By Kenn Gold & Shaun Daily

 Although it’s been more than a year since she filmed her final scene on the show, Kandyse McClure kindly took time out on a Sunday morning to reflect on her time on Battlestar Galactica, and on Dualla’s death in the opener for the final shows in the series.  Kandyse has moved on, with recurring stints on Reaper and Sanctuary, and the upcoming remake of Stephen King’s Children Of The Corn.  She is currently in Mexico City filming her new series, Persons Unknown.

That show follows a group of people who awaken in a deserted town with no memory of how they got there, and cannot leave. They are watched by security cameras, and are occasionally fed information via remote-controlled televisions. No matter what they try, their attempts to escape the town are thwarted by mysterious forces.  Kandyse plays Erica, who was in prison before she woke up in the town.

Kandyse spoke about her new series, as well as the emotional last day on the set of BSG as she filmed Dee’s suicide.  She also spoke about happier memories of the series, and clears up the confusion about her absence from the series wrap party.

Kenn> Why don’t you start off by telling us what you are working on now?  Why are you in Mexico, and what are you filming?

Kandyse> It’s a new show called Persons Unknown. The executive producer is Christopher McQuarrie who wrote the pilot script, and the concept and world for our show, and Remi Aubuchon.  It’s Lost-esque in a way, in that there are a group of people that have been kidnapped, they find themselves in this place, and they are trying to figure out why they are there and how to get out.  So they’re kind of like rats in a cage; sort of a psychological experiment type drama. It’s very interesting, and I’m very excited to be here.

Kenn>  So it’s a TV series then?

Kandyse> Yes, we have 13 episodes.  I think we’re shooting, and then trying to shop it around and see how it goes.  The marketing people are in charge of that.  I just show up!

Kenn> Will it film in Mexico if it goes to full series pickup?

Kandyse> It looks like we’ll probably stay here.  We’ve got a beautiful, huge built set about an hour outside of Mexico City in a little town called Ajusco, and that’s the town.   Then we do most of other work at the Televisa sound stage. 

Shaun> Fox is producing this right?

Kandyse> Yes, Fox and Televisa. 

Shaun> I read about it on Hollywood Reporter, and it looks different.  It’s something different and new.

Kandyse> Exactly.  It was a little something different on TV, and more that exploring of human psychology, what people do.  What’s a person’s reaction to being locked in a cage?  It’s a nice one, a very comfortable cage; but a cage none the less. 

Shaun> How is it filming in Mexico?  It’s got to be completely different.

Kandyse> Just the whole process of being on this show is kind of flabbergasting to me.  It happened very quickly.  On a Friday I tested, and on Monday, I was on the way to Mexico City.  I had to sort out the Summer and Winter aspects of my wardrobe; what goes to Vancouver, what goes to Mexico.  Although it does get very cold here, surprisingly, because we are at such an elevation it does get a bit chilly. 

Kenn> Do you speak, or have you learned Spanish?

Kandyse> The whole cast has been really good about it.  We all have tapes, and I’ve logged on to The Rosetta Stone online, and do my little half an hour to an hour of Spanish everyday.  And you can’t help but learn.  Our entire crew speaks Spanish, and everybody is really helpful and really friendly.  When you go to the market, they kind of tell you what it is, and help you along.  You write down the numbers before you can understand them.

Kenn> So is it strange to be talking about Galactica? When did you finish filming that?  It has to be coming up on a year or more.

Kandyse> Yeah, it was a good long while ago.  I want to say the end of the year before, in November.  It wasn’t strange, but I have to sit down and think about it again.  I have to go, “Where was I in that place? How was I feeling when I did that work and read those words?”  I have to take a minute and go back.  Especially with this new show, I play such a character, and I find myself so immersed in whatever project I’m doing at the time, it’s hard for me to go back and remember where I was a year ago.  But Battlestar, of course, is one of the most memorable things I’ve done.  So it’s hard to forget.  It was very emotional though, so it brought back all of those feelings of leaving and shooting the episode, and just the tragedy of it.  It was a really dark place to be in at that time.

Kenn> One thing I was really wondering when I saw it, did you have to prep your family and friends and people that care about you as a person?  Did you warn them that there was something really dark coming up with your character?

Kandyse> I sort of kept quiet about it.  I didn’t want to be responsible for anything being leaked on the show, or anybody catching a clue about anything.  I kind of went into a little bit of hibernation.  It’s a funny thing with my family, with my mom in particular.  It’s kind of embarrassing, but it’s kind of hilarious.  She can’t really watch me being upset.  I have died before in shows, and the first time it happened she kind of called me and said, “Ok, I can’t watch it, don’t tell me.  I’m not going to watch it.  I’m sorry, I want to be supportive, but if that’s going to happen, I don’t need to see it.”  So some of my family haven’t watched it, and a lot of them are in South Africa.  So it takes awhile for it to get there, and I’m sure the media frenzy will break the news before they get the episode.

Kenn> I talk to a lot of people that love the show obviously, but everyone was just kind of in shock.  Myself, I had to pause it and quit watching for a few minutes after the death scene.  I just had to pause the TV for a few minutes because it was so emotional.

Kandyse> Wow.  It was difficult for me.  I understood it in terms of the context of the show, and obviously, I was sad to go.  I made the decision a long time go that Ron Moore was a lot smarter than I am, so if he thinks it’s a good idea, then it probably is.  And I can see how it does serve the show. It’s a show that has never really shied away from trying to show the honest truth of how people react to things, which is obviously one of its strengths.   Of course people commit suicide; of course people just can’t take it anymore. I understand that, and in doing my research, I learned a lot about what that frame of mind is, and had my own kind of internal questions about it.  I was raised religious.  I’m not religious anymore, but you still have that kind of residual anxiety about the idea of suicide.  I think I have a greater understanding, and in a way, more a respect for what that is. 

Kenn> Was your research mostly reading or talking to people?  How did you do your research?

Kandyse> I did do a lot of reading.  The Internet is amazing.  Unfortunately, I also have some close friends who have come very close to making that decision for themselves.  They were really kind enough to share that mind space with me.  That really informed most of what I did.  For me personally, as an actress, I used the episode as a way to say goodbye.   I’ve been living this person for five years almost.  It was challenging at times, and sometimes I didn’t understand.  I was learning so much on the show, as I was going.  It seemed a process of learning and creating as I went, and it was certainly frustrating at times and elating at times, and all the other things that go on with being on a show that big, and that kind of conflicted with my own personality at times.  I used it as kind of a vehicle to show how much I enjoyed being there, how much I learned, and how much I cared about the people that I worked with, and how much respect I had for what this group of people created over the last four and a half years.  I just wanted to give, as Dualla did, give this last little bit of energy; this last little bit of anything she had left, and put it into what I was doing as much as I could.  It was my swansong.

Kenn> Did you feel like it was a satisfying end to the character though?

Kandyse> Satisfying is a difficult word.  I understood it.  I could feel it.  I could understand how this would be her choice, so in that way, yes.  Of course, for me personally, I had other ideas about what I wanted to do. Of course I wanted to be there till the end to say goodbye to everyone else.  Everybody on the show, right from the beginning, has been focused on the script and the concept of the story that we are telling.  That was definitely the atmosphere of the show, and certainly one that I had to serve that idea.  But yeah, I don’t really think too much about it. 

Kenn> Sorry we are going through all of these dark things and making you think so much about it.

Kandyse> Oh, no, no,no.

Shaun> A lot of fans are screaming, why would she do this?  But Earth was eradicated, and that broke her will right?

Kandyse> And there’s just nothing.  She tried to love, and failed.  She tried to be a leader and sort of find her way in the military.  But that became increasingly devoid of substance for her.  And yeah, there was just this one final idea.  There was this one resting place that we could find, that we could be, and start over.  If you’re the kind of person that other people always rely on, who do you rely on.  What else can you do but have that final measure of control over your life. 

Shaun> Do you wish that Dualla had had a longer death scene?

Kandyse> No, I thought that scene was really, as dark as it was, was a lot of fun for me as an actress.  Michael is such a pleasure to work with.  He is very open to discuss if you need to, but otherwise he just gives you this great breadth of space.  So during blocking and rehearsal I was sort of trying to find little things and find my way into it.  He would pick up on little things and encourage me one way or the other.  I really liked her death scene.  I liked the idea that she stripped herself.  She filled herself emotionally with these good feelings and the people that she loved.  She gave them a bit of that energy.  And then she stripped herself down.  She took off her dog tags.  She’s no longer in the military.  She’s no longer Lee’s wife.  She’s no longer this person.  She just wants to get back to something simple, something clear.  You guys are going to make me cry…..

Kenn> Let’s talk about actually filming the shooting scene?  Did they use pyrotechnics for the blood splatter?  Did you have to be close to those, or was it a stunt person?  How exactly did they do that?

Kandyse> The actual gun was a replica gun with no charge to it, but the stunt people rigged a group of squibs.  I like to do as many of my stunts as I can for the realism of it.  So yes, I stood there.  They do the gun and time it, the timing is really precise.  You see the blood and I fall to the floor.  The shot of me in that pool of blood, I thought was a beautiful shot.  You can kind of see the reflection of half my face in the blood on the floor.  There was just this strange quiet beauty about it to me. 

Kenn> Was that the final scene you shot, or did they film out of order?

Kandyse> No, that was exactly what they did.  That scene was the last I shot on the show, then I left. 

Kenn> Do you remember what it was like that final day on the set?  Do you get treated differently if you are dying on a show like this? 

Kandyse> There was definitely a sense of... There was certain energy on the set, that feeling you get when you know you have to say goodbye.  Different people came up to me and expressed their feeling about what was going on.  I kind of kept to myself.  I did speak with Jamie, and it was nice to be able to spend that last day with him.  It’s been such a pleasure to work with him.  I kind of kept to myself.  I had a lot going on for me personally and what I needed to fulfill for the day.  It was just kind of quiet goodbye in a way.

Shaun> We’ve also enjoyed seeing you on Sanctuary.  What do you think about that show?

Kandyse> I had such a great time on Sanctuary!  I was kind of sad that I didn’t really get to do much more.  I wanted to see where they were going to take it and what was going to happen.  It is a really interesting show, and it was great to work with Robin Dunn.  That was a lot of fun, and I didn’t get to see a lot of the special effects side of the show.  I didn’t get to play with too many monsters and stuff.  I was just there for that brief little interaction.  I’m always the girlfriend that’s leaving!  What is that about?

Shaun> Do you ever look at the special effects for both of these shows, and say, “Wow, look at all of these things they put around me.” Do you look at the technology?

Kandyse> I remember one of the first things about watching the mini-series of Battlestar, sitting in the audience, and one of the very first things I thought was “Holy Shit”, you have this sense of weight and movement.  The CGI on Battlestar just floored me, and that was part of what I believed was going to be the guaranteed success of the show, that they put their money where their mouths were in terms of that sort of stuff.  I haven’t seen too much of Sanctuary.  I’ve seen the guy whose head flips back and forth, that’s pretty cool.  He has the Jekyll and Hyde head.  That must be a pain in the butt to act with. 

Shaun> Of course you were on Reaper as well!  We’re glad you have your own series now, and not just these guest star appearing roles.

Kandyse> Well, Reaper was so different than anything I’d done so long, playing this very light kind of character, and somebody’s girlfriend.  Everyone on that show is so great; Tyler Labine is so funny, I was just distracted all of the time on set, especially if he was on set.  I’d be in the scene watching him, trying not to laugh, and was like, “Ok, this is a lot harder than death and destruction and mayhem.”  Trying to keep a straight face on a comedy is just a little harder for me.  But I had a great time, and it’s a really fun set to be on.

Shaun> Which genre do you prefer?  You’ve done a lot of sci fi, and Persons Unknown doesn’t really sound like it’s sci fi.  Are there genres that you’d like to be in that you haven’t been in yet?

Kandyse> I’m just really up for anything.  It’s all learning, and all of these little pieces of yourself that you can discover.  I’d like to do more comedy.  I think comedy is one of the most difficult things you can do in performance.  Comedy is like this high bar, personally for me in my training that I try to aspire to.  I got into this industry kind of by accident.  I never really thought of myself as being an artist or an actor earlier in my life.  Every day is something new, and everyday is something that I’m learning.  I’m lucky enough to be on set for going on ten years, working with these absolute consummate professionals of the industry.  To learn from people like Mary McDonnell and Edward James Olmos, just recently.  I’m trying to figure it out.  This new character is something that I’m so not.  That’s really fun to just be able to explore completely outside of your personality, when the sky’s the limit. You don’t have those restrictions of, “Oh no, that’s not me.”  I know that’s not me.  Dualla had more aspects of who I was as a person, but Erica, the new character is just such a departure, it kind of opens her wide up.

Kenn> Can you tell us anything more about the character, or is it kind of secret at this point?

Kandyse> I don’t know if it’s secret at this point.  Am I going to get into trouble? (laughs) She is a product of her circumstances.  She had a difficult upbringing, and lost somebody very close to her and found herself in prison.  My character has been in prison for quite a long time, so that’s been really fun to explore the psychology of institutionalization in a person. She’s very violent.  She’s quite manipulative.  She’s very dark, but it’s a lot of fun.  She’s also very physical, which is something that I didn’t have a lot of opportunity to do on Battlestar.  It’s really a great deal of fun for me to be able to move as much as I do, and to fight and do more stunts and running, and to be really active in the work. 

Shaun> Did you have to research the character to figure out what kind of life that is?

Kandyse> Oh, of course, and I continue to do so.  I read a lot, and watched a lot about women in prison in particular.  I found a lot of really disturbing statistics about what that is.  I watched lots of interviews, and as soon as I get some time, I’m hoping to go and visit a correctional institution.  I do little things for myself to understand what my reaction is to being in a small space for long periods of time.  How do you occupy yourself mentally, how do you keep yourself fit?  What measure of control can you exercise over your life?  Interestingly enough in my career, I find that the characters I play next are in a lot of ways, informed by the character I played before.  In a way, it’s sort of an evolution of her in these different aspects of a person that you get to explore.  It’s what I’ve been doing for a decade.

Shaun> Do you have an Aaron Douglas story?  Everybody I’ve talked to from Battlestar seems to have one.

Kandyse> That’s dangerous! (laughs).

Shaun> I see Aaron a lot here in Vegas, he comes here like every weekend. 

Kandyse> He loves Vegas.  How much time does he spend in Vegas?  Well, this might be a bit embarrassing for both of us.  But it happened.  At the wrap party for the mini-series we were at a restaurant, and we really didn’t know each other very well then.  I remember Aaron had these Hunter S. Thompson-esque gold sunglasses.  They were so Vegas, and the loudest shirt you’ve ever seen in your whole life.  We were watching the gag reel and you just hear this voice from the back of the crowd.  “Look at her eyes, she’s fucking gorgeous, look at her eyes!”  You turn around and there’s Aaron Douglas.  I understand it was a compliment, but I was like, “Oh God! Who is this person?”  It’s a good story because Aaron and I have come to be really good friends over the years.  He actually understands me a great deal more than I understand myself sometimes.  For as grumpy as he can be, he is excessively charming, that Mr. Douglas. 

Kenn> You mentioned a wrap party, I think it was on Sci Fi Wire, or one of the interviews you did last week, you said you didn’t get to go to the series wrap party.  Was that because you were somewhere else filming, or what?

Kandyse> Yes, and I totally should have clarified that.  I was invited.  I think it was an American bank holiday that weekend and different people were out of town.  So they moved the date a couple of times, and I had been booked for a convention in Australia a little while before that.  It just ended up being bad timing.  I was in Australia with Jules Staite and Nichelle Nichols, and I got to miss the party unfortunately.  But the producers of the convention were really sweet.  They got me a huge Battlestar cake.  I should put those pictures up because they are really classic.  They got me a huge cake with the Battlestar emblem on it, and I got to be there with Nichelle Nichols.  They called a bunch of the cast and got them to leave messages.  They played their messages from the wrap party for me while I was in Australia.  So I heard from Michael Trucco, Aaron Douglas and Tahmoh Penikett.  They were at the party kind of screaming into their cell phones so I felt like I was there. 

Kenn> I read that and I was really kind of sad, but figured it was something like that.  When I first read that, I was like “Those bastards, they didn’t invite her to the wrap party!”

Kandyse> Yeah, I read that and people were like, “That damn Ron Moore!”  I was like, “No, no, it wasn’t him, I was totally invited!”

Kenn> We actually had a call with Ron and Kate Vernon earlier this week about the final Cylon reveal.  Did you know that you were considered for the final Cylon?  Ron actually said that the other day.

Kandyse> I didn’t actually.  There are always rumors because everybody on the show is talking about the show all of the time.  A lot of people would be like, “It’s totally you, you are totally it!”  I didn’t really let myself think about it, because it’s a huge cast and anything can happen.  There were some really strong choices on that set.  I think it’s such an interesting choice with Ellen Tigh.  She was always such a fun character, and Kate Vernon does such an amazing job; really beautiful work.

Kenn> Yeah, it was definitely a surprise, and I guess the two of you both had your big episode together with the opener.

Kandyse> Yes.

 Kenn> Now one thing that came up with your character’s name, in the fandom everybody thought they had decoded the secret with Anastasia Dualla-….

Kandyse> Yeah, her name means resurrection I think?

Kenn> Right, and then Dualla, meaning dual nature or something like that?

Kandyse> For a brief moment there I was with you, I was like, “Yeah, that makes sense!”  There’s a little secret code there and that would be a really neat thing.  It’s kind of sad in a way for me.  I feel like I could have been more interesting.  What could I have done to be more interesting as a character to pay off and be the final Cylon.  What could I have done, why didn’t I get it.  It’s like not booking an audition in a way.  But there are so many other factors involved. Certainly the relationship between Tigh and Ellen is one of the craziest and the most interesting on the show.  So I can see how it makes sense.

Kenn> Do you know all of the secrets of the show?  Do you know how it’s going to end? Or once you are gone, are you out of the loop?

Kandyse>  I could have kept in the loop, but I made a decision after I filmed 4x11 to just kind of cut myself out of it completely and to have the opportunity to watch those last few episodes as an audience member; without knowing the other side of it.  I gave myself my own little bit of suspension of disbelief.  And I think for myself, I just had to walk away.  It was difficult for me not to be there, so I couldn’t really hear about it.  I’d just be insanely jealous and want to be there all the time.

Kenn> Also, I think you said in another interview that the way you found out that something was coming is that there were only 13 episodes in negotiation.  But you died in 11.  Does that mean we get two more somewhere with flashbacks or something?

Kandyse> No, I think it was 11 and the two might have been Razor, or something that I wasn’t even really in. 

Kenn> Do you have any crazy stories about meeting fans at conventions or wherever?

Kandyse> Half the time I meet the fans at the convention, and I’m like, “You could probably tell me more than I could tell you!”  I can tell little stories about being behind the scenes and what it was like to be there.  But in terms of the underlying story and theories, really paying attention to the details of the show, these fans are really dedicated.  But I can imagine that at times it gets obsessive.

Kenn> Have you ever had an experience where somebody was just way to excited to meet you?

Kandyse> Not so much at the conventions.  I haven’t really been to that many, and the places I’ve gone people were quite well behaved.  They are shy for the most part and they are so nervous, which is weird for me.  But I’ve gotten my fair share of prison mail!  I remember I got this huge gift basket on my birthday.  This fan sent it from Florida, and it was sweet, and it was very nice.  But I was like, “You know when my birthday is and you remember.  And you send me this pasta platter gift basket from Florida?”  There were a couple of extras on the show that I unfortunately had to have moved a couple of times because they were giving me the hairy eyeball!  Or the salty eyeball, not the hairy one!

Shaun> How do you feel about women in sci fi?  Have things progressed to a point where women are on an equal footing with the men?

Kandyse> I think sci fi in particular, as a genre, has made the most strides in terms of writing more personality and more person into the roles that women play.  I’ve always had the idea that in Hollywood, men get to play men, but women get to play roles.  You are somebody’s girlfriend, you are somebody’s wife, you’re somebody’s mother depending on what age you are.  I think sci fi, and certainly this show has sought to write real people, be they men or women, or Cylon.  Even speaking to Nichelle Nichols and hearing the stories that she had, and how far she has come and what she gets to see on TV these days.   Sci fi is always the genre that breaks ground; though there is always that temptation to over sexualize the female roles, or over masculine-ize them as well.  There is this idea of sexual femininity which is sort of predatory and kind of dark.  Or there is kind of a complete lack of sexuality about them at all, and it’s this idea that they are attempting to fit into a very male world, idea, or role.

 Shaun> They kind of had to walk a tight-rope in this show with Starbuck’s character.  They had to make her tough enough to be accepted in this role as the new Starbuck, but show her feminine side, so they had to walk a tight-rope with that character, particularly. 

Kandyse> Definitely.  I can’t imagine the pressures Katee had going into the show.  Fans weren’t happy about her being a woman.  And she had to step into these boots.  Katee herself is really a feminine girl.  She loves to dress up and she always looks great.  She has these little dogs that she cares for and she has this really nurturing side to her.  It was interesting to see how she, as a person, informed what she did, and I think it spoke to having that feminine side of her character.  She stepped into those shoes really well.

Shaun> I’m on Twitter also, and mentioned I’m in this interview, so someone there has a question.  Were you on the set for the towel scene?

Kandyse> Oh, you bet your sweet bippy I was!  I was front and center for that one. Hey listen, he’s married, he has a beautiful wife and beautiful children, and I love them all.  But do you think I was going to miss him dropping the towel?  Oh, no!

Kenn> Did he at least have a cod-piece on?  You don’t have to answer that.

Kandyse> He didn’t have anything on.  Listen, he was really good about it, and he let it drop.  You kind of saw something but you kind of didn’t.  He’s quite modest.  He’s so funny because he’s so shy.  He was so worried about what he looked like, and he was working out.  I was like, “Are you kidding? You’re like Adonis- you’re Apollo!”

Kenn> Well, we could have got to see fat Apollo drop his towel, and that would have been different. 

Kandyse> Yeah, I was right upfront for that one!

Kenn> What was your favorite scene to do as Dualla, and maybe what was your favorite scene to see as a fan, if you have favorites.

Kandyse> That’s really hard.  It’s a huge body of work to go over.  I guess for me, shooting that final scene was something I’ll always remember.  It was certainly one of the most memorable scenes.  Getting to work with Katee for the first time, together with her, was really fun.  Plus running around with a gun and down the hill; I like doing really physical scenes.  The crying scene with Billy when he died was intense.  Certainly the first scene I had with Eddie was amazing.  To watch, I really love Baltar, I love to watch even on set.  When he had scenes, I’d go to the set just to watch him work and watch him do it.  There are a number of great scenes between Jamie and Mary.  As the Roslin/Adama relationship started to evolve, there were some really cute scenes there.  I couldn’t be specific. 

Kenn> Probably a good percentage of the fans will see this.  What would you like to say directly to the fans of Dualla, and of you in general?  Is there anything you’d like to tell them?

Kandyse> I just want to say thank you for helping to bring her to life in the way that they saw her.  They were so supportive of her or saddened or enraged on her behalf along the way.  Through the eyes of the fans, I’ve managed to see Dualla in so many different ways.  Certainly they encouraged me to keep doing what I was doing, and to show up every single day.  I’m just really grateful that I was able to touch people, that I had this great fan based that really saw her and were touched by her.  I’m very, very grateful for that reflection and for that support.