Friday Syfy premieres its new highly-anticipated series, Killjoys. The series takes place in the future and follows three bounty hunters called Killjoys. Killjoys, hired by the Company, hold no allegiance to any government, and abide by one code: the warrant is all.

Stars Aaron Ashmore, who plays John, Luke Macfarlane, who plays his brother D'Avin, and Hannah John-Kamen who plays Dutch, recently talked to the media about their new series and what fans can expect.

The cast talked to SciFi Vision about their chemistry when first working together. Macfarlane credits a lot to the casting, but also to their senses of humor. "So much of it is credit due to the casting process; we had a really great casting director that took the time to really do mix and matches. So as we're slowly assembling this group, we auditioned with various people, and that's always terribly nerve racking as an actor, but I think ultimately it's really a useful thing to do. Because, yes, we got along from the beginning almost immediately, a very similar sense of humor."

Ashmore agreed. "I think that as far as chemistry and stuff like that, you either have it or you don't. That is something that obviously [is] due to the casting process, and when they're doing a show like this that obviously revolves around the characters having dynamic chemistry, it's really important. But sometimes you just really luck out, and I think the three of us have become really good friends, and we got along so, so well, and it's kind of rare. So I think it's special, and I think that we all appreciate it, and it's lucky too that you get three people that just get along so well."

John-Kamen added, "And I think it's a great – but it's important to have the chemistry on the screen and off. And I think that we all have the same sense of humor which really helps."

They also talked to the site about bending and breaking Company rules. Macfarlane told the site, "I think what is interesting with Killjoys, is there've been a lot of comparisons to Firefly, that show. And what I think what makes Killjoys really different as an entity and as a show is that we do have to abide by those rules.

"So the tension exists within that, how far can you bend the rules? And I think that makes for an interesting thing; it's not like we're just rogue cowboys, we really do have to operate inside the system so that it becomes a doubly complicated way of bending the things as far as we can. But yes, of course it becomes complicated because we don't always abide by the rules."

John-Kamen added, "The whole saying is "take no bribes, take no sides, the warrant is all," but it's really hard when you're put in a situation like Dutch in the first episode with John and D'avin and taking on that warrant and basically saving people's asses and having those morals as well. They give that kind of dilemma and that conflict with the characters, which I think is more interesting."

Ashmore continued, "I think it shows their intelligence and their creativity and their knowledge of this world and how to circumvent some of these things and make it work, and I think that that's kind of interesting as well to see us doing those things."

In the series, both Dutch and D'Avin are shown early on to have secrets in their past. Ashmore talked to the site about the series focusing on their problems and using John as the mediator. "I think that that needs to be that way, because the whole thing is that Dutch and D'avin have these two secrets that are holding the team apart because they're not really wanting to share those and trying to deal with all these things by themselves. And it causes a lot of strain on the team, and I think John's position in this first season, his main purpose in the show, and his goal is to keep the team together, because they're just ripping each other apart.

"So I think if you then throw John into the mix where he's got things, I think it would be a bit convoluted and a bit like you needed somebody who was just not being torn apart by all these stuff to keep it together. So I hope that if we get another season that we'll get to start to see a little bit of John's past and the things that he had to go through, the difficulties and stuff."

To read more about what the cast had to say, check out the full transcript below and be sure to tune into the series premiere of Killjoys Sunday on Syfy.

Syfy Conference Call
Killjoys­
Stars Hannah John-Kamen, Aaron Ashmore & Luke Macfarlane

June 15, 2015
1:00 p.m. ET

SCIFI VISION: All of you have really great chemistry together, did it happen right away, can you talk about the first time you guys met and worked together as a group?

LUKE MACFARLANE: Sure. So much of it is credit due to the casting process; we had a really great casting director that took the time to really do mix and matches. So as we’re slowly assembling this group, we auditioned with various people, and that’s always terribly nerve racking as an actor, but I think ultimately it’s really a useful thing to do. Because, yes, we got along from the beginning almost immediately, a very similar sense of humor.

AARON ASHMORE: Yes, and I think that as far as chemistry and stuff like that, you either have it or you don’t. That is something that obviously [is] due to the casting process, and when they’re doing a show like this that obviously revolves around the characters having dynamic chemistry, it’s really important. But sometimes you just really luck out, and I think the three of us have become really good friends, and we got along so, so well, and it’s kind of rare. So I think it’s special, and I think that we all appreciate it, and it’s lucky too that you get three people that just get along so well.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: And I think it’s a great – but it’s important to have the chemistry on the screen and off. And I think that we all have the same sense of humor which really helps…

LUKE MACFARLANE: Weird, weird. I think we’re all weird.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: Much fun. And we sing a lot, too.

LUKE MACFARLANE: Yes, we do, we make up songs on the set all the time.

SCIFI VISION: You've got to release those.

LUKE MACFARLANE: Yes, DVD extra, special behind the scenes.

SCIFI VISION: Yes, we hope you do.

We’ve only seen the first three episodes, but it seems like this group, they don’t tend to always follow the rules that are set forth. Is that going to become a problem or do the Company just kind of don’t care as long as they get what they’re after?

LUKE MACFARLANE: It’s a good question. I think what is interesting with Killjoys, is there’ve been a lot of comparisons to Firefly, that show. And what I think what makes Killjoys really different as an entity and as a show is that we do have to abide by those rules.

So the tension exists within that, how far can you bend the rules? And I think that makes for an interesting thing; it’s not like we’re just rogue cowboys, we really do have to operate inside the system so that it becomes a doubly complicated way of bending the things as far as we can. But yes, of course it becomes complicated because we don’t always abide by the rules.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: The whole saying is “take no bribes, take no sides, the warrant is all,” but it’s really hard when you’re put in a situation like Dutch in the first episode with John and D’avin and taking on that warrant and basically saving people’s asses and having those morals as well. They give that kind of dilemma and that conflict with the characters, which I think is more interesting.

AARON ASHMORE: Yes, and I think it shows their intelligence and their creativity and their knowledge of this world and how to circumvent some of these things and make it work, and I think that that’s kind of interesting as well to see us doing those things.

QUESTION: I haven’t seen any of the episodes yet but I was wondering just for those of us who are going into it blindly, could you describe your characters?

AARON ASHMORE: Certainly.

LUKE MACFARLANE: Yes, why don’t you go ahead first?

AARON ASHMORE: Hannah why don’t you start?

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: OK. So Dutch, Dutch is a level-five Killjoy, which means she’s a top Killjoy, which means that she can kill for warrant. She lives on (their ship) Lucy with John, and she’s known John the character for seven years. And Dutch has a really, really complicated past that is catching up with her in the current moment of when you start watching Killjoys. Dutch is also really, really badass, she’s very loyal, and (she feels over other) characters within the show, she’s very respected and yes, that comes with her loyalty as well.

LUKE MACFARLANE: And she’s the leader, I think that’s important, too.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: And the leader, yes, the leader, as a leader.

AARON ASHMORE: Most definitely our fearless leader. I play John Jaqobis who’s a level-three Killjoy, which basically means he’s not as skilled and dangerous as Dutch in the tactical and combat aspects of things. But I think John would lean towards more of a pacifist in this group where he is a little bit more willing to talk things through instead of shooting and asking questions later.

There’s also I think a really strong loyalty that lies in John and he’s completely dedicated to Dutch, they’re partners. But as we said, Dutch is definitely the leader. And also that loyalty we get to see (John’s) brother as well and they’ve been - D’avin and John have been estranged for eight or nine years.

And in the first episode we see them come back together but loyalty is still really there with his brother, he wants to work things out, he wants to figure things out. And I think John’s role in this team that we’re forming is the sort of hold it all together, I think he’s sort of the glue that’s trying to hold this team together. And yes, that’s maybe more information than you needed but hopefully I get you started.

LUKE MACFARLANE: He’s Kofi Annan. That might be a terrible analogy, I actually have no idea.

I’m D’avin, I play John’s older brother and I don’t join as a Killjoy, I sort of bump into John [a] weird sort of way and then I end up sticking along with them for a ride.   So as the show progresses I get very intrigued with the Killjoy myself.

My character is a former military man who tends to be a bit of a rogue kind of guy, probably less the military under bad circumstances. And yes, he’s immediately taken with Dutch and the power that she possesses and her fight skills, yes. And I like D’avin a lot, he’s not very similar to me in that he is a bit of a super cocky bro, I wish I had more [of] that in me but I’m not really like that.

QUESTION: At the digital press tour last year we talked a little bit about how the ship is pretty much another character on this series. How does each of you interact with that ship?

AARON ASHMORE: Well, I would say that John does most of the work with Lucy although we all interact with her, in all the episodes we all talk to her and stuff. But I think John is Lucy’s favorite and I think that’s addressed at times, even though John denies that. But he definitely works with her the most and fixes her and he’s definitely more of a tech guy.

So it’s really interesting to have a character that we work with so closely in such a big part of the show but we don’t’ really get to see her or her voice until the final product. So it’s really cool to see that character come alive when [an actress] is finally voicing it. And I think that you’re really going to enjoy it because it just is that really cool AI and she has a real sense of humor too, a real personality…

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: Yes, she’s got a real personality.

AARON ASHMORE: Yes.

LUKE MACFARLANE: I think it’s really telling the way we all decide to interact with Lucy, too. I don’t even bother to learn Lucy’s name until the seventh episode, I just call her ship, which I think is sort of funny. But I think our characters’ ability to [empathize], and John being really good at that and being able to understand people I think a little bit better than me.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: I think Lucy sets the team well as well, she’s so professional. And that there’s situations in the show where even though Lucy is a machine, she’s a ship, she really helps our characters get out of a situation as much as she can. And yes, there’s a sense of humor as well and it’s really cool because it’s just supposing seeing that with her voice but with what she says is very, very humorous. So it’s a really cool character, really cool

AARON ASHMORE: Yes, I think fans will really like Lucy, I think she’ll be…

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: Yes.

AARON ASHMORE: Yes.

QUESTION: And D’avin and Dutch come into this, I’m not going spoil it for the folks who haven’t seen it, but they come into this and we balance their past with their present. And John seems to be pretty happy-go-lucky, for lack of a better term, he doesn’t have something f hanging over him. Will we see a balance of that through the course of the first season where D’avin and Dutch have to address the parts of their past that are still lingering for them?

LUKE MACFARLANE: That’s a great question.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: That a great question –Dutch and D’avin, the relationship between Dutch and D’avin is very interesting because it’s starts off –I’m very, very wary of this intruder coming into my situation with me and John. But then we seek out that we both have similarity and I think that gets me to a point where we have to address that. And you don’t have to wait too much but there is an unravel with that.

And Luke what do you….

LUKE MACFARLANE: Yes, I think like any two people who have to reconcile their pasts, they clumsily reached for each other in a way too, I think, because they identified a thing in their past that they need to reconcile. And even though ultimately we might not be the best sort of (tell aid) to get to whatever it is that troubles our brains, we reach out through each other in a way. And we do seek a certain level of conclusion or reconciliation, I think more on my part as far as this thing that happened to me in my past and how I try to take care of it. And much of that is due to…

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: We’re not very good at talking about our feelings…

LUKE MACFARLANE: Yes, exactly.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: So we kind of , like he said, clumsily reach and solve it in our own way.

LUKE MACFARLANE: Right. Yes.

QUESTION: I know Firefly already has been mentioned and you’re an original show, but I believe these comparisons are really intended to be a complimentary and I wanted to know what you guys thought about the inevitable comparison that will come up along the way?

AARON ASHMORE: I think it’s fine because, until people really get the personality of our show, that’s the easiest way to understand something or put it out there is to compare it with something. So I think that that’s totally fine. I think that people who are fans of Firefly, I think there are definitely some similarities just in the genre of the show, so I think that that’s great.

But I also think that Michelle Lovretta, our creator, and the whole creative team have also created their own unique world. And as much as there maybe [are] some similarities in a broad sense, I think the specifics of the show and characters and details are definitely going to become something all to themselves. So I think the comparison are totally cool, I think it’s flattering too because as genre fan myself Firefly is obviously one of the biggest shows, one of the most beloved shows, so any comparison to that are cool.

LUKE MACFARLANE: Yes, I definitely think about that. That’s the way we understand things, is by comparing them to each other, it really is. My hope is that, yes, eventually it steps into its own unique thing and then one day they’ll compare us to something that we haven’t yet seen around the set.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: Yes, exactly.

LUKE MACFARLANE: But I would also say, and I think I said this before, but Firefly was essentially a rouge group of individuals. The Killjoys operate within a system and I think that is very, very deeply what makes this different. We can’t do whatever we want whenever we want, we have to operate inside the system called the R.A.C. And I think that’s a really fundamental difference that makes the world actually fundamentally different.

QUESTION: Dutch, one of the interesting things about her is that she’s got a mysterious background. Is that mysterious background going to be a large part of the story as it unfolds throughout the season?

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: Yes, you see hints of it at the beginning of the season, of how tough all of these catching up with her. As the show goes on it seems more like a massive change. And yes, absolutely, you’re going to expect a lot of unraveling of Dutch, and her character, and her past, and why she is where she is now. There’s going to be a lot of question after, so there’s going to be more questions even as the show goes on.

QUESTION: You guys look like a completely original show. Was there any inspiration for this setup or was this completely original?

AARON ASHMORE: Well, that’s something probably Michelle Loveretta, our creator, would have more information about. I think it’s hard for us to answer this. As far as working or as far as I know, I think it was totally an original creation. But I’m sure that, she being a fan of the genre, it was influenced by all sorts of things over the years. But it’s maybe hard for us to talk about exactly what those things were for her.

LUKE MACFARLANE: But as far as is it coming from a comic book? Absolutely not.

QUESTION: What’s the good thing about going back-to-back schedule with Dark Matter? We’re going to have two ship-based space shows all together in one night, which I’m quite excited about. And what would you think about the possibilities of crossovers in the future?

AARON ASHMORE: Crossovers would be cool, but I don’t know if they could handle us because we’re pretty dangerous so if we had to go head to head…

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: Yes, we’re pretty badass.

AARON ASHMORE: Yes. Of course anything like that would be really exciting actually, the crossing into another show even if it’s a minor sort of thing.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: Mega cool.

LUKE MACFARLANE: Yes, I would also though think it would be that funny thing of all of our characters kind of have a big sense of humor and personality. And from my understanding of Dark Matter, they are a little bit more cold killer – I don’t know if they’re funny. So I think they might look at us like we’re a bunch of clowns.

But then we beat them up.

AARON ASHMORE: Dangerous killer clowns, that’s what we are.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: We’re clowns but then we’d beat them up, definitely.

LUKE MACFARLANE: But then we beat them up and we steal their ship.

AARON ASHMORE: How funny are we now?

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: Exactly.

LUKE MACFARLANE: Go back in your cryo freeze.

AARON ASHMORE: But yes, it would totally be fun probably to do crossovers.

LUKE MACFARLANE: Very fun.

QUESTION: It seem like a lot of fun to do the fight scenes you guys had, you have all these cool gadgets. [Do] any of you have any favorite gadget that you work with or that you like to have in real life or in a fight?

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: My guns, I felt like my guns were part of my limbs. I thought wig but my gun wasn’t there. I don’t know why, I just had this bond with my gun, I fell in love with my laser gun.

LUKE MACFARLANE: Yes.

AARON ASHMORE: I think we all had unhealthy attachments to our weapons by the time we’re done.

LUKE MACFARLANE: Yes, certainly.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: Yes. And beautiful custom leather leg harnesses were something I’ll wear as well, yes.

AARON ASHMORE: I think at a certain point the props guys would start asking us if they wanted us to take the guns off us between scenes. And it happened at a certain point where all of us were like, “No, no, no, we prefer hanging on to them.” And we’re very adamant about that so, yes, it was kind of that weird.

LUKE MACFARLANE: Yes, very cool…

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: Yes, they were like, “All right then, OK.”

LUKE MACFARLANE: Yes.Of course they can shoot lasers.

QUESTION: What is with the green juice that you guys drink, what is it?

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: Algae beer.

AARON ASHMORE: Algae beer, which sort of took a backseat after the first episode because I think they’re like – and it’s so gross.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: It was so gross.

AARON ASHMORE: What is it though? It’s like coconut water mixed with something else, it was kind of lumpy.

LUKE MACFARLANE: They blended…

AARON ASHMORE: Spinach. I think.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: I think it’s like a really healthy L.A. smoothie or something, but to be honest I’m like mad on it. And then we have algae buns as well that you guys - hey, I never got to eat it, it was made of beans, isn’t it?

AARON ASHMORE: Yes, some sort of bean curd.

But I think that the spinach started to get stuck in our teeth from the algae beer and you just couldn’t have that in scenes so they’re like, “Yes, we’re going to lose that because you guys are all smiling in those green junks…”

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: So it was pumpkin beers. So yes, we changed it to pumpkin instead of algae.

AARON ASHMORE: Yes.

LUKE MACFARLANE: Yes. Yes. I’m glad you asked about that. I actually asked the writers a similar question, where did the algae beer go? It’s stuck in his teeth.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: Where the L.A. smoothie has gone?

QUESTION: Are you guys going tweet it from here, everyone would love to speak with you?

AARON ASHMORE: I’m going to try and do that for sure – well, I’m not going to try, I am going to do that, yes. The only thing…

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: I’m going to do that.

AARON ASHMORE: Yes, but your time zone, you’re going to be, Hannah is going to be in the middle of the night when we’re airing.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: I’m going to be – I’m dedicated.

AARON ASHMORE: What’s commitment?

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: It’s going to be 3:00 in the morning for me. I am going to have a wedding to go to the next day but I should be up in the morning.

AARON ASHMORE: How can we offer commitment?

LUKE MACFARLANE: That’s making me feel very bad because I don’t have a Twitter.

AARON ASHMORE: But don’t be – it’s not for everyone, it’s truly not.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: Not for everyone.

AARON ASHMORE: No.

LUKE MACFARLANE: I have two, you know, I have two – I don’t have fingers, how about that?

AARON ASHMORE: Those are all PG in the show.

QUESTION: I was wondering about the stunts and the fighting are great and you guys do a lot of gadgets and all that stuff, did you have any special training going in or how did that work?

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: Yes, we all had stunt training, military training, and physical training as well. And the stunt coordinator was called (Alam), and (Alex) and (Allison) and kind of see what we can. So during the week before and off the scenes and plan out with that stunt double, the fight sequence, and it was so much fun, it was so much fun.

LUKE MACFARLANE: It really was.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: One of my favorite parts, yes.

LUKE MACFARLANE: No, it was kind of this, when I first gone to the business there is a mythological idea that you have an action show, that [you have] a trainer. And this is actually the first time that I ever got a trainer. We worked out they took pictures of our shortlist which they sent to the producers. It’s always like this badass thing that I wanted to have and they did it, and it was great, it was really great, it was a great excuse to work out.

AARON ASHMORE: And the physical stuff that we got to do at the beginning, the military stuff, the working out, the fight training is really neat because the three of us didn’t know each other so we’re thrown into all this really intense training together. And I think that it’s kind of fun when you start on it and it’s a good way to bond with your fellow actors through all this training and physical stuff. And we really get to know each other. And everybody was slightly out of their elements because none of us are martial artists or anything like that. So you’re all thrown into this new experience in doing it together and yes, it was actually a lot of fun.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: We bonded pretty violent.

LUKE MACFARLANE: Yes. Oh, my goodness.

QUESTION: Do you guys get to do a lot of your stunts?

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: Yes, I think we all did them, didn’t we?

AARON ASHMORE: Yes.

LUKE MACFARLANE: Yes.

AARON ASHMORE: For sure. And obviously there’s stunt doubles for stuff that they don’t want you to get hurt and all that but they actually let us do a lot of it ourselves.  

LUKE MACFARLANE: Yes, they did. We had amazing stunt doubles. My mother came to set one day when my stunt double was acting. And the stunt doubles do the scene and the actors do the scene. And obviously the camera operators are a little more inclined to show your faces. My mother says in front of the stunt double, “I think you did a much better job [than] he did.” And I said, “Mom, that’s absolutely incorrect, he’s amazing.” But, you know, moms will be moms.

AARON ASHMORE: She’s just so proud of her boy.

LUKE MACFARLANE: She was so proud of [her] ass-kicking boy.

QUESTION: I know sometimes actors work a background for themselves, can you tell us something about your character that maybe only you know about your character?

LUKE MACFARLANE: Well, not to get too dark but I think that John and D’avin’s father, I think he used to beat up D’avin.

AARON ASHMORE: Yes. That’s interesting too because we’d never discussed anything like that and there’s nothing in the show like that. But I had thought of similar things like John and D’avin’s background. We don’t really get into the details of it in the show but it was very, very difficult so I thought of things like that too, about scenarios – and I sort of pictured that too, that D’avin was the older brother and so he probably took a brunt of a lot of that growing up. And probably was protecting John, so for me there’s slightly guilt dripping in some of those potential things, it’s kind of dark, it’s kind of dark.

LUKE MACFARLANE: Yes. Yes.

AARON ASHMORE: But I thought a lot of those things, too, but we didn’t really discuss that stuff and it’s not on the page but…

LUKE MACFARLANE: Yes, in season one.

AARON ASHMORE: But hey, the show is still fun, it’s not all dark

QUESTION: So is there a really funny scene that stands out in your mind that we would be looking for?

AARON ASHMORE: Kind of think back to all the stuff.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: OK, that’s very much the stuff that happened on camera that makes me laugh. Funny scenes.

LUKE MACFARLANE: Gosh. Oh, I know something to look for that I think is very funny. In a much later episode, John comes in contact with a super computer and he gets really excited about that super computer.

So I’m just going say that much, I laughed really hard when I saw that.

AARON ASHMORE: Good, I’m so glad. So John’s nerdiness that you find – that’s good, I like that.

I think the sense of humor, the show is not necessarily always “ha ha” funny, like knee slapper, I think it’s subtle and it’s really in the way that these characters tease each other or interact with each other. So I think it’s just so peppered throughout the show, this current of humor in the way that they gab at each other.   So I think to me that’s really where the humor lies, it’s not like, “Oh my God, there’s this one hilarious comic scene.” It’s really the tone of the way these people rib each other and tease each other that to me is where the sense of humor really lies.

LUKE MACFARLANE: Right, right. Yes.

QUESTION: I was wondering if each of you could share something about each of your co-stars that surprised you the most perhaps their personality or their process, anything that comes to mind.

AARON ASHMORE: Oh, telling tales on each other, oh my goodness. I was surprised at both of – and I was very pleasantly surprised at how funny and not just funny but weird both Luke and Hannah’s sense of humor.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: I think yes, yes.

AARON ASHMORE: And I think that’s one of the really unique things about the three of us together is that we’re just so weird. And our sense of humor is just kind of rip off each other and so I was really pleasantly surprised to see how strange their senses of humor were and then how as a whole bonded together.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: I think it’s the sense of humor. Because on set, one of us is saying something and then without even any questions the other one would join in and then it wouldn’t start for like an hour.

AARON ASHMORE: In harmony nonetheless.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: In harmony. That was a surprise to me, similar to Aaron this crazy sense of humor, no questions asked, just really join in.

AARON ASHMORE: Yes. And that’s not always the case, the things that you think are funnier, the things that really tickle you have other people that you’re working with and it flows, that was really surprising and lucky, I think.

LUKE MACFARLANE: Yes. Yes.

QUESTION: On action-oriented shows, sometimes the actors will use [music to] conjure up certain mental queues to inspire them, to pump them up for the intense action scenes. Do either of you have a device that you utilize?

LUKE MACFARLANE: I didn’t use any of that, not for myself.

HANNA JOHN-KAMEN:   No.

AARON ASHMORE: I find emotional scenes, sometimes that works better to set the mood if it’s sad or anger or something. But the action stuff is like you’re just thrown in and you got to run or you got to kick butt – sometimes that’s not the hardest thing to motivate yourselves into. But sometimes for emotional scenes that works a little bit better to just put you in a place emotionally.

LUKE MACFARLANE: Yes, definitely. In fact, thinking about the first fight scene that we filmed, which is John and I in the cage fight right at the beginning, it was so amazing to have that whole crowd of people around us yelling, that was enough to get us into the mood. It was really cool to have 100 or whatever extras all screaming, they don’t know what the show is, they don’t know what they’re screaming for. But still…

AARON ASHMORE: It was interesting, too, I remember we did a first take right after lunch and everybody was still coming back from lunch, they just had something to eat, everybody was kind of quiet. And then Chris Grismer, our director, was like, “OK guys, we’re back from lunch, I need you to scream and yell.” And then when we did another take it changed everything because when you have 100 people screaming and beating on the cage, that energy really amps everything up for us. And yes, that was really cool, actually.

LUKE MACFARLANE: Yes.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: Yes. I think for me I just literally went in there and just basically kick some butt in the scenes.

AARON ASHMORE: Hannah needs no inspiration she’s just…

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: I think (inaudible)…

LUKE MACFARLANE: Yes, she got…

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: So all of these guys know right, you’re all done.

QUESTION: Once you realized that you had gotten the job, that you’re going to play a bounty hunter, did you do any research and perhaps find that you had a favorite real life fictional bounty hunter that you might have drawn inspiration from?

AARON ASHMORE: My dad is a big Dog The Bounty Hunter fan so I just – and I already watched a ton of Dog. But that’s not really what we’re going for here so I did the opposite that I strip away anything that I’d seen from Dog and decided to just go off the script.

LUKE MACFARLANE: That was wise. He came with a mullet the first day.

AARON ASHMORE: I should, the mullet, I got rid of that pretty quick.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: I just basically did character research and building on more of this character building with Michelle and Chris Grismer where we had a meeting. And the skills come with the training and within the character. But for me it was “who is Dutch” first before “what does that do.”

AARON ASHMORE: Totally.

LUKE MACFARLANE: Yes. I remember feeling very entered to this, I think both Hannah and Aaron had experience in sci-fi world, I was intimidated, I’ve never done in sci-fi world so I actually watched a lot of sci-fi programming thinking that I’m going to be interacting with these people and fans that know the sci-fi world much more deeply than I do and I don’t want to look irreverent to their genre.

QUESTION: If we were in space right now, what would be your space dream job, could you be a pilot, or a bounty hunter, or an explorer or what would you like to do if we live in space?

AARON ASHMORE: We’re already in space.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: I [would] just love to be maybe like a ship engineer so I actually get to go out in space with my space suit.

AARON ASHMORE: Yes, do the space walk.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: Yes. Actually something to do with being completely in space, in space.

LUKE MACFARLANE: I would like to be the curator of a space museum. And I would like to talk to people about the history of space. And I have this really cool museum and like, “Many years ago, we have the Challenger.” And that was a terrible thing, they have a tutorial, teach the people the history of space.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: The battle.

LUKE MACFARLANE: The battle, yes, the great old battle of….

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: The great battle..

LUKE MACFARLANE: And Jules Vernet – yes, that’s what I would do.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: Alright, do that

QUESTION: All right, that sounds cool. So if you could travel anywhere in outer space, where would you want to go?

AARON ASHMORE: To a planet where there’s alien life. maybe. Wherever is that, I don’t know the name of it unfortunately, I can’t be that specific but…

LUKE MACFARLANE: If you could I would be…

AARON ASHMORE: Very impressed. I would be wasting my skills as an actor if I could tell you where that is

LUKE MACFARLANE: Yes, it’s hard, there’s not a lot of places that you could go. .

SCIFI VISION: So you guys talked about some the comedic moments, and I know, Aaron, you said they’re more subtle. But you guys have some great lines, do you guys have any favorite lines that you said in the show?

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: Mine is the crashy two hander.

LUKE MACFARLANE: Oh, the old crashy two hander.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: It’s the crashy two hander line, I think for me, because I think it’s just cool.

AARON ASHMORE: In the first scene of the first episode there’s a great line where one of the characters asked me if it’s uncomfortable walking around because I have such big balls and I’m like, “Yes, there’s some chafing.” I think that’s kind of funny and that’s a tone of the show, the subtlety of the humor sometimes, I just think that’s quiet humor.

LUKE MACFARLANE: Yes, that was very funny, yes.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: That was wonderful. Luke?

LUKE MACFARLANE: Oh gosh, I don’t know, I’m not sure if this was in the episode that you saw but we need some nuns and they have done what I thought was very funny..

AARON ASHMORE: I know a line, Luke, of yours that I really like and it speaks to the character, the difference in the characters. John is, he’s trying to do something in a scientific sort of way and he gets himself in trouble and Luke’s character, I can’t remember the exact lines but he’s like, “See? What did I tell you? Science is dumb.”

LUKE MACFARLANE: I remember being very concerned about that line because I’m going to alienate our audience. I think these people that watch the show are going to like science and they’re going to hate me.

AARON ASHMORE: No, no because it’s very funny. But you don’t come across as dumb, it’s a really funny character, I think…

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: It’s funny.

AARON ASHMORE: Yes, it’s funny.

SCIFI VISION: We know that obviously Dutch has a lot of secrets and Luke also about what’s happened in his past in the war. So Aaron, does John have any secrets that we’re going to be finding out about?

AARON ASHMORE: In this first season, not really. And I think that that needs to be that way because the whole thing is that Dutch and D’avin have these two secrets that are holding the team apart, because they’re not really wanting to share those and trying to deal with all these things by themselves. And it causes a lot of strain on the team, and I think John’s position in this first season, his main purpose in the show and his goal, is to keep the team together, because they’re just ripping each other apart.

So I think if you then throw John into the mix where he’s got things, I think it would be a bit convoluted and a bit like you needed somebody who was just not being torn apart by all these stuff to keep it together. So I hope that if we get another season that we’ll get to start to see a little bit of John’s past and the things that he had to go through, the difficulties and stuff.

So I really hope that we will get to do that, but I think in this season it would have been a bit much to have all three of them really trying to explore these dark secrets.

QUESTION: What has been your favorite part about working on Killjoys so far?

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: To me, honestly, I think there’s the amount of fun I had on screen and off. The set has been amazing, I think the fighting as well for to me, which has been so cool. But I think with Aaron and Luke, they’re just so amazing to work with. They just made the whole time and experience, just injected with fun.

LUKE MACFARLANE: Yes, it’s really true. You often hear actors talking about, “Oh, we all like [each other] so much.” But really, legitimately, it was a really great group, I love showing up to work, it was wonderful.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: Yes.

LUKE MACFARLANE: And just to use your imagination in a really profound way. It’s not often that you get scripts where you’re required to imagine so much and that it makes you feel like a kid again when you’re looking out the window of your spaceship and you see a green screen, having to imagine what’s on that. Often your job is entering into a living room with cup of tea. So [that] you can use your imagination that massive way is super fun.

AARON ASHMORE: Yes, I agree, I think first and foremost not just the actors but the whole creative team and the whole crew, I think everybody really, really enjoyed themselves. And again, we’re working in such a fun business but the experiences are not always amazing, amazing. And I think on a personal level the fun of working with everybody was way, way up there.

I think another thing for me was getting to start on a show. I’ve done lots of shows where I come into them while they’ve already been successful and then become a lead on the show or reoccurring. But to come in to a show from the very start and feel like you’re really, really part of something.

And like Luke was saying, it’s just not really part of something where it’s set in New York or wherever, where we know everything, but we’re really getting to explore and create the world and these characters that nobody has seen before, coming from Michelle’s imagination and the writers and then we really get to inhabit these places that don’t exist, and these societies, these cultural levels and stuff that are not real in real life. So who gets to do that? Some people get to fantasize and get to think about those things, but we actually get to act them out and create them. And that’s been the really, really exciting thing that very few people get to do, so it’s a lot of fun.

LUKE MACFARLANE: I remember the first time we all were on the cockpit together, and we’ve been watching the ships get built because we’re filming on our station and we see them and like, “Cool, that’s our spaceship.”

And then all the sudden we were on the spaceship and they built this beautiful thing but nobody knew how to drive it and we got to make up how to drive the ship. And we got to imagine what button to your press to try to make it go up and make it go round, and that’s thrilling.

SCIFI VISION: OK, let’s turn that around and what challenges did you face when filming the first season?

LUKE MACFARLANE: I was just going to say, it’s a small cast and we all worked a lot, it was really long hours. Sometimes when cast of shows are bigger and there’s more screen time to go around but this is very equally spread among three people so we had really long days.

AARON ASHMORE: Yes.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: I think the challenges at the begging, I remember when we had this gun and it was so heavy. And I think actually getting used to it, the equipment and the armor, and making it look like I’ve been carrying this gun for years. I think for me it was – it was really embodying a killer, as a bounty hunter, and getting used to the physical way of that.

AARON ASHMORE: I think for me, and even up until very recently, I felt this way throughout the whole season, so you’re really excited to do this, this is an amazing opportunity. But you’re really like, “I hope that we do all of this justice, I hope that all this hard work that we do and we put in, that it pays off, that people really enjoy it.”

Because again, we’re not just doing a cop show where we’re emulating something that’s already out there and people will buy into it. We’re creating a whole new world and so the tone of things you really want to get right and you really want to create something that people are going to – characters and a world that’s believable and people are going to buy into.

And, you know, that’s just, you know, comes with the genre, I think that that’s there’s a lot of actual work that you have to do and pressure that’s sort of put on you because it’s like people have to buy into this. It’s not easy as thing to buy into and the Sci-Fi audience is very discerning, they’re very intelligent, and you want them to like it, you want them to really buy into this world that you’re inhabiting and creating.

So there’s some pressure in that and that doesn’t just fall on us, obviously, as the actors, that’s as a production what we all have to accomplish together. But after seeing the show I feel very confident and very proud of the work that everybody did and I’m really hoping that everybody is going to enjoy it.

LUKE MACFARLANE: That’s a really good point, yes.   And especially being aware of, I think there is more reverence, the intelligence of the audience in this genre than any other genre I think I’ve worked in and wanting to do them right.

QUESTION: So Killjoys is created by the creator of Lost Girl, Michelle Lovretta, and it’s produced by the producers of Orphan Black, Temple Street. So what do you think fans of those shows would like about Killjoys?

AARON ASHMORE: Well, obviously they’re coming from the same sensibility, the same minds. So I think obviously our show is going to be very different because of the content and the world and stuff that we’re in but it’s still coming from the people who have the same sensibility, who make those other shows that obviously tons and tons of people enjoyed. So it’s hard to say exactly what it is but I think that the sensibilities are going to be the same. So hopefully the things that you enjoy about those other shows, they’ll be assembled in our show as well.

LUKE MACFARLANE: Yes. Speaking a little bit about Lost Girl, I think there’s something about, not to be [light] about it but there’s a sense of female empowerment that I think is definitely something that’s really strong (in viewers), strong female characters that aren’t just strong for the sake that they beat people up but they also, they’re very comfortable with their sexuality. Michelle writes a lot about sexuality in a really I think unique way that’s very different than most TV characters have sex and not feel ashamed about it.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: Yes. And wow, there’s not really a big thing about sex, sexuality. I think the thing is any women can do any man (inaudible), any man can see the bus.

LUKE MACFARLANE: Yes.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: It’s kind of, there’s this massive freedom there.

LUKE MACFARLANE: Yes.

QUESTION: I know Aaron is probably used to it by now but are you guys ready for the vintage genre fans you’re about to have?

LUKE MACFARLANE: Bring it on.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: We’re ready.

LUKE MACFARLANE: I would love it. I have a lot of flight attendant fans right now, I would like to broaden my fan base. Yes.

AARON ASHMORE: So Luke, you get upgraded at everything.

LUKE MACFARLANE: I often get – they’re like, “Oh, the first class wine is a little bit better than the coach wine. Let me see if I can scrounge a glass for you.”

AARON ASHMORE: That’s exactly a bonus.

LUKE MACFARLANE: Yes, it’s very nice.

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: Nice.

QUESTION: Luke, I have a question for you. We talked previously about Dutch’s past and what’s going on with her. But can you tell us a little bit about D’avin’s search for the military doctor and whether his search will come to a resolution this season?

LUKE MACFARLANE: Well, he’s definitely looking for this person all the way through the show and, gosh, I don’t know how much I should tease but yes, he finds her, he finds her. And that she is a her. And I think it’s really interesting because there’s a lot of comparisons that I think that a lot of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are encountering, like how to reconcile with their violent past, and I think it’s a great story line. But he does, he does get I think more completion and closure than Dutch does.