Helo speaks: Chatting with 'Battlestar Galactica's' Tahmoh Penikett

Tahmoh Penikett plays the stoic Helo on Battlestar Galactica, and as such he's not going to give away many specifics about the show's final episodes. (Nor, frankly, would I deign to ask, because he's a big guy.)

Penikett, however, was more than willing to discuss more general things about the final Battlestar arc, which starts Friday on Sci Fi. The actor, who also stars in FOX's upcoming Dollhouse (we'll have more on that as the show gets closer to air), says more than once that the story will "blow people away."

We discussed his thoughts on the show coming to an end, where Helo's head is now that the fleet has found Earth and one not very big spoiler. Here's what he had to say:

You've been done shooting for a while, but what are your thoughts now that the final run is about to begin?
A couple times recently I've been realizing that it's really done, you know? There's been part of me that was like, "Oh, I should be going back now." This show was five years of my life, and I totally understand why it ended, and ended on a high point -- I'm really happy about that. It kept the integrity of the story, and I think everyone understands that. But these people became like my family for five years. So I do miss them. I'll miss the character [too], but it is done. It ended at the right time, so it's all good. I'm happy to have been part of such a truly amazing ensemble and project.

Helo has always been the good soldier. How's he dealing with getting to Earth and finding it so devastated?
I think it's probably as hard on him as on a lot of people, but the thing about Helo -- so much was riding on this ... this was the last hope. Everything was about this, it was about discovering Earth. To come and discover it's been nuked, and whatever is left is ... pretty much uninhabitable and it's not what they were hoping, it would break a lot of people -- and it does. You discover that it will break more than a few people.

Gracepark_battlestargalactica_240 But ultimately, he's a father. He's a father and a husband, and that's his mission. He has to mourn like everyone else, but really what it comes down to is he's got a daughter to take care of and a wife to take care of. They're still alive and there's still hope, as little as it is.

As an actor, how do you try to convey that?
You just try to think of situations that are similar -- who's really gone through an experience like that? You have to use something in your life that you've gone through, or if you don't have experiences like that, you have to use something similar, something that takes you to the right place. Oftentimes -- you know what was great about this show, to be honest with you, having played the character for so long and the writing being so good, oftentimes it just takes you to that place. You believe the circumstances.

In broad terms, how would you describe the final arc?
I'll tell you this -- it's not going to be predictable. I've heard a lot of speculation about what's going to happen with Helo and Sharon and their family. It won't be predictable -- it's going to surprise a lot of people, blow them away. It's good, though, it's good. You know what's great too? There are some questions. Not everything is completely answered.

Is there an overarching theme to the episodes?
It's very similar to what Helo and Sharon's thing has been throughout. They're tested time and time again. Their love is tested, their commitment to each other, their position and role in the fleet, whether they're truly accepted and trusted. Their love for their daughter, their role in the ultimate goal -- yeah, the overall arc is very similar. There were some surprises, but Helo and Sharon are going to be tested like they've never been tested before. Some of the best scenes I've had with Grace [Park, who plays Sharon] are actually in this last season. There was some incredible work, really great storylines -- it's really going to blow fans away.

OK, spoiler alert for these last couple questions. But not too much.

And I have to ask: Is it you? Are you the final Cylon?
[Smiles] Do you think I am?

Honestly, no.
Yeah -- I wouldn't think so. I wouldn't think I am if I were just a fan.

That would really recast your relationship with Sharon in kind of a weird way?
Yeah. It would change a lot of things, right?

The 5th is the swirl girl,That is what Saul said. GTO

Burning questions for the final 'Battlestar Galactica' episodes

Battlestar Galactica returns Friday to a stunning tableau: In the Galactica midseason finale, a combined human and Cylon force finally found Earth... lifeless, gray, war-shattered Earth. The Promised Land was a wasteland, and now neither human nor Cylon knows where to go or what to do next.

We feel their pain. The series has routinely teased us with more questions than answers about motivations and mysticism. Here are 10 questions we want answered in the final episodes:

* Who's the last Cylon? Okay, yes, we've been promised this answer, but it has to be done well. We still don't know how Tigh can be a Cylon (see below), which only reinforces the joke that the show's writers threw darts to decide. The final Cylon's identity has been built up too much for us to stomach an out-of-left-field reveal. Even making the obvious choice -- Starbuck -- the final Cylon would be better than that.
* What happened to Starbuck? Our favorite blonde found Earth by following a Cylon heavy raider into a high-pressure atmosphere. Her ship seemingly imploded, but she claims to have been jumped to a star system near Earth. Know what could survive that kind of pressure? A Cylon. Remember, Caprica Six shielded Baltar from nuclear blasts with her body. Follow-up question: Why was Starbuck dubbed the "harbinger of death?"
* How will the Cylon civil war play out? Surely we haven't seen the last of this one; the rest of the Cylons may still be able to find our human-Cylon alliance. That said, I'd sure love to see a follow-up series set in the future when a new round of humans (or hybrids?) run across the Hub-less Cylon remnants.
* Who's gonna die? This is war, people. We've seen our share of losses in the supporting cast, but with the Resurrection Ship destroyed, I fully expect heavy casualties on both human and Cylon sides. My totally unsupported hunches? Chief Tyrol, Brother Cavil, Baltar and Laura Roslin. Probably we'll lose more.
* Speaking of human-Cylon hybrids, what role will they play? Is Hera merely the first of a new combined species? Why is she so important to Six and Baltar? And in a holdover from the first part of this season, could Tigh really have impregnated Six?
* What happened to Earth? We aren't owed an answer; after all, the real story now is what to do next, not necessarily what happened. That said, the quest for Earth has been guided by the past for both human and Cylon sides, so it seems reasonable Roslin and Six will be equally interested.
* Why not settle Earth? Though ravaged, the Earth we saw was still capable of supporting plant life. Sure, the overall feel was gray, but so was New Caprica, and standing buildings in the Earth scenes mean the planet can still be a treasure trove of knowledge. That last goes double if the Temple of Aurora does actually exist on our little gray ball. (We did get some hints of radioactivity, but that's likely localized and wouldn't bother the Cylons.) Despite these arguments, most of the scenes in preview take place back on human and Cylon starships.
* How the frak is Col. Tigh a Cylon? In Galactica lore, the skinjobs are new; Adama and Tigh in their youth fought against robotic Cylons more resembling the clunky armor-suits of the 1970s incarnation. (Heck, one can be seen in this series' very first episode.) Granted, previews for Caprica seem to imply the skinjobs are also a human invention, but for now canon insists they're Cylon evolution. So, was Tigh always a Cylon, or was he captured and his personality transferred? The Adama family knew Starbuck all her life as well, and we're willing to accept that her personality was at some time downloaded to a Cylon body.
* Will Starbuck and Apollo end up together? Come on, you're all wondering. This isn't Moonlighting; Starbuck and Apollo have hooked up a few times, so the show doesn't rely on their sexual tension. Still, it feels a bit too much like fan fiction to picture them flying off into the sunset.
* Why is Lee Adama the president?: Leading up to the series finale, every minute should be meaningful. Okay, that hasn't always been the case, but other than his role in forging a Cylon-human treaty for the purposes of finding Earth, what can come of throwing Apollo into Colonial One's puffy chair?
* Will we see Dirk Benedict? Don't laugh. Remember how hammy we expected Richard Hatch to be as Tom Zarek? Yet he's one of the show's better characters. Rumor is that Benedict, the original Starbuck, was invited to play God. Considering the parallels between the Earth storyline and the original series' "Ship of Lights" episodes, that could still happen. GTO

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