Cast Members Talk About Their Roles

2/20/2004 -- [Adama's] going to have to work on a better understanding of himself. He's going to be tested many times. You know, Giuliani wasn't tested until 9/11. Bush wasn't tested until he told the world he was going to fight terrorism. But once you start that ball rolling, you can’t stop. This is a brand new situation. Will this character become the arm of the military? Will he become Napoleonic? Will he become Benito Juarez? Will he become a philosopher? He has to find his role as a new kind of leader... You have two people [Adama and Roslin] in an overwhelming situation. I told the others at the story meeting that while they must unite together in leadership, if that gets physical, I think it must be shown that they can't handle it. (source: scifi.about.com)

7/14/2006 -- There are too many unresolved moments, because of various situations. I don't think he'll ever really be able to push forward and resolve all the issues with his son, or with the President. They're very different. There will always be some element of bitterness on everyone's part. (source: Chicago Tribune)

12/7/2005 -- Yes, I go back to birth and Adama's first memories all the way through to his marriage and ultimate divorce and the fact that he does have a strong love for both of his children even though he wasn't around them that much. I think he was very happy when he did bring them forth and they became part of his world and became Viper pilots. Zak, of course, wasn't able to really handle it but was pushed forward because of Starbuck, and it killed him because he wasn't able to handle the aircraft. It's not so much that I loved one over the other as it was that Zak was the younger of the two, and he was the one who passed away so from the moment the miniseries starts it's been two years since I've seen my son Lee and that was when we buried Zak, so it hasn't been a very strong relationship for the last couple years, and it's gotten even more intense as the episodes have gone on. (source: SciFi.com Behind the Scenes)

12/2003 -- We know very little about her personally, except that she did not necessarily aspire to a position of power and she doesn't really like politics. Suddenly, the highest position one can aspire to within the political structure is thrust upon her... and [she] has to learn how to cope under extremely apocalyptic circumstances. (source: The Official Mini-Series Magazine)

2/15/2005 -- President Roslin is a middle-aged woman who has power thrust upon her... She's anti-military, [an] educator, and no respect for war. It is built into her culturally. (source: Daily Targum)

3/2/2005 -- Playing this part on Battlestar, I've been in the position of having to make sometimes military decisions regarding life and death. It has been a huge stretch for my progressive little heart and soul... As the thirteen episodes went on, and I got more and more in command, I started to notice the separation taking place, separating the perhaps compassionate person from the practical person that had to keep the bigger prize in mind. You start feeling yourself becoming more male in a kind of clichéd sense, but in fact, you start relying on a different side of yourself more often to get through the moment and not experience some of that pain... The cancer has freed me up to become clearer, stronger and faster. I've got nothing to lose, personally. All I've got to gain is the survival of the people. That's all she has, to do the job well that destiny has handed to her. The sicker she becomes, the more freedom she's experiencing to get the job done... She was not prepared to be the President or any of this. Now she, under extraordinary circumstances, has to discover her own power. She's a very latently powerful woman... She has a lot of power in a powerless situation, because [Adama] has control... She needs to understand him, because she needs to understand his world... She understands there's a man in there who has a really deep respect for a kind of protocol. He's very formal. It would be very hard for him, no matter how annoying she became, to dismiss the idea of the presidency. (source: Zap2It)

4/2005 -- Laura has become a woman who has nothing to lose. Her illness hasn't forced her into a place of fear, but has actually allowed her to become clearer, stronger and faster. There's nothing left for her but to ensure the survival of the 50,000 people. She just wants to do the job destiny has handed her. (source: Dreamwatch)

12/2005 -- Ron did give us an interesting bible regarding our characters. Laura has never been married. She was an excellent teacher, an excellent educational administrator, devoted and passionate about the work. Laura dated but never fell in love. Eventually it became apparent to President Adar that Laura Roslin was someone he needed close by, in his administration. As she put it, he was a hard person to say no to. Laura's mother died of breast cancer. Laura nursed her mother for years and watched as she lost the battle. She experienced the results of chemotherapy on her mother's body and was unable to face reliving that herself. Laura loved to pain. Laura loved jazz. Laura loved the opera. She loved flowers. She was a gourmet cook. (source: Sci-Fi Magazine)

11/12/2003 -- Before the Cylon attack, I don't think she knew herself too well. The military is all she really knows. Then there's the attack, and I know this sounds odd, but she thinks, "Oh, thank God, I finally have something to do." If they decommissioned the Battlestar, she wouldn't have anything left... We don't know where Starbuck's parents are from. The military is her family. Everyone else is talking about their parents, and you see in her that she doesn't have anybody else... Apollo has been gone for two years, and there's a tension between because they are really good friends, but they haven't spoken. (source: scifi.about.com)

3/2004 -- She was an athlete, and she wound up getting hurt, and fell into flight school because her mother was a pilot, and ended up being the worst student in the world, disobedient, always got into fights, always drinking, always doing this, always doing that... But she's just so good [at being a pilot] that they kind of have to let her just do her thing. That's where she met Zak and Lee. Her father was a musician... [People] can tag her as an angry person, but she's not. She's just so alone and scared and confused, and she's got this vulnerability and she really masks it well... She needs to be made human, she needs to have moments where she does break down, and you see that side of her where she just doesn't think that she can go on. She's probably one of the last people you would ever think would crack that deep. So that's going to be really interesting to see happen. (source: interview at I-Con, posted at scifitalk.libsyn.com on 3/5/2005)

2/25/2005 -- She's got a huge heart. She's really is a team player. It's very easy to say she's insubordinate and a loud mouth pilot and throw her away. But then, why would anyone want to be her wingman? I wanted to make sure people understand that she is good at her job. She wins the fights she's in. There are scenes coming up, though, where she gets her ass kicked, and it's nice to see that... I do believe that she's in love with [Lee], that he's her best friend, the only one who understands her. He is her last real thing that reminds her of Zak. I think it's very fitting for her to love the brother of the man she loved who died. I don't know if she's going to express those feelings. But I say that to myself: "You're in love with this guy, now play the scene." ... I think we're going to find out what she's really made of -- her experiences so far have been very easy for her. But she's going to get pushed beyond that. We're going to see her break... I would like her to tell Lee how she feels. Because I think it's so obvious, and I think he knows, and it would be interesting to see him respond. I think Starbuck has a greater purpose and I think there's a reason the Cylons like her. (source: scifi.about.com)

7/14/2005 -- Everyone that she loves dies. She feels responsible for that. She has so much guilt, so much fear and she blames herself for everything. That's a hard place to be in... The general consensus is that [Starbuck and Apollo] love each other. There's that schoolyard jealousy, the boy who hits you the hardest loves you the most. (source: Chicago Tribune)

12/2005 -- Starbuck is comfortable with pain. Everything good has been taken away from her. She blames herself. So whenever something good happens, she doesn't believe it will last, so she sabotages it. She's very vulnerable toward love. She wants it so badly, but believes she isn't worthy of it. "How could anyone love me? Me? Kara Thrace. The complete frak-up." You can't truly love someone until you love yourself. (source: Sci-Fi Magazine)

4/7/2007 -- You know, I don't think that Lee and Kara will ever be happy together. I don't think they're meant to be together. I think that they're meant to be best friends, they're meant to push each other, they're meant to have those arguments that drive you. That's the purpose that I feel that they serve in each other's lives. I don't think that they were ever meant to love each other. So, with that being said, I don't think they'll ever end up together. I never did really, you know. If anyone is fitting for her and if there's anyone that she would actually allow herself to be happy with and be with, it'd probably be Leoben. Anders is too weak for her emotionally. Lee is too much of a boy scout. He makes her feel guilty for her anger and who she is, her faults. He makes her feel guilty just by being who he is. So if there was any person that she could let her guard down with and be happy with, probably Leoben. (source: CraveOnline)

7/2004 -- Hero's not a term that really applies to this version of Apollo. He is an individual who finds himself in a situation and does his best to get through it... I haven't got any preconceived notions of where he should end up. Ron Moore's script really gave me the character, and as long as he keeps writing and producing this thing, I'm sure Lee will always be what he has been -- someone trying to follow in the foot steps of a father that he has to question. One frustrating thing about the miniseries was that there was nobody he could confide in. I hope that we see a side to him that isn't just issues all the time. (source: SFX Magazine)

11/22/2004 -- Week-in-and-week-out, the situation doesn't improve all that much in the Galactica universe. In fact, it tends to get worse, and in order to cope, Apollo must tap into certain traits that he shares with his dad, Commander Adama. My character's relationship with his father is one that he never really wanted to confront again but was forced to by circumstances that led to the destruction of their world. Apollo is now, for want of a better word, stranded aboard the Battlestar Galactica and for the good of his race has to fight the Cylons. The best way to do that is to serve under Adama as a Viper pilot. What happens and, I think, surprises Apollo, is that with most of the crises that occur, there is an element to his relationship with his father that comes to the forefront. They find themselves instinctively having the same reaction to different situations. There are still disagreements and their relationship it not an easy one. When push comes to shove, though, they'll support each other. For instance, in one episode, Starbuck goes missing. It's Apollo and his dad who end up defying military protocol and hang on as long as they can in the hope that she's alive. It's not anything they even had to think about, but rather an unspoken gut feeling that they reacted to... Apollo has a tremendous amount to cope with both on and off the job and he loses his temper a couple of times. He also finds himself jealous of not one but two characters. (source: TV Zone)

1/2005 -- These two guys [Adama and Apollo] will always have issues. In the series there are moments where they find themselves reacting to situations in a surprisingly similar way. But they are always these non-verbal moments they have with one another. The more verbal moments show their differences. It's never going to be easy because there is baggage in their relationship... The character's story is all about finding a role for himself in this new life of combating the Cylons and trying to find a new home. In the miniseries you see that he doesn't belong on the battleship. In my mind, the backstory was that he was about to quit the military because he questioned it after the death of his brother, but then the end of the world happens. So he has to do what he was trained to do, which is fight. He has, at times, had to make decisions revolving around what he believes, what the President wants and what his father wants. (source: UGO)

6/19/2005 -- Lee finds himself at that certain agin where he questions everything his life has been about. The catalyst was his brother's death. He blames his dad for that, rightly or wrongly. Every child grows up and questions his or her parents, at some point you question the path they've taken for you. Lee's definitely disillusioned in my mind. Galactica's [decommissioning] was the last thing he was going to do as an officer, then the end of the world happened, and he's constrained to accept that he is a pilot and that's the only way he can be useful. He can't turn his back on it, but there's an element of reluctance about him. Strong feelings are a great indicator [of strong love], even if it's resentment or anger, that comes from love. They've been through a rough time, they've suffered a death. But you see how they react to situations in similar ways, they even like each other, but they're non verbal. They're men. They've got resentment and misunderstandings and they choose for those not to be voiced. They're just boxed in. You also get that sense of male competition, but there's also respect. It's a great relationship to play. (source: Chicago Tribune)

12/7/2005 -- I have been keen from the start not to think of this character as a hero or a lead in a TV show but as a flawed young man of great potential in extraordinarily trying circumstances. So yes, maybe he does whine, but I think we definitely see him grow through our story, from an almost adolescent rebelling against everything his father and his father's military stand for, into an individual who manages establish his own sense of self in a world where meaning is hard to find. But he is a thinker, and thinkers are always challenged, so even in the latter half of Season Two, when he has attained a degree of self-assuredness, his mettle can still be rattled to the point of destruction. I would hope all this makes him more identifiable to an audience and more interesting to watch than a more predictable heroic type. (source: SciFi.com Behind the Scenes)

12/7/2005 -- Lee is rejecting the old-fashioned ways his father espoused, which he has been brought up to follow unquestioningly and which cost him his parents' marriage and his brother's life. He therefore rejects the military rigidity that has, in his eyes, so scarred his family. My little idea was that after the decommissioning ceremony he was going to hand in his resignation and open a small bar or something on Caprica. It then makes what happens to him subsequently that much more of a challenge, to forget the past, to use his training and serve to the best of his ability; like many sons, despite his every intention, he finds his father when he looks in the mirror. (source: SciFi.com Behind the Scenes)

7/2006 -- Both characters are infatuated with each another, or at least Lee is infatuated with her and trying to deny it... His relationship with Kara has been papered over. The two have almost confronted their attraction for one another, but neither of them is willing to drop their last barrier of self-defence. They're hiding behind the other's fears and inadequacies without addressing their own. So there's always a forbidden sexual attraction with them, and then there's the career side of things, where they're kind of rivals for the same positions. Lee and Kara are always in and out of favour with each other and yet remain friends. (source: Starburst)

10/23/2006 -- The Starbuck relationship is the most brilliant relationship. It's a sibling rivalry but it's incestuous. She was engaged to his brother and yet there's this unmistakable sexual energy between them. They are colleagues, CAG and pilot. She's supposedly the best pilot and Lee kind of resents and is a little jealous about that. She's the kind of talisman and mantra, talisman of the Battlestar. Lee is an ambitious young guy and he does a good job, maybe not as showily as Starbuck does. There's so much there that rubs up the wrong way. It's love and hate, all at the same time. The relationships are what makes the show. It is a soap opera.... She's got commitment issues. She can't really let anyone close to her unless it's on her terms, and there's a possibility that they're going to die, basically. She doesn't open up very well, even to herself. (source: Gateworld)

12/13/2006 -- Lee is in a unique position where he is kind of party to everyone. He knows everyone. He's done more jobs than anyone; he's been a commander, he's been a CAG, he's been a Presidential Advisor, he did a stint as a Marine and as a security guard. He's done everything and he's a young guy who needs a challenge and he doesn't really have one. In a way I liken him to Prince Charles in that his dad is the Queen until death, and he's almost the heir apparent but he's got no prospects of promotion or challenge really. Other than the challenges of getting through on a day-to-day basis as a pilot. It's really only in season three that new avenues open up to him and he's kind of in a position to change things. (source: iF Magazine)

12/2003 -- [Baltar's] deceived by a Cylon who looks like a human being, so I get to play things as if on some level it's not Baltar's fault... He just made a dreadful, dreadful mistake. He doesn't want to be involved in the wrong, but is. And it's one of those vicious circles he can never escape.. It's fun to be Gaius Baltar, with his rock-star life and all of that stuff. He's a bit like one of those men who looked at the Titanic before it set off and said it was absolutely unsinkable! He has a huge learning curve to go through, because suddenly the fate of the planet is his fault. He's implicated in mass genocide. And on one level, maybe he did know something was wrong, but he didn't know the imlpications. Personally, I think he has no idea. It's his sexual folly that has brought him to this place.... [Number Six] becomes a chip in my head. I'm really the only one who can see her, so I think that I'm going mad. In some respects, I suppose I am! ... There are very few people as human as Gaius Baltar, because he's just trying to survive and that's it... He's just looking out for himself... He's just the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time, and he's desperately compromised. So whenever he wants to be good, he can't be as good as he should be, because there are things he'd have to say that would give him away. So he's caught in a groove of his own. (source: The Official Mini-Series Magazine)

12/2004 -- The original Baltar was a downright baddie, but I don't think my Baltar is a villain. He's a guy who's caught up in something and he can't escape. He is a human being and all he ever wants to do is protect himself -- which is just like everyone else, I think. The great thing about him is that he's not a cold psychotic killer who doesn't care about other people; he has a conscience, and he is really affected by the bad things he does... Baltar provides an enjoyable foil to all the military action that is going on in season one. When we were making the show, I really wanted to keep the character light on the surface. I didn't want him to be another of those dark, creepy characters by the laptop -- we've seen a lot of examples of that. But as the season progresses, Baltar does do some bad things, including one of the most unpleasant things I've ever had to do as an actor... I think it's rather difficult to show the heroic characters like Lee Adama jumping in and out of bed with one another and being flirtatious, because that's not heroic. But it's completely OK for baddies or people whose moral fiber is questionable. (source: Dreamwatch, courtesy of SciFiPulse.net)

6/2005 -- Gaius doesn't want any commitment, and Six wants to be more human. They are practically each other's personal hell. The torture of each other, amidst the grand-scale picture of the planet blowing up and everybody dying, is in some strange way a form of comfort. It's the warmth and, sometimes, human understanding that goes beyond being the evil duo. (source: Sci-Fi Magazine)

9/21/2005 -- My character has made an art out of sidestepping the blame that's coming his way. This is a man who believes, really, that he's only partially responsible, if at all, for the near total genocide of his own race. By that I mean Baltar thinks he could be fingered for the blame, but on a literal level of the way it happened, part of him is thinking, "Hey, look, I had no idea that I was going out with a robot." However, this is the same person who, at the end of last year, tried to convince Boomer to kill herself. That's a big leap for someone to take who's like, "Hey, don't look at me, I'm not involved." Then there was that shocking twist later on in Season One where Baltar ended up as President Roslin's vice president. In many ways I never really knew last year what was going to come next with him. However, I felt his story arc was very fluid and I enjoyed how it unfolded. It wasn't so much that Baltar grew by leaps and bounds during Season One, but rather it was like some dynamic inside him was pushing him apart. As a result, it made his references to people and situations all the more diverse. I've been talking with the show's producers and writers about Baltar becoming, perhaps, a little bit grimmer this season. And the thing is, after episode three [Fragged], he's less inclined to tears. He's cried it all out of his system. Baltar did a very bad thing, then a few more bad things, and now he's getting ready to do even more. This time around, though, it's with a sort of impunity or dissidence. (source: Starburst)

12/2003 -- What I found so interesting about her was the blend of human and robotic. To make sure that she could fit in with humans and have an affair with Gaius Baltar without anybody discovering she's not human, it seems that Number Six was made more human than she should be. She has human emotions, but she doesn't quite understand them. She's capable of falling in love, but it's not quite a human love -- there are some Cylon qualities in there too. She does what she needs to do, but there's always this idea that maybe she'll change her mind if the human side comes out more... I wanted people to feel that this is a being that has fallen in love and is torn between her job and who she is. She does play a huge part in the destruction of the Colonies and so forth, but that is what she was made to do... [Cylons] were made by humans and I think in a way they feel that the humans will always come after them. They feel that there is no end to this struggle until one side is completely wiped out. And the regular Cylons feel they're superior -- they feel they are more advanced than humans and are not encumbered by such things as emotions. (source: The Official Mini-Series Magazine)

12/7/2003 -- I didn't want to be the stereotype of a human robot -- cold, calculating. I wanted to make Number Six vulnerable. She comes off cold and calculating with a vulnerability. (source: Ventura County Star)

12/2004 -- Each Number Six is based on the same model, but shaped by her environment and job. The "imaginary" Number Six is more seductive, and she wants to be loved by Gaius. I looked at the one on Caprica as the base model -- she's stronger and more militaristic. She also has a different vulnerability that you'll find out about as the series progresses... Shelly is a bit more intellectual than the other Number Sixes, and she's the most human Number Six we've seen at this point. (source: Dreamwatch, courtesy of SciFiPulse.net)

1/27/2005 -- We didn't want her to be a cold killing machine. We tried to give her a few vulnerabilities to make it different from the stereotypical hot robot chick. In essence I think that makes her scarier because at times it makes you feel for her and other times she does something completely off the deep end. I think that's more threatening. One of my first acting teachers told me when you play someone that's evil, you can't look at it that way, so I don't view her as evil. You have to look at it from the perspective you are playing... I discussed [multiple Number Sixes] with Ron Moore... I wanted the one on Caprica to be kind of the base one and more militaristic. The one that loved Gaius was a bit more vulnerable and sexual and I played the scientist one as if she didn't know she was a Cylon. It's great as an actor because there are very subtle differences. (source: UGO)

3/4/2005 -- I don't look at her as being evil -- I look at her as just being who she is and she doesn't know any different. If you look at her as evil, then you're going to play her that way. And she's more than that. Edward James Olmos asked me to watch Blade Runner, which I had never seen. I already had my own ideas of the direction I wanted to go with character, but I saw it the night before we started filming, and I went: "That's the idea of what I want!" with the replicants. And that's really kind of what I followed and tried to stay true to... I've been asked many times what Number Six is thinking, and I really have to go episode by episode because I'm not given anything. I spoke with (writer/producer) Ron Moore about it -- I said, "I've got to know something. I don't want to play something one way in this episode, then you have an idea of something else later on." And he said, "I don't know yet. I'm making it up as I go along." He has a main story arc, and he has some ideas, but he hadn't really decided a lot of the Cylon characteristics and the Cylon story. My character has been known from the start as a Cylon, unlike the Boomer character who's a sleeper agent so she has her own made-up history in her mind that she can play off of. But Number Six is a Cylon to the core, and he hasn't decided all of that yet. So I just have to put my faith in him and go into it blindly and just play it episode by episode. (source: G4TV.com)

6/2005 -- I think to some extent both the characters are going to depend on each other in ways that kind of go behind [the] conscious... and I think it's going to make both characters turn a little darker. You know, things are going to happen to Six that she doesn't necessarily expect, and will end up leaning on Baltar in a way that she hasn't before. She's always been sort of the aggressor and controller, and the situations may change a bit... I really see Baltar and Six being an integral part of the show. The show is really dark, and out of this darkness comes a little bit of a relationship. It's a love story, even though it's a bizarre, twisted love story. Here's these two so-called "evil" characters, yet the love story is coming out of them and how these two characters relate to each other and feed off of each other, but yet also control each other. (source: Sci-Fi Magazine)

8/2005 -- Michael Rymer and I had quite a few work sessions and discussions on the character. We didn't want her to be your typical cold, evil robot woman. Everyone keeps telling me, 'She's really evil!' So we kept that, but our goal was to make her human in a way, while still retaining a kind of evil. I wanted the audience to always never quite know what Six is gonna do next, and in some scenes, to have empathy for her and sympathy for her, and want to see things turn her way; but then at the same time, be terrified of her and not really know how to feel about her. (source: SFX Magazine, courtesy of SciFiPulse.net)

12/2003 -- She's not been out of flight school for very long, but she's really finding herself in the family of the Galactica. Her co-pilot Helo is taking her under his wing. He knows how everything works on the Raptor, and he's not just my co-pilot, but also kind of like a big brother... It's a very secret below-decks affair [with Tyrol]. We think that nobody knows on the ship, but they know! We have fights in public -- he's very anal about everything that happens in his hangar deck. But we carry on. (source: The Official Mini-Series Magazine)

1/5/2004 -- I would say that Boomer is a lot about survival, and she's a quick thinker, and she learns quickly, and she's feisty. She's competitive. She likes to have fun and she can totally be one of the guys. On one hand she can be a team player, but then she's also very independent and I think that stems from the fact that she lost her parents at a really young age and I think that's also why she's protective of Boxey. She was orphaned... when she was one or two, something like that... Because there's the fact that she was orphaned... she's searching, though I'm not sure even what she's searching for... And so that's why the Battlestar Galactica, or the people on it, the crew and pilots are totally her family... Boomer totally looks up to Starbuck, and she is the pilot of the fleet... [and] my closest female friend and I like to think of her as my sidekick. But I think for Starbuck, on the Galactica she took Boomer under her wing, because I'm young and I'm the rook. (source: galactica.tv)

1/2005 -- I think the really interesting thing about her is that a lot of viewers will be conflicted about how they should feel about her and whether they should view her as a villain or not. I remember [Crashdown actor] Sam Witwer saying to me that you could call Sharon evil, but at the same time you do have a lot of sympathy for her. It's hard to know how much blame you can really put on her if she's been programmed to behave the way she does and react the way that she is. So it's really up to the viewers to decide if they want to hate Sharon of feel sorry for her. (source: Dreamwatch, courtesy of SciFiPulse.net)

1/3/2005 -- It should not be evident how different the two characters are, because the one on Caprica should appear just as the one Helo came to know. Boomer's programming is naive and unaware, but the Cylons are very good at what they do. They didn't get to where they are from nothing. It wouldn't work if I was all "Ooo here I am evil, Mwah ha ha, Ooo -- here I am good." But on set that's what we all refer to them as, good Sharon and bad Sharon. It's just that I don't know if it will be that simple for long... I think that sleeping Sharon [on Galactica] may not be so happy with herself when she wakes up, but in a big way, she doesn't have a choice. Her default programming can completely override her awareness, and that challenge is much greater than the psychological and emotion hurdle. As for the Chief, they're on the rocks ... but he'll always have a direct line to her heart. If he works it, anything's possible. (source: Eclipse)

4/14/2005 -- Not to see herself as a victim is huge. She's in danger of giving up, just imploding and feeling lost and abandoned. I mean, she's been dealt the bad cards. So many of us, in life, it's tempting to be victim. She can't feel sorry for herself. Last season, they would refer to the Sharons as "Good Sharon" and "Bad Sharon." But it's not that simple. They both have good and bad parts... She's always struggling between bad and good, and she's tired of it. (source: scifi.about.com)

12/7/2005 -- As for Season One, the two Sharons were almost identical because it was H-Sharon's job to exactly duplicate the Sharon that Helo always knew. But H-Sharon was always different, she was just holding herself back, always acting. Threats to her life, racism, physical and sexual attacks, imprisonment, isolation and her pregnancy have pushed H-Sharon to the edge, revealing extreme dimensions of her character. (source: SciFi.com Behind the Scenes)

4/21/2004 -- Tyrol is a flawed "everyman," and I'd like to see him struggle with his inner demons. I'm also hoping he'll run into the higher ups, because he's that guy who can't climb the ladder anymore. He's an enlisted man, so he'll never be an officer. I think a little head butting with his superiors would be fun. (source: Robert Falconer)

11/14/2005 -- Tyrol is a very strong, realistic guy. There are a few things about him that are a little bit funky and quirky, but that can be said about almost any character, which is what a lot of viewers tell me. Most people say that they like Tyrol because he's sort of a everyman. He's the one who gets dumped on all the time and yet you can always count on and trust him. (source: TV Zone)

1/24/2005 -- Essentially, the political leadership on Sagittaron was almost a dictatorship. They were oppressing the people, they were torturing the people. I liken it to Iraq. And this man decided that he wasn't going to take it, and he first politically stood against them and tried to run against them. But they wouldn't allow fair elections. Ultimately, he began to realize that there was only one way. Step by step, he was moved to acts of terrorism in order to challenge the government, which was not listening. And basically, as a result of that, he was arrested. And then, this is not quite clear and it's something that I'd like to sit and talk to Ron Moore about, once he did that, he was given an opportunity for immunity. He chose to go to jail rather than take the immunity, and therefore he went to jail for his political beliefs. (source: Now Playing)

3/15/2005 -- Tom Zarek is a good guy to me. But one who has suffered for his ideals. A damaged and wounded man is capable of anything. Like many of the new characters on the new BG series Tom is a very conflicted character who is struggling with his demons. Sometimes the good guy wins and sometimes the bad guy dominates. (source: Cylon Alliance)

6/22/2005 -- He is a deeply idealistic man who has fought for human rights and suffered 20 years in prison for staying true to his vision of a more fair, honest and decent world. However he is also a deeply flawed and damaged human being after watching his family and closest friends die in painful and unjust ways. Forged by painful circumstances and his rage at the abusive institutions of law and power on his home planet of Sagittaron he has been forced to live under he has crossed the line and become what some call a terrorist and many others call a heroic freedom fighter... All through history men like Tom paid a dear price for standing up to oppressive governments and were always considered the bad guy, by those who sided with whatever regime was in powerful at the time. Nelson Mandela was considered a terrorist by the South African Government, was he not? I'm sure he crossed the line too but for better or worse his heart was always in the right place even if he made serious mistakes in his committed attempts to find equality and freedom for his people. I see Tom Zarek in this light. He's not a bad guy! Maybe misguided and maybe his anger and frustration have clouded his vision but in his heart he cares about injustice and creating a better world... Twenty years in a abusive jail system obviously damaged his spirit and pushed him to the darker side of his nature. Good men have done bad things all through history when pushed too far. (source: BSG-Online)

7/14/2005 -- I think Tom Zarek is going from being a very dark character who we came to know as somewhat unredeemable, to a multifaceted individual who definitely has humanity within him. There's an idealistic human being in there who's learned a lot of heavy, painful lessons in his life -- and we learn more about what those lessons were -- and he's seeking new ways to initiate change from within the system, as opposed to outside of it, despite his continuing distrust of the current government. Obviously, as a member of the Council of the Twelve, he's taken a turn to become a political figure, but when you've been locked away in prison for a long time for your beliefs, you can become so wrapped up in forwarding your agenda of what you think people should want, that you're only seeing the narrow view. And I think Zarek might have gotten caught up in the narrow view because sometimes we think that what we want is what everybody wants. And of course, that's not always necessarily so. So in season two Tom Zarek is a very smart man who is having to become a pragmatist; to challenge his beliefs about what he did in the past and ground his political beliefs and agendas and look at the bigger picture if he's going to succeed in the future. This is a time of reevaluation for him... He's pretty much still operating with his own people. His "family" is still pretty much the people with whom he spent 20 years in prison. Obviously he's reaching out -- after all he reached out to Tigh's wife last season - but I don't think he's seeking to form relationships of any depth... I think he's still very much a loner. (source: Robert Falconer)

12/5/2005 -- For me, the character of Tom Zarek is one of the most complex, interesting and challenging roles I've ever had the pleasure to play. I see Tom as a deeply wounded, angry and fallen idealist who has suffered deeply for his beliefs. He still believes that he fights for a better world, but has lost hope in humanity, government and the law. Unfortunately, 20 years in prison and losing everything he cares about has pushed Tom to the dark side of his nature and made him a very dangerous man. He has nothing to lose and everything to gain! (source: Sci-Fi Magazine)