This Friday, listeners will be treated to the next episode of Orphan Black: The Next Chapter, the groundbreaking audio series produced by Realm. The show, which is now in its second season, serves as a canonical sequel to the genre-bending drama Orphan Black, which garnered awards and legions of fans across a five-season run on BBC America. Picking up eight years after the events of the series finale, the audio show dives into the lives of the Project Leda clones and their friends and family — particularly, now that the secret of clones was outed to the world in Season 1.
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The Next Chapter brings back Emmy-winning Orphan Black star Tatiana Maslany, who served as the main narrator for Season 1 and continues to voice the various Leda clones in Season 2. This time around, Maslany isn’t the only original cast member returning, with Evelyne Brochu (Delphine Cormier), Jordan Gavaris (Felix Dawkins), and Kristian Bruun (Donnie Hendrix) all coming back into the fold. Even with these updates, Maslany’s performance remains at the heart of the series, and fans can safely expect new storylines regarding their favorite clones, such as Sarah Manning, Cosima Niehaus, Alison Hendrix, Rachel Duncan, Helena, and Vivi Valdez.
Ahead of the latest episode of Orphan Black: The Next Chapter, ComicBook.com spoke to Maslany about her ever-evolving role in the audio series, and about the new status quo that Season 2 explores. We also spoke about the impact of Clone Club, Maslany’s role in the upcoming Realm series Power Trip, her current media recommendations, and so much more!
Season 2
ComicBook.com: For Season 2 of Orphan Black: The Next Chapter, what has it been like transitioning from narrating everything and voicing everybody, to just voicing the clones?
Tatiana Maslany: It’s great. It feels much more organic to our show, to have the family as part of it, because they’re so vital to what made the show successful and why the fans loved it. So yeah, it was great. We recorded everything in a vacuum of our own thing, but it was still nice. It was still good to know they were doing it.
Returning Cast Members
This season, you’re not the only cast member returning, [with Evelyne Brochu, Jordan Gavaris, and Kristian Bruun all back.] I know you guys didn’t record together, but what has it been like to kind of work alongside everybody again?
It’s great. I mean, we haven’t been in the same room for a long time. The last time we really all got to work together was the panel we did — we did a read through at the beginning of the pandemic to raise money. That was the last time that we really worked together, so it was great to see everybody again.
New Clones
Season 2, has a number of new clones and the voices that you have for them are so distinct. Blythe, in particular, has just been so interesting to hear. What inspiration did you draw for their voices? I always loved the story about how Kroll Show inspired Krystal. I just think that story is so much fun.
For Blythe, there were definitely a few people — a few actors that I was interested in, who are sort of my age and who have a wealth to their voice. I don’t know how to describe it other than that, but a calm wealth. Something about that, about that ease that then takes different turns — there was something about the embodying of health and the embodying of wellbeing, but money is involved. Do you know what I mean? Like people who meditate, but do it on a mat that is $10,000. That kind of weird contradiction. So that was who I was thinking of for her. I won’t name them, but that’s who I was thinking of for her.
I do also have to say, I grew up in Texas and your Southern accent for [another clone in Episode 2] was just so fun too.
Oh my God, that was nuts. I think I listened to a bunch of Dolly [Parton] right before. I was like, “How would Dolly do it?” I wish I had a little more time with that one, but it was fun too.
Vivi
I wanted to ask about Vivi, because she’s really become such a powerful protagonist in the audio show, particularly in Season 2. What has it been like to develop her story and her persona, but only be able to do it in audio, and not have the visual component?
I enjoy it, because it does feel physical. Something about her rhythm is very tense and held, and sort of like she doesn’t want to betray any emotion that she’s feeling. It’s really about muting everything, and sort of this factual speak. So even in doing it, it felt like it had to be a physical thing. And of course, her performance, if we were to do it visually, would be lots of stunts. She’d be stunt crazy.
Cophine
One of the biggest things about this season, which I know has already kind of set the fandom on fire, is that Cophine are pregnant. I love how the events of Season 1 are making them consider how they’ll be parents. There’s the scene in Episode 2 where they talk about their ethics, and it is just so beautiful. What has it been like to explore that side of Cosima and Delphine?
It’s great because their ethics are… they’re political, they’re emotional, they are physically felt. They embody the whole. It’s great to have differing perspectives, which, I think, is also why those two connect. They do really get each other, but also respect that they both have their unique oneness. They are very, very much individuals, and I think that’s why they love each other so much. It’s just such a great way to look at parenting as well. You could both be so in line on everything, but then you have a kid, and suddenly you have a very different response to how to bring that child into the world. I think it’s very relatable.
Surprises
What would you say has surprised you the most about working on Season 2 of The Next Chapter?
I just really love where Blythe goes. I really love that journey, and Vivi. I was just really excited to have two totally new characters to explore, in a way that we normally would’ve only gotten with the very established characters. I think the story’s really compelling, and the stuff about privacy and public life and consent and all of that — it’s dealt with in a way that I think is much more interesting than we’ve been dealing with it. [It] is just with so much nuance, and also with characters that we’ve already come to love — to wonder if their ideas around consent have been confused or warped, or if, for their purposes, they’ve repurposed what that is to make themselves feel okay. It’s interesting.
Clone Club
We’ve spoken in the past about Clone Club, and how it has endured over the years and the emotion behind that. With all of that in mind, what are you most excited to see Clone Club respond to in Season 2?
I mean, I’m consistently blown away by the way that they read into things, and how much smarter they are than all of the rest of us. They’ll see stuff that we didn’t see, or make connections, or write essays about this, or extrapolate on this thread that we pulled. I’m just excited to see what their response is. I think it’s going to be great.
Power Trip
I also wanted to ask about Power Trip, because the concept for that sounds like so much fun. What drew you to wanting to work on that project, both as a voice actor and as an executive producer?
It’s a great story, and the character is very strong. She felt like somebody I haven’t played before, so I was really excited about that. It’s just this really kind of creative thing, to collaborate with the writers and sort of have them bounce drafts off of me, and I get to say what I feel or any questions I have. It’s a very collaborative, open process, and that’s my favorite way to work. It’s just nice to be part of it.
Recommendations
Last time we talked, you recommended The Midnight Gospel to me, and it was incredible.
Yeah! Did you like it?
I did! It’s so wild, but so cool at the same time. What have you been listening to or watching lately? Because you just have the best taste in everything.
I’ve been listening to Arca. Do you know Arca?
I don’t.
She’s amazing. I think she identifies as she. She’s a really cool artist kind of in the vein of Sophie, in terms of harder, electronic, really collision music. It’s awesome. I love her. And what else have I been listening to? I’ve been just watching Cheers, and a lot of horror movies. I saw — Oh! Titane. Have you seen Titane?
No! But I’ve been meaning to.
I hope you haven’t read anything. Whatever you’ve read is not going to even touch what it is.
Okay!
It’s beyond. It is beyond. I highly recommend it. It’s not easy by any means, but it’s a revelation. I absolutely loved it.
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New episodes of Realm’s Orphan Black: The Next Chapter debut Fridays wherever you get your podcasts.
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