Tuesday night, fans of Warehouse 13 and Eureka were treated to the start of an exciting crossover event. Global Dynamics’ own Douglas Fargo (Neil Grayston) was brought to the Warehouse for a long overdue system upgrade, resulting in some technical difficulties that threatened to put the Warehouse in a deep freeze. Trapped inside, Claudia (Allison Scagliotti), Artie (Saul Rubinek) and Fargo went head-to-head with the AI system in place to prevent the warehouse from being compromised. And this Friday, Claudia visits Eureka.
Earlier this week, I chatted with Allison Scagliotti and Neil Grayston about the crossover, and they had some fantastic insights to share on the experience and what’s in store for viewers!
How did this crossover come about, and what made it appealing for both of you?
AS: I believe that the nugget of the crossover idea began when Neil and I met at last year’s Comic-Con, Comic-Con 2009. I watched the Eureka panel moderated by Josh Gates, which was hilarious. Then, at the Syfy party I marched up to Neil and I said, “Neil, let’s be friends.” And he said, “Okay, it sounds good.” We were inseparable from that moment on and we had this immediate dorky chemistry where we were finishing each others sentences and delivering punch lines at the same time.
NG: Yes, that was weird that first time when we just made the same joke and we stopped, and we’re like we just made that joke at the same time.
AS: Yes, we have the same sense of humour. We did on the set, too. And our chemistry played so well in life that I think our respective showrunners and the good people over at Syfy realized what a commodity it can be to blend these shows. So here we are, Claudia and Fargo at the centre of this awesome crossover event.
NG: One year later.
Both Claudia and Fargo have become key characters on each show, and gained popularity with the fans. Could each of you tell us about the growth of your characters?
NG: For me, it’s just one of those awesome things where I was actually only contracted to be in seven episodes a season. I was really a tertiary character in Eureka. And they just sort of kept on chucking me in to the point where now I’m all episodes, my character is running Global Dynamics. It’s a nice thing to work hard and try to do the best job you can, have that noticed, and have them continue to employ me. It’s awesome.
AS: On my side of things, similarly when I joined the cast in Season 1, I came in late, I showed up in Episode 4. Claudia was an outsider who sort of fought her way in and had to figure out where she fit within this group, but has become such an integral part of the family. She’s sort of everyone’s little sister … little nerdy sister. And that really mirrors my evolution as an actress, trying to belong to something, finding her way onto this show and developing a second family with this amazing cast and crew. I’ve been really lucky to play a girl who’s very close to myself.
Can you share some details on this crossover, particularly why Fargo is visiting the Warehouse, and what brings Claudia to Eureka?
AS: So, Fargo comes to the Warehouse to update our computer system. Little does he know that much like all of the artifacts, the Warehouse has an organic human element that it’s not as simple to upgrade as just a new plug-in. So the Warehouse fights back because we discover that an important component of the computer system is half of a man’s brain. We have Renee Auberjonois from Deep Space Nine guesting as a Warehouse agent whose brain was compromised. We – Claudia and Fargo – connect in the Warehouse and put our heads together to sort of save the day. I’m going to gush a little bit, because I watched the episode twice now. Neil hits it out of the park. I’m so glad that he’s so featured in this episode because he’s really fantastic in it. And I predict that this episode is going to be a fan favourite.
NG: Fargo obviously has a little bit of a crush on Claudia and he starts making the purple goo that the Warehouse uses for the artifacts and sort of synthesizes it. So Fargo decides to start making a version of that in Eureka and invites Claudia over to come pick up a batch, and then science happens, and mystery happens, and Claudia helps save the day and solves some puzzles that are happening, and explosions happen and sparks and stuff and it’s a really fun episode.
AS: Sparks and explosions and kissing, I might add.
What were the challenges of playing your characters on a different show and in a different working environment?
NG: I didn’t find it to be that difficult myself. I know the entire cast from Warehouse 13, well most of them, and I knew the director and the second unit director who happens to be the supervising producer as well because they both directed an episode of Eureka, so it was just like going over to my extended family’s house for dinner. It was one of the most comfortable sets I’ve ever actually been on, which was radical.
AS: And we loved having you. Yes, it was very much like packing a bag with all your character’s attributes in it and bringing it over to your family on the other side of the country. The shows have unique tones, Eureka is grounded in science and Warehouse 13 is more sort of the unexplained, the supernatural, but I think it’s plausible that there are two top secret government institutions in different parts of the country that are somewhat connected. Everyone over on Eureka was super supportive of me staying true to Claudia’s sort of snarkiness.
Do you think the crossover episodes will be beneficial to both series?
NG: Yes, I think maybe for the people who never sort of connected with the other show, I’m going to say, it might sort of help people to start watching the other one as well. I think just having them in the same universe opens up so many different possibilities for a bunch of awesome fun times. So I’m actually really excited that we went ahead and blended the universes.
Are we going to see any Warehouse artifacts in Eureka and will we come across any Eureka artifacts in The Warehouse?
AS: I bring some tracking devices over to Eureka when I’m there picking up the purple goo. And that’s another, you know, little Warehouse feature, I guess, the purple goo that we use to protect the artifacts is manufactured there. And then, Neil, you bring some gack over to the Warehouse, don’t you?
NG: Yes, yes. I’ve got a couple suitcases of stuff, the robot eggs and the laser.
Without a doubt both of you are fan favourites and you’ve both mentioned your on and off screen chemistry. Do you guys think this crossover could be a spinoff series in the making for Syfy?
NG: That would be so rad.
AS: Could you imagine? Where would we shoot it?
NG: Brazil.
AS: Warehouse shoots in Toronto and Eureka shoots in Vancouver, would we end up in Regina Saskatchewan?
NG: Oh. Oh, I kind of hope not.
AS: I think it’s somewhere in the middle…
NG: I don’t mean to disparage the prairies. I’d say we just go somewhere completely out there – in Europe. Let’s do it in Europe somewhere.
AS: Yes.
NG: In Spain.
Do you think this crossover event opens up the possibility of future crossovers, into other Syfy series besides Eureka and Warehouse 13?
NG: I kind of hope so. I really like the idea of making the network like a comic book company, it’s like DC or Marvel where everyone exists in a similar universe. There are so many possibilities and it’s kind of awesome.
AS: That’s a great idea. I just started brainstorming about if we had our own little Justice League if we would call it the “Nerd Gang “ and who would be in it. It would definitely be you and me.
NG: Of course.
AS: And then David Blue, and probably Colin Ferguson and Saul Rubinek.
NG: Yes, absolutely.
AS: All of the casts for all the Syfy shows, we’re all in. We’re all in the “Nerd Gang”.
NG: We’ll be the leaders though, right? We’ll lead it. You know, just because.
AS: Yes.
Be sure to tune in to Eureka on Syfy this Friday night at 9 pm for the conclusion of this crossover event!
Photo Courtesy of Syfy
