Are there strange beings hidden within our society that we don't know about? Who holds the secrets of a clandestine population infiltrated by unknown entities and often terrifying beings? After spending ten years in the shoes of Samantha Carter within the small-screen Stargate franchise, Amanda Tapping now takes on the role of Dr. Helen Magnus in SCI FI's new original series Sanctuary, as a brilliant scientist who holds the secrets of odd beings living among the human race. With Sanctuary making its debut on Friday, October 3, we joined a clandestine population of journalists on a conference call with Amanda Tapping to learn more about what looks to be another cool series for SCI FI.

THE DEADBOLT: Helen Magnus looks really good for 157. What's her secret?

AMANDA TAPPING: She bathes in Botox. No, yeah, well I'd tell you but I'd have to kill you. Wait until the episode, The Five, and you'll get it - you'll get the full meal deal on Helen Magnus and how she came to be who she is and why she's still around.

The beauty of being given a 13-episode arc for our first season is that we've been able to sort of pull these stories out, like just create this huge mythology that we couldn't do in the two hours of webisodes. We sort of packed a lot into those two hours. But now we're able to sort of draw that mythology out. So Helen Magnus' secret is revealed in an episode called The Five, which is very cool. But thank you for saying she looks good.

THE DEADBOLT: After the pilot, what's the direction of the series? I'm sure you're going to discuss the back-story of Jack the Ripper and all that stuff, but what happens after that?

TAPPING: Well, it's - part of the mythology. Like I said in the episode of The Five, deals with these five characters from history who have come together, these forward-thinking scientists and how they've come to be who they are; Jack the Ripper being one of them, Helen being another one, and a few other very cool characters from history.

So we start with that as a jumping off point. But the main focus of the show is the creatures within the Sanctuary. And it can be anything from - we have a beautiful episode called Edward where it's a young boy who is an autistic savant and it's his ability - he's like a human camera.

And it's - he's actually a person like this in the world so it's based on sort of pseudo fact. But there's his story and how they get him to come out of his shell. It [worlds so that the] back-story is really explored.

I'm loathed to say monster of the week because it's not that, but we do - every episode has a very interesting focal character that we're dealing with. But like I said, we also bring in - it's now common knowledge, Nikola Tesla is one of the characters that comes to light in the Sanctuary. So yeah, we're pulling from that. We're pulling from sort of the things that go bump in the night mythologies that we've all grown up with. We pull from that. We pull from history. And then we're also just taking really remarkable human beings and sort of shedding a light on that idea.

THE DEADBOLT: I know you've already been asked about the green screen, but is it weird because this is almost - this is mainly green screen, isn't it?

TAPPING: Yeah, I think we set out wanting to do a lot more. I think we're probably at about 70/30, 75/25 to green screen to practical. We built some practical sets. Like Helen Magnus' office, for example, is for the most part a practical set except for the ceiling and what you see out the windows. But otherwise, yeah, it is entirely virtual. And like I said, it's like doing theater. You get used to it very quickly. David Geddes is our Director of Photography and he's literally an artist.

He creates this palette for you where you believe there's a window with sunlight streaming in and you can tell what hour of day it is by the way he's lit it. You know what I mean? So you get those visual cues and it makes it that much more real.

THE DEADBOLT: And you're probably just used to talking to a tennis ball anyway?

TAPPING: Well, and I've talked to a lot of tennis balls on little grip stands.

THE DEADBOLT: How far in advance is this mapped out?

TAPPING: Up to Episode 13.

THE DEADBOLT: There's no four year plan or...?

TAPPING: We don't, actually. I'm sure that Damian actually in his head has a grander scheme for the whole thing. But at this stage, we've sort of started mapping out where we want certain character relationships to go.

But really, we're sort of - it's that superstitious feeling of let's not plan too far ahead because we may be derailed, you know. Like let's think really clearly about - intelligently how we want this series to move forward.

We don't want to be rushed - you know, rush into anything but also by the same token. I don't know, it's this weird sort of superstitious - how I feel is, which is people are like what would happen in Season 2 and I'm like I don't want to talk about Season 2. Let's hope next year we get a pickup for Season 2. Let's get through Season 1. Come on everybody, just calm down, calm down. You know what I mean? I'm a bit of a fatalist.

We've all been in this industry long enough to know. I mean, I just kept thinking Stargate would get canceled and it never did. And the one year that we thought it would get picked up again we got canceled. So I'm of the mind that I'm just going to think the worst and be really pleasantly surprised. But I think Damian has a grander scheme for it. We just have to dig it out of his little brain.

THE DEADBOLT: Is there any mythology or fairytales that you're looking forward to doing?

TAPPING: There are, actually. I've always loved the vampire mythology and I've always loved the idea of that kind of creature, a sort of totally without social conscience and how that works. And so that was sort of - if she ends up with a, "Ooh, vampires, they're the scariest thing I can possibly think of." And so we sort of explored that mythology actually already in the first 13.

But I like that idea. I like the idea of what happens with a creature that seemingly has no social conscience, seemingly has just a selfish agenda and then you find out that maybe it's not necessarily that at all. I like the idea of turning things on their head. I'm not really answering your question very well. It gets lost on a little bit of a tangent.

But I like the idea that we are taking what society views as abnormal and shining a light on it, saying maybe not so abnormal. Maybe - because Helen's belief ultimately is that all the creatures that she studies are keys to the evolution of our race. She believes that they're evolutionary steps and so when you look at somebody like - somebody with autism, for example, is it that they're societally challenged or are they just so far advanced that we don't get them? And I have an autistic nephew and I look at him sometimes, and I think he has insights into this world way beyond.

But we don't get it so we think that he's not quite up to our standards. So I like the fact that this show is shining lights on things like that and going hmm people, let's (teach the arrogant) here - but also having fun with it, too. I mean, having fun with the mythology.

Other Conference Call Highlights:

Amanda Tapping on whether Helen looks at her gift as a curse or a blessing:

"Both. I think ultimately she still sees that there's work to be done and she still sees that her quest is worthy, so she needs to be around for it. But she often talks about the curse of it and that's what I alluded to before, this swing of incredible loneliness.

"When you watch everyone you've ever known grow old and die - all your lovers and your friends - I think that her heart is very well protected now because if it wasn't, she would be heartbroken all the time, watching these incredible people that she spends time with. So I think she's very guarded because she doesn't want to give people too much for fear that it - you know, she'll be heartbroken in the end. That's the loneliness and the curse of that. But like I said, she still has a quest to fulfill and so she'll continue doing what she's doing because it's still worthy."

Amanda Tapping on the challenge of stepping into Helen's shoes:

"Literally stepping into her shoes because they're stilettos and they're very uncomfortable compared to army boots. It was finding her physicality. After playing a character like Sam Carter for so long where her physicality is so comfortable - Same is so comfortable in her own skin and Helen is this very sexual, more mysterious being. She has a much darker edge to her and it was sort of finding that because Carter always looks on the bright side and Helen has been around so long, and has seen so much of the evil in human society if you will.

"And she's also seen the genius and the brilliance. But I mean, at the heart of Helen is this swing of incredible loneliness and so it was finding all of that. It was sort of trying to create this completely legitimate, dark, intense woman after playing somebody like Carter for so long. It was a huge challenge to find her. And literally also just to find her voice. I wanted to make sure that because she's from Victorian era England it informs so much of who this woman is and how she thinks.

"And that era is so specific. And because she was a forward thinker and she pushed the envelope scientifically and emotional and societally, she's informed by that. So I wanted her voice to still have that carriage of, you know, the aristocrat and the use of proper English. But she's been around for so long that it couldn't be so high brow. It still had to be sort of accessible to modern day vernaculars. So finding that, you know, was - that was a challenge, too. I mean, I walked around for days trying different accents on people - unwitting, ordering coffee in Starbucks as this - mid-Atlantic wasn't working for me so I had to pull back. Yeah, it was kind of goofy but that was, you know, that's part of the challenge and the joy of creating this new character."