Secrets and Clones: 5 Things We Learned on the 'Orphan Black' Set

Reporting by Kat Angus

With an army of new male clones joining Tatiana Maslany’s female clones this season on Orphan Black, it’s going to be even tougher keeping everyone straight. (Name tags would be nice.)

So to get some clarity on the cult sci-fi drama’s third season (premiering this Saturday at 9 p.m. on BBC America), Yahoo TV visited the show’s set in Toronto and chatted with series star Tatiana Maslany, male clone portrayer Ari Millen, and co-creator/director John Fawcett. Here are five intriguing behind-the-scenes nuggets we came away with that got us even more excited for Season 3 to start.

1. Millen and Maslany go way back.

Millen just joined the OB cast last season as intense Prolethean henchman Mark (later revealed to be one of several clones), but he and Maslany already knew each other — a connection that goes all the way back to high school.

The two actors both grew up in Canada (albeit on opposite sides of the continent) and actually competed against each other as teens in a national improv-comedy tournament. “[My team] won the finals [in Kingston], which allowed us to go to nationals in Ottawa,” Millen remembers. “I guess the same thing happened in Regina with Tat and her team. So that’s where I met her.”

Maslany told reporters at BBC America’s winter press tour her diminutive frame meant she had a very specific role in her comedy troupe: “I always got picked up, because I was like this big… when in doubt, hoist Tat up.” And she actually performed with Millen at that tournament, establishing a chemistry that would pay off years later. When Maslany first saw Millen on the Orphan Black set, she tells us, “I recognized him immediately, and he was like, 'Oh, that’s where we know each other from.’”

2. Millen auditioned for two other Orphan Black roles… and was almost killed off last season.

Before landing the role of Mark, Millen was a frequent visitor to Orphan Black’s casting offices. “I auditioned for Vic [Sarah’s criminal ex, played by Michael Mando],” he recalls. “And then I believe the character’s name was Colin — the morgue guy who ends up back at Felix’s and gets busted by the cops a couple of times. But I’m definitely glad I got this part.”

This part, however, came with one big caveat: The producers informed Millen that Mark would be killed off at some point during Season 2. “They were very upfront from the beginning: 'You’re going to die,’” Millen says. “And Dylan [Bruce, who plays Paul] was walking around the set that day, and they were like, 'And that’s the guy who’s going to kill you.’ I knew from very early on that my days were numbered… and then it didn’t happen.”

“Paul was going to kill him,” Fawcett adds. “Almost like two monitors: Two spies meet up in a bar, and they end up killing each other somehow. That’s what was going to happen.” But, as any Orphan Black viewer should know by now, plans can change in an instant…

3. One scene convinced the producers Millen could handle playing clones.

While Millen was filming what he thought would be his last scenes as Mark, Fawcett and the other producers were still trying to find the perfect actor to handle the intricate juggling act of playing male clones. (After all, Maslany is a tough act to follow.)

As Fawcett remembers it, “there was one scene that I saw [with Millen]… It was a scene where Mark brings Gracie a drink, and her mouth has been sewed up and she’s been locked away in a back room of the barn. It was just this really tender, weird little scene that had all these different layers to it that weren’t on the page, and I was just really impressed with his acting.”

“He wasn’t just a bad guy,” Fawcett adds. “He was this whole other thing that I hadn’t seen him do yet. It was at that point that I suggested to [co-creator] Graeme [Manson] that we shouldn’t kill him and we should keep him around.” And keep him around they did: This season, Millen will play no less than four clones, including feral maniac Rudy (aka Scarface, who we glimpsed at the end of Season 2) and mustached creeper Seth — who, in an unsettling scene, tries to turn one of his clone brothers’ romantic interludes into a threesome. (Ick.)

4. Clone scenes are a pain in the ass to film.

OK, this probably isn’t a secret, but it is a fact of life on the Orphan Black set: “Clone scenes” (where Maslany and/or Millen play multiple clones in the same scene) are the most rigorous to shoot — but they’re also the most fun to watch, right?

Because of the time and manpower required to pull off a successful clone scene, producers try to space them out on the shooting schedule. “I’m trying to think of how many multiple clone scenes I’ve done in one day,” Millen muses. “I would say, max? Two. And on regular filming days, I’ve probably done as many as five or six… even seven, if they’re small enough.”

Plus, Millen says, the clone scenes take even longer when Fawcett’s behind the lens as director (not that he’s complaining): “He concocts the most intricate and amazing sequences with the camera that make it very diverse. I think there are a couple of scenes coming up where John tries to bring those shots to the show’s peak. They’re very time-consuming, but the rewards are… well, you’ll see.”

Video: ‘Orphan Black’ Sneak Peek: Sarah and Scarface Face Off

Of course, Maslany’s an old hand at this clone business, with two seasons of quick costume changes and accent switches under her belt. So which clone takes the longest for her to transform into? “Rachel took the most time because she kind of had her whole face done, and Alison takes quite a while, too,” Maslany tells us. “We have an hour-and-a-half change time, during which they shoot somebody else, or just have to wait for me to come back.” Trust us: She’s worth the wait.

(Side note: Did you notice how Maslany spoke about her clone character Rachel in the past tense? We know she took a pencil in the eye from Sarah… but is the ever-elegant Rachel really dead? Guess we’ll have to tune in to find out for sure.)

5. The complicated plot continues to surprise everyone… even the creators.

With all the plot twists and complex mythology we’ve seen so far on Orphan Black, you might think the creators had locked down a seven-season master plan by the time the show premiered. And you would be wrong, according to Fawcett.

“When we sold the show, I don’t think we even had a super strong three-year plan,” he admits. “It was a loose three-year plan… it was never a five-year plan or anything like that. The whole mystery’s become so much more complicated and layered. We are trying to balance a very large cast at the moment, and there are a lot of pieces. The scripts take a long time.”

But despite all the hard work that entails, he’s relishing the freedom that comes from telling a story without a map. “We want the show to evolve and change, and not stay inert or find a formula that works and just milk it to the end,” he says. “We want it to continue to catch people off-guard and surprise people, and take the story in directions that people aren’t expecting it to go.”

Orphan Black Season 3 premieres Saturday, April 18 at 9 p.m. on BBC America.