Exclusive Interview with Kyra Zagorsky of Helix
Interview by Jamie Ruby
Written by Jamie Ruby

Tonight Syfy airs the first season finale of Helix. In the show, Kyra Zagorksy stars as Julia Walker, a cellular biologist who accompanies her ex-husband, Alan Farragut (Billy Campbell), to the Arctic Biosystems research facility after a deadly virus has been released, infecting his brother Peter (Neil Napier), who she previously had an affair with.

During the course of the season, Julia is infected with the virus as well, and like Peter, starts to change into something else. She is saved, however, by Hatake (Hiroyuki Sanada), who she discovers is her father, and is now apparently immortal like him.

Zagorsky recently spoke to Jamie Ruby of SciFi Vision in an exclusive interview to talk about the series.

The actress talked about how her inspiration for playing Julia changed as the season progressed. "I get inspiration from a lot of places. Before we started shooting, I was inspired by the Aliens movies. I've always been a big fan of the first two. It's a very different storyline, but the isolated sci-fi environment was a connection for me.

"But once we began, I found inspiration in the story itself and what the writers gave me to do. Cameron [Porsandeh] and Jeffrey Reiner basically told me, "This is your role," right before we started shooting. That gave me a lot of confidence to trust that there was something about me that fit the part.

"After my character got infected, I was inspired by the physical work that Neil Napier did with the virus. Julia was dying rather than becoming a vector like him, but I thought about what he did in the pilot, and it gave me a starting point.

"Once I awoke with the silver eyes, I got a lot of inspiration from Hiro.

"The scripts were coming in right before you would start shooting, so there wasn't a great deal of time for research. I just stepped into the shoes of the character."

The actress also sees some of herself in Julia, at least in parts of her. "We both have a lot of pride. That can be a strength and a weakness. She has a different code of ethics when it comes to dating than I do."

Playing a cellular biologist, Zagorsky has a lot of lines filled with science and medical jargon, but she didn't have a hard time learning them. "I spent extra time with science when it came up for me. I wanted to make sure I understood what I was talking about. The funny thing is, my character spent so much of the series being caught up in what is happening to her and trying to survive, that I didn't deal with as much medical business as all the other CDC cast."

Zagorsky was not aware of the twists and turns that Julia's journey would take her on at the beginning. "I was always in the dark about what was going to happen to Julia. I figured out early on that Hatake was my father, but everything else was a surprise. It doesn't necessarily make it harder [as an actor]. You just stay in the moment.

"The writers gave me a lot to do, and because her story is so complicated, it just made it more interesting to give her some darkness. She is a flawed character from the beginning and I love the humanity in that."

Many of Zagorsky's scenes in Helix do get dark at times. "Jules definitely goes on an emotional roller coaster on Helix. I took it one scene at a time. I'd focus on whatever I needed to do to connect to the circumstance of each scene and then lived in it while shooting - close to it in between takes. Once it was over it was fairly easy for me to shake it off, because I go out of my way to find the light when I get done with heavy stuff."

Once Julia became infected, Zagorsky had to wear special effects makeup for the vector look. "When I was getting made up for the virus look, it was all practical makeup. I would skip the regular makeup trailer and head straight to SPFX makeup. In episode six I had to wear contacts when my virus advanced. It was pretty crazy, because you can barely see in them. When my DNA kicks in and I become like Hatake, the silver eyes are all VFX."

Julia is a character that has a lot of mystery surrounding her. All we really know for sure is that a lot of people seem to think she's special. "I think we will get further explanation about that in the second season. There is something beyond just the love of Hatake's daughter. There is also the science. Hatake has been around for a long time so his scientific knowledge is far beyond any of us at the CDC, simply because of his experience, what he has seen, and what he has created. There is still a mystery to uncover with him and we'll find out through Julia."

After all of his lies, however, can she ever completely trust her father? "I think Julia definitely had some Daddy issues. Even if she believes he is a monster, it is hard for her to completely shut him out. I think she always wanted to know who he was. And he is clearly devoted to her. The more things get revealed the more she will discover that she needs him. It's a really beautiful conflict and there will be times that she has to trust him whether she wants to or not."

One of these times may be with the recent bombshell that was dropped, that like Hatake, Julia is immortal. Does she trust that information? "I think she believes in it because she can feel it physically. At this point Hatake has proven to her that he really loves her, so there isn't reason to doubt him on the immortality piece. I don't know that she has had time to work through how she feels about it. She clearly didn't have much choice."

Julia isn't the only character who's storyline is full of surprises and twists. "There are a few characters on Helix that have an interesting arc like that. I think the audience was surprised by the Hatake and Daniel (Meegwun Fairbrother) storyline. You really feel for both of them by the end of the season."

Another one of the big components on Helix is the triangle between Alan and Julia and Peter and Julia. "Julia and Alan's relationship is interesting because there is still a lot of love and admiration there, but so many problems from the past. The only back-story I got about their relationship is that she had an affair with his brother. There had to be a reason. What I discovered while working through the series was that Alan didn't know how to be there for her in ways that she needed. Peter became the person who was there for her and the one who supported her. I don't know if there is a chance for her and Alan, or for her and Peter. Jules seems to have bigger issues to deal with than the ex's. We'll see where the writers go with it."

The actress learned a good deal while working this season on Helix. "Jules has a pretty intense physical and emotional arc throughout the thirteen episodes. I learned a lot about my process, the way I would track the journey of the character and how I work in those high stakes scenes day in and day out, especially the first part of the season when she gets sick and starts hallucinating."

Besides Helix, you can also see Zagorsky coming up in a new film soon. "I just began working on a movie where I get to play a pretty badass detective. I've always wanted to play a cop so I'm thrilled. I'll let people know the name of it when I can."

In the meantime, you can catch Zagorsky tonight on the season finale of Helix, which she had a bit to tease. "I think we see an interesting side of Alan in episode thirteen. He's just getting started."