Doctor Doctor – A Conversation with Lost Girl’s Zoie Palmer

Lost Girl fans … I promised you a treat this weekend, and I’m here to deliver the goods! I was so fortunate to chat with Dr. Lauren Lewis herself, Zoie Palmer, and wanted to share some of that conversation with all of you! So before tonight’s new episode, grab a bevvy, sit back, and enjoy the read!

Some of the mystery surrounding Lauren has finally been revealed, and I think it came as quite a surprise to many viewers. How surprised were you to discover these revelations about Lauren?

ZP: Very. It’s been kind of cool because it’s been a similar journey for me as it’s been for the audience. We don’t know a ton in advance how things are going to unravel. When I had interviews last year about the connection to the Ash and the Light Fae and what was happening with Lauren, I didn’t have those answers either. It’s been a really great ride to discover who she is and why she’s working for [the Light Fae] and for the Ash. The idea that there was another person involved, another woman involved, it was great, and it helps me as an actor when I get excited about the script. I think I was as surprised as everybody else.

I did not see that coming.

ZP: Nope, me neither.

I gasped at my television, and immediately thought of all the possibilities that could play out through the rest of this season.Now, the last episode we saw was “Original Skin”, which has to be one of my favourites so far this season.

ZP: Yeah, that was written by Emily Andras, and it was great for us, too, because in a series, you play the same character every week, and there’s pros to that, there’s something really great about really being able to inhabit a character and find your way into them, but what a wrench was thrown in. I think it was harder for some of the other guys – I think they had a bigger challenge I should say – I think they all handled it extremely well, but I think it was a bigger challenge in that they had to emulate people we know, and I had the luxury of being able to create a bit and not having to confine myself to a really specific person. I think I had it a little easier in that respect.

I think you really stole the show in that episode.

ZP: Oh thank you.

And Dyson as Kenzi was quite amusing.

ZP: Yeah, he was great.

If anything like that were to happen again at some point in the series, which of the other core characters would you like to play?

ZP: This is a conversation that came up on set while we were shooting it. We were like, “Oh I wish I could’ve played you,” or “Wouldn’t it have been fun if we had swapped.” There was a lot of that chit chat. There was a part of me that thought it would be fun to play Hale, I think Lauren playing Hale would be a fun thing to watch, and their interaction with Kenzi because Kenzi and Lauren’s relationship – although it seems to be turning a slight corner – has been strained over the last season and the beginning of this one. Hale and Kenzi have such a different dynamic that I thought it would be kind of fun to play him, and he’s such a character. I think some viewers thought it would be fun for Lauren and Bo to flip, and I thought maybe, but I like the idea of doing something that’s a bigger stretch, that’s so far away from yourself. As an actor, I get excited about trying something that I have no idea if I can do it or not. If I’m a little scared, that’s when I get a bit excited. I like to be a little unsure that I can do it.

I find that always leads to the best performances.

ZP: Well, it means that you have to go for it. You have to go a hundred percent, because otherwise, it doesn’t work. You have to just do it, and not worry about what you look like. Playing that character Raynard was a bit terrifying because I had a little snippet of his work, so I really was taking from that little piece that I had and going from there, and because he was a larger than life, kind of crazy guy, I was like, “Oh my god, I’m going to look ridiculous,” but it’s one of those things, it’s all or nothing.

I know whenever I’m writing or appearing in public, if I’m not nervous, it means I don’t care.

ZP: Yeah, that’s why we get into this industry, because it is exciting, it is thrilling and it is terrifying, and that’s a draw for me and a lot of artists.

Even though we do know why Lauren is indebted to the Ash and the Light Fae by learning about Nadia, is it safe to assume that we still don’t know Lauren’s full story, and will more be revealed this season?

ZP: Yeah, I don’t think we know all of Lauren’s story. I think there’s more to Lauren and that she’s a pretty complicated character. She surprises me even at times when I read the script. As far as stuff being revealed this season , yes, we’ve only just cracked into what’s happening. There’s a ton to come. It’s just the tip of the iceberg. You have a bit of a ride still.

I’d say that loyal is a good word to describe Lauren, and we’ve seen her loyalty come into question. Can we expect Lauren’s loyalty to be tested?

ZP: Yeah, probably. I think that was one of the biggest talking points about her last season, about where her loyalties lie. It was hard for her in so many ways, because my feeling on her is that she is by nature a loyal person, but because I also think she’s a pretty multi-layered character, I think there are times in her life where she’s had to make decisions that would suggest otherwise, and certainly in Season One, when the whole thing went down with Bo, there was a lot of backlash about that. People really responded strongly to [the fact that] Lauren used Bo, or being with her because the Ash needed information and wanted Bo to align herself with the Light Fae. Boy did people respond to that in a really big, visceral way, which I think speaks to that loyalty is such a big deal to people. It speaks to the fact that it mattered why she was with Bo, it wasn’t just that she was with her, but it mattered why, and when the why was in question, people had a big reaction. I think that all of these characters’ loyalties get tested all the time … People very easily want to put people into categories, that they’re bad or that they’re good. I think that we’re way more complicated than that, human beings, and I think that in this show, the Fae have a lot of those human [traits]. Bo is very human in a lot of ways, her reactions and responses and feelings about things are human, and I like the idea that sometimes we are evil, and sometimes we are great, and we can be both of those things and all in between throughout our lives. I think we make good choices and bad choices, and that we get really self-righteous sometimes because we’ve done something fantastic, and the next day we make a really poor choice for one reason or another, and I like the idea that [Lauren] might be any of those things at any given time. She might make a poor choice, and she might not always be altruistic, and she might have her own interest at the forefront at times. I’ve kind of tried to put that into her a bit, she’s a person in the truest sense of that.

Let’s talk hypothetical situations. For you, as Lauren, what would you like to see play out: Nadia waking up, and having to choose between her and Bo, or Dyson’s love for Bo returning and having to fight him for Bo’s love?

ZP: It’s hard to [choose], I think. That triangle (Bo/Lauren/Dyson), there’s such history to that and so many emotions invested in that triangle now that I think the audience and even the three of us – Anna, Kris and myself – have talked amongst ourselves about where that might go if they continue to explore that triangle, and Dyson and Lauren’s relationship and where that could go. I think there are a lot of questions in that triangle that would be fantastic to explore. There are people that still want to know how that could play out. But on the flip side, the idea of introducing a new woman into Lauren’s life, there’s a ton there, too. I don’t know if I could pick. This is such a testament to the writing staff and the showrunner who have really managed to come up with some provocative stuff that people are really responding to, and I’m curious to know what happens with both of those things. I feel like I have the same answer as if you asked someone who watches the show, “Which one do you want to see unravel,” and I think that people would probably say, “I don’t know, maybe both.” Have little triangles everywhere, little octagons.

I remember you mentioning back at FanExpo that there might be some quadrangles introduced at some point.

ZP: Yeah, it’s a little bit like that. They’ve kind of opened up this door that all of a sudden, there’s you name it and it ends in angle, and we’re all part of it. I think it would be cool if we could do all of that. What would want to see unravel?

At this point, to me, it doesn’t look the Bo/Dyson relationship is going to come back any time soon, so I’m more intrigued to see if Nadia wakes up. I think that dynamic would be really great to explore, especially with the direction the relationship between Bo and Lauren has taken this year. It comes back to the issue of loyalty coming into question, and the history that Lauren has with Nadia.

ZP: I was shocked the very first time when I read that script, where we learned that’s what it was all about, that there was another girlfriend. Never in a million years, when we started Episode One of last season, did I have any idea that it would go here.

Yeah, and that your character would put herself in that position, to be indebted to these creatures, for love.

ZP: Which would suggest that was quite a relationship, for someone to make that kind of commitment. I was thinking about it, she’s been indebted to the Ash for these five years, and that speaks volumes.

I recently watched the episode that you did of Call Me Fitz, and I thought that you were hysterical.

ZP: That’s such a great show.

And that was such an amazing character. You never know who, or what type of character, is going to come out of the woodwork on it. Do you have any other TV appearances coming up, or projects that we can look out for during the inevitable hiatus that we have to endure?

ZP: You know, it’s funny because I shot quite a few things between Season One and Season Two, but since Season Two’s come back, we have, as you know, been picked up for the back nine, so there’s been absolutely no time for any of us to do any other work at all. I think anything I shot between the last two seasons has aired. But I did a movie called Cold Blooded which hasn’t been released yet, so that [is coming up] but I don’t know when. And [it’s] quite a different character from Lauren.

I think you’re so diverse. I find that anything I’ve seen you in is always so different.

ZP: Thank you. That’s a big compliment, because as actors, that’s our hope, that we have the opportunity to play different people and if that’s the case, then thank you, that’s why I do this. I’m so grateful that [Lost Girl] has done as well as it has, and people have responded to it. And we’re lucky, because you don’t know. People do shows all the time, and sometimes people respond and sometimes they don’t, and we’ve been so fortunate. On the set, it’s a great vibe, and everyone feels pretty grateful about that.

In the new year, our friends in the US finally get to see Lost Girl.

ZP: Yes, they do.

You guys already have such a passionate, worldwide fanbase, so are you excited to see the show open up to these potential new fans and see them experience it for the first time?

ZP: Completely. We can’t wait to see how it goes over there. Personally, I’m a little nervous because there’s been such a big reaction, so I’m mildly nervous that’s it’s going to open up to such a big audience, but it’s excited nervous. We’re thrilled that Syfy has picked it up in the States, and I think it’s airing in Australia and England.

What I’m looking forward to is seeing people experiencing it for the first time, because I won’t have that experience ever again. I want to see those reactions and compare their experience watching it to mine.

ZP: Absolutely. I think about that, too, and I think about how far we’ve come from Season One, where certainly my character, and where Bo was, when she didn’t even know what she was. She didn’t know she was Fae, she didn’t understand what was going on, and my charter actually told her you’re a succubus. It’s kind of fun to think that people will get to experience that again as we did in the moment shooting it. I remember meeting all of the cast for the first time. We were all new and really didn’t know each other and we weren’t really sure, all of that which happens on any set when you go for the first time. It’s like when you’ve read a really great book and somebody [else] hasn’t, and you really envy them.

That’s exactly how I feel about my friends who haven’t seen it yet.

ZP: It’ll be fun for them to be able to go through that, because like you said, we can’t go through that again.

Photo Courtesy of Showcase