Sovereign_m
Cadet
by Kathie Huddleston
As Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) has a problem. After being forced to kill the woman who was impersonating her best friend, Sydney is knocked unconcious. When she wakes up, it's two years later and everything has charged.
For creator and executive producer J.J. Abrams, this new turn of events is thrilling him. "It's one of the most exciting creative experience I've had, because we've come into this year with so many ideas, and so many movements and situations and relationship that we're just dying to play out. Although we had versions of that in the first two years, this one, creatively, without question, feels like by far the richest and most interesting."
Imagine falling asleep and waking up 24 months in the future, Abrams said. "There would be some pretty fundamental changes. Many things would be the same, but many things would not be. What's fun about it is being able to say, OK, all the characters are pieces on the game board, and they've all rolled the dice and played quite a few turns, and now they're all much farther ahead than Sydney is, and in some cases it's shocking where they are and what's happened to them. In other cases it's wonderfully comforting to see where they are. And in other cases, it's very funny where they are, and in other cases, it's horrifying where they are. What's great is that we get to have Sydney walk into this world that is in many ways very familiar, but in some really important ways altered to a degree that it really is a challenge for her to adjust."
In the big cliffhanger, Will was apparently killed by the Francie clone, who had previously killed the real Francie. So will we see those actors again? According to Abrams, Will returns to the series, and they definitely have plans to work with the actress who played Francie, Merrin Dungey. "I can tell you there's a really cool story that involves her character," he said. However, Abrams isn't going to give away any secrets. And then there's the Lena Olin character, Irina Derevko, who fell off a building rather than let Sydney capture her. Yes, she'll be back, too.
"I can say that we're going to come into the season exactly where we left off, and the story for Sydney is going to be accepting that what she's just heard is true, and then having to deal with the condition of her life, and the lives of those who are closest to her. For her, it's 12 hours later. For everyone else, it's two years," said Abrams.
"And also the fact that she has no memory seems to be a clear indication that there is something amiss. But what's wonderful about this is that we come into this season, and in some ways there's a new landscape of what the CIA is working with, and who they're working on, and who the enemy is, and what Sloane is up to, and what Jack and Dixon and Marshall are up to."
The most important thing is "what she comes into as compelling and as threatening and as high-stakes and interesting as I think you could ever want in a show on Alias in terms of what the premise is for the year. But, of course, she has this incredible mystery in her life, which is what were those last two years for her?"
Sydney's lost two years will affect everyone and change the storylines for every single character. "Wait till you see what we're doing this year for Jack and for Sloane and for Dixon. We've got, by far, the best stories we've ever had for them, by far the best story we ever had for Vaughn, by far for Sydney, because she's in a very challenging position. It's very funny, because you think. It's worked up till now in a way I'm proud of and we all like very much. And you suddenly see where you are now, and you're like, 'Oh, my God. Everything is just kind of amped up.' It's like an expediential improvement in the paradigm of the show," said Abrams.
Abrams is quick to give plenty of credit to those he works with. "Our cast and crew and writing staff has managed to perpetuate this world that is clearly not simply real life. It's kind of a hyper-reality that feels as compelling as something you might believe is actually happening right this second."
Now that Alias has hit season three on ABC, Abrams is thrilled to have the series seen as a sci-fi show. "I sort of feel like I've pulled one over on them. As someone who is such an incredible fan of sci-fi, fantasy and horror, to be looked at as a show in that genre was always my goal. ... Which was my goal all along in a way to bring genre to network television. It, of course, has been there in the past. But it seems that recently the only places daring enough to do it are the smaller networks. What I love is looking at what we're trying to do. There is an element of science fiction, when it's part of the material, the fabric of the world, and yet it's not the reason that it exists. The idea of science fiction, it feels like it's magic within the world, and it's science that's possible. It might not be probable. It might not be actual. But that, to me, is the most thrilling thing. And to believe that it exists within the world, that's always been the best science fiction.
"To me, that's what the goal is, to never let go of that element of the show, and yet at the same time never let it become the reason for the show. Let it always be swimming in this kind of weird Alias soup, an amalgam of genres."
As Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) has a problem. After being forced to kill the woman who was impersonating her best friend, Sydney is knocked unconcious. When she wakes up, it's two years later and everything has charged.
For creator and executive producer J.J. Abrams, this new turn of events is thrilling him. "It's one of the most exciting creative experience I've had, because we've come into this year with so many ideas, and so many movements and situations and relationship that we're just dying to play out. Although we had versions of that in the first two years, this one, creatively, without question, feels like by far the richest and most interesting."
Imagine falling asleep and waking up 24 months in the future, Abrams said. "There would be some pretty fundamental changes. Many things would be the same, but many things would not be. What's fun about it is being able to say, OK, all the characters are pieces on the game board, and they've all rolled the dice and played quite a few turns, and now they're all much farther ahead than Sydney is, and in some cases it's shocking where they are and what's happened to them. In other cases it's wonderfully comforting to see where they are. And in other cases, it's very funny where they are, and in other cases, it's horrifying where they are. What's great is that we get to have Sydney walk into this world that is in many ways very familiar, but in some really important ways altered to a degree that it really is a challenge for her to adjust."
In the big cliffhanger, Will was apparently killed by the Francie clone, who had previously killed the real Francie. So will we see those actors again? According to Abrams, Will returns to the series, and they definitely have plans to work with the actress who played Francie, Merrin Dungey. "I can tell you there's a really cool story that involves her character," he said. However, Abrams isn't going to give away any secrets. And then there's the Lena Olin character, Irina Derevko, who fell off a building rather than let Sydney capture her. Yes, she'll be back, too.
"I can say that we're going to come into the season exactly where we left off, and the story for Sydney is going to be accepting that what she's just heard is true, and then having to deal with the condition of her life, and the lives of those who are closest to her. For her, it's 12 hours later. For everyone else, it's two years," said Abrams.
"And also the fact that she has no memory seems to be a clear indication that there is something amiss. But what's wonderful about this is that we come into this season, and in some ways there's a new landscape of what the CIA is working with, and who they're working on, and who the enemy is, and what Sloane is up to, and what Jack and Dixon and Marshall are up to."
The most important thing is "what she comes into as compelling and as threatening and as high-stakes and interesting as I think you could ever want in a show on Alias in terms of what the premise is for the year. But, of course, she has this incredible mystery in her life, which is what were those last two years for her?"
Sydney's lost two years will affect everyone and change the storylines for every single character. "Wait till you see what we're doing this year for Jack and for Sloane and for Dixon. We've got, by far, the best stories we've ever had for them, by far the best story we ever had for Vaughn, by far for Sydney, because she's in a very challenging position. It's very funny, because you think. It's worked up till now in a way I'm proud of and we all like very much. And you suddenly see where you are now, and you're like, 'Oh, my God. Everything is just kind of amped up.' It's like an expediential improvement in the paradigm of the show," said Abrams.
Abrams is quick to give plenty of credit to those he works with. "Our cast and crew and writing staff has managed to perpetuate this world that is clearly not simply real life. It's kind of a hyper-reality that feels as compelling as something you might believe is actually happening right this second."
Now that Alias has hit season three on ABC, Abrams is thrilled to have the series seen as a sci-fi show. "I sort of feel like I've pulled one over on them. As someone who is such an incredible fan of sci-fi, fantasy and horror, to be looked at as a show in that genre was always my goal. ... Which was my goal all along in a way to bring genre to network television. It, of course, has been there in the past. But it seems that recently the only places daring enough to do it are the smaller networks. What I love is looking at what we're trying to do. There is an element of science fiction, when it's part of the material, the fabric of the world, and yet it's not the reason that it exists. The idea of science fiction, it feels like it's magic within the world, and it's science that's possible. It might not be probable. It might not be actual. But that, to me, is the most thrilling thing. And to believe that it exists within the world, that's always been the best science fiction.
"To me, that's what the goal is, to never let go of that element of the show, and yet at the same time never let it become the reason for the show. Let it always be swimming in this kind of weird Alias soup, an amalgam of genres."