Leading up to the April 18th premiere of the series on the BBC, ‘Orphan Black‘ has begun its media campaign to garner new interest for Season 3, playing off the intriguing new angle of having a series of male clones (played by Ari Millen) for Tatiana Maslany’s characters to interact with. In the world of the show, the male clones were created during Project Castor (a program running around the same time as the original Project Leda which created all the female clones played by Maslany), and the male clones clearly have an agenda all their own.
In the clip released, Sara Manning is introduced to the male clone first glimpsed during the Season 2 finale, named Rudy, and it is clear that there is a certain level of anxiety and distrust between the two right from the outset. They discuss their connections, their “siblings” and families, with Sarah warning Rudy not to threaten her fellow clones, to which he responds that she should count her sisters, either indicating that one had been kidnapped, or else another sister might be in existence somewhere.
Maslany and company facing off against male clones will hopefully bring a new level of complexity to the show, which so far has really thrived on its own daring plot twists and turns. The real question is whether or not Ari Millen has the same range as Tatiana Maslany, and will be able to believably play a series of characters, each with their own distinct personalities. Maslany’s versatility is what has made the show great so far, but if Millen is not up to the task, it could create a dark cloud over the rest of the season, waiting for the Millen storyline to play out as the actor struggles through his various scenes.
I suppose we’ll just have to wait till the show premieres on Saturday April 18th to find out.
