the difficulties in casting three versions of the same characters, what went into creating the scenes in the lab with the pink goo, and more, watch the full interview and read the transcript below. Orphan Black: Echoes airs Sundays on AMC and BBC America and is available to stream on AMC+.



SCIFI VISION:   So, from the beginning, or, I guess I should say, from the end of the original series, did you always think that there would be another television series, or did you have to be convinced? I'm just kind of curious how that conversation went.

JOHN FAWCETT:   I think we always made jokes about the spin off and what the spin off would be. My original vote was that I thought it should be about Donnie and Art living together in a bachelor's suite, like both their wives had left them, and they were living together and they were solving crimes, but nobody seemed to go for that idea. [laughs] So, yeah, but we always made jokes about what the spin off could be. Ultimately, Boat Rocker and Anna came up with the concept for Echoes and brought me on to help develop it. Anna and I worked together during the pandemic, and I didn't actually meet her in person until we were literally making the show, but that was that kind of process. And because Graeme Manson and I had had so many conversations about what the future would look like for these characters, there was already kind of a little bit of a roadmap, and certainly there was a roadmap with Kira, because there were a lot of discussions about her. So, I think those conversations that I'd had with Graeme kind of transposed into conversations with Anna, and the two things kind of ended up fusing together. Because I think, Graeme and I have always talked about wanting to see the show, wanting to see the characters, all the characters from the original show, come back, like ten years later. I think we'd all like to know where the hell they're at ten years later. So, that's a whole other thing. We're talking about Echoes right now. That was the end of when Orphan Black wrapped. Those were the kinds of conversations we were having. What does a spin off look like? What are these characters doing ten years from now? Then, interestingly enough, Echoes is set thirty some odd years in the future or so.

Do you worry at all, though, that it would - I guess now you probably don't, but did you at all originally worry that it would kind of diminish, I guess, what the original was doing, because, I mean, it's so beloved, obviously? So, were you worried at all about that, and also, I guess, worried about how fans would react to it, just in general?

That show is special, and there's no real way of making a copy of it. That bar is really, really high. So, it was more interesting to me, and I think, to Anna Fishko, to create a show that shared some DNA, but really was its own thing and then was meant to kind of stand on its own. There're connections to Orphan Black, but ultimately, it's its own show. It's its own feel. It's not trying to be the roller coaster thrill ride like the original Orphan Black was; it kind of wants to be its own thing. For better or for worse, that was the goal. The goal was to make a kind of a new vibe out of the show. So, whether people go, “Oh, it's not Orphan Black,” well, nothing's going to be Orphan Black, because Orphan Black was special.

Yeah, its own thing, but it works. So, you directed the first two episodes and…the finale too. So, are there things that you did specifically to kind of, I guess, be similar in style and things to reference back to [the original] on purpose, and are there things you did purposely to make it different?

I think, certainly from a cinematic point of view and a style point of view, it's got a very different structure in the way the mystery is laid out and that was kind of on purpose. It doesn't have that, like, “we're going to follow clues down the rabbit hole.” It's got a mystery where you kind of put all your cards on the table, and then you go, “how did we get here?” So, the mystery kind of, certainly, in the first season, has a different approach. I think that where Orphan Black had this kind of, like rock and roll, edge of your seat, roller coaster, thrill ride vibe, this has more of a kind of polished, sort of cinematic, meditative approach to discovering the characters and the mystery…I think that's how it's always been on Orphan Black is, whatever people expect, let's do something different, and let's not give people what they expect. It's always been the mantra. So, I think that was the vibe here, and I think it's trying to have a new show find its own identity and its own feet.

I just wondered if there were any like, I guess, specific, I don't know, stylistic elements or whatever?

I loved putting Easter eggs into the show, wherever I could. It was great. I think, well, maybe people know that there are certain actors and characters from the original series that are coming back, and that was a really fun challenge. It was really cool to go, “What are these characters like now? What have they been up to?” and for the actors to come up with the old versions of what those beloved characters that they created were. So, I think that that was a real exciting part of the show, and whenever we could dip back into Orphan Black lore. I think those are the kinds of things I appreciate, and I certainly know the fans do as well.

Yeah, that part was a lot of fun. I was trying to think of a specific scene to ask you about. Talk about filming some of the scenes in the room with the pink tank and all the goo and all that, because that's something that stylistically was really, really cool.

Well, there’s obviously a lot of design work that went into that, a lot of planning. As soon as you're going to have a big vat of goo, and you're going to put an actor in the vat, there's a lot of engineering, and suddenly, FX is involved and stunts are involved. It's a big thing, right? There was a kind of - On top of that, we had to face cast Kristen so that we could build this kind of mesh mold that she could peel away from her. So, she had to go to FX and get a - I think it was just a face [and] torso that we did for her, but ultimately, had to build this big kind of armature, biological casing that she's crawled out of. It was really fun to do that stuff. That wasn't stuff that we really got to do much on the original show. So, there were kind of new, unique challenges with Echoes. I'm just trying to come up with something that looks like that doesn't look like anything else you've seen.

That was going to be my question, what kind of challenges did you face? Because obviously you don't so much have like, the same person in the same scene over and over again. So, what were some of the other things that stand out that were difficult?

Well, one of the biggest things was casting, because we're having to cast three women all to kind of somewhat believably be the same person at different ages, and that's always a challenge for any show that wants to see a younger version of the actor. They're going to do flashbacks, and we're going to see the younger version of them. It happens a lot, but not very often do we get to see the older version as well. So, there is this threefold, like now we've made it that much trickier to cast, and I feel like that was something that took a lot of effort and a lot of time, and I think we did well. I think people will be impressed with all three of these women.

I definitely think it worked. So, let me ask you, I don't know if you can tell me this anyway, but is there any idea of, is there going to be a season two? Has there been discussion? And if there is, are you wanting to be part of it, I guess would be the other thing?

I absolutely want to be part of it. I am all about expanding the Orphan Black universe and doing the best shows we can and making it live in a place where the original fans can enjoy it and new people can come to the show, and even if they haven't seen the old show, they can still enjoy the new show and maybe kind of go, “Wow. I wonder what that original show is like?” and go to check it out. So, I am definitely on board. I think we don't know yet whether there will be a season two, but fingers crossed, and we'll, we'll be out out again, hopefully.

I was going to say, it sounds like you have ideas, even maybe for other things in the universe down the road still.

I have way too many ideas, and everyone's, “John let's see how Orphan Black: Echoes does first.<