Q&A: Tricia Helfer on ’60s sexuality in her new sci-fi series ‘Ascension’

TORONTO – Tricia Helfer is known to legions of science-fiction fans as Cylon Number Six in “Battlestar Galactica,” but the Alberta-born actress plays a new manipulative beauty in her latest Syfy venture “Ascension.”

The miniseries, premiering Monday on CBC, follows the inhabitants of the USS Ascension, a massive spaceship sent out on a century-long voyage in 1963 amid fears that the Cold War will destroy Earth. Fifty-one years later, a young woman’s murder leads the crew to question the real nature of their journey.

The Canadian Press recently spoke with Helfer about her cunning character, transcending 1960s gender roles, and life after “Battlestar Galactica.”

CP: Your character seems quite manipulative. What more can you tell us about Viondra Denninger?

Helfer: You think you know her right from the start, but you really don’t. Viondra puts on a face and she puts on a persona for the crew. She’s the wife of the captain and they’re sort of the king and queen of the ship, so to speak. She’s the head stewardess, but at the same time she’s not really happy with that job. It affords her some luxuries and it affords her a position of power, but she’s not really fulfilled.

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CP: Would you say that Viondra holds the power in her marriage?

Helfer: There are arranged marriages on the ship for genetic pairing, so not all marriages are formed out of love. I think she’s always felt a little insecurity in the relationship. I think she decided to give it a go and fell in love with him, and (received) less so in return. But she is definitely sort of the steel in his spine. She has a little bit more of a political mind and she definitely helps keep him in power.

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CP: How do 1960s gender roles factor into the show?

Helfer: There’s definitely a flair of the style and look of the ’60s, but there’s a slight difference, because it is 50 years later…. In terms of sexuality, it’s still OK there for one of the officers to give one of the stewardesses’ backsides a little tap as she walks by. That wouldn’t fly in our day and age.

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CP: What do you think sets “Ascension” apart from other sci-fi shows?

Helfer: There’s definitely a twist that happens early on and then again, a few episodes later. There’s another kind of layering and twist that happens — so much so that the cast all thought we had figured it out after the first two hours and then come episode four or five, we’re going, ‘Wait, what’s going on here?’

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CP: How did the massive success of “Battlestar Galactica” impact your life?

Helfer: It completely helped kickstart my career and to this day I’m still associated with it and that’s only a positive. It was a wonderful experience and a story that I’m extremely proud of. I never look at it as something like, ‘Oh, you’re still associated with “Battlestar.”‘ I was associated with a show that is on many top-show lists.

— This interview has been edited and condensed.