ANTHONY LEMKE

How Three became the magic number for the Dark Matter star

HE GETS KNOCKED DOWN...

“What’s interesting about Three – and I think it’s what the audience responds to about the character – is that he’s not a hero in any sort of sense. He never wins. He’s the guy who perpetually gets back up off the mat. His superpower, if he has one, is just to keep going, to keep fighting, and to not let it affect his psyche.”

HIDDEN DEPTHS

“It was clear from the audition scenes that the character of Three was both thoughtful and vulnerable, and there was a lot of room for comedy in the character – on top of all his rough exterior. The audience didn’t see that right away, though. They saw his gruff side. They were like, ‘This guy’s a total asshole.’ They hated me! I was just smiling, biting my tongue, because he’s not that character really. He’s something far more complex and deeper.”

FEEDBACK LOOP

“I do pay attention to social media – I enjoy it. One of the coolest things about sci-fi is that you get to interact with people who like your show. For television actors, it can be such a disconnected medium. Most of us – especially my generation – started off in theatre and went to theatre school. You knew what the audience was thinking of your show because they were right in front of you. That guy falling asleep in the middle of your performance? It’s a bit of feedback on how you’re doing! Social media replicates that in a sort of 21st century kind of way.”

CHILD’S PLAY

“Sci-fi is a big part of my life, but I got into it more from the play side than the watching side. I didn’t watch much TV as a kid, but I was always outside play-acting, whether it was Star

Wars or ‘cowboys and indians’ or whatever. Those were definitely the beginnings of my interest in telling stories for a living.”

Dark Matter’s third season is currently airing on Syfy, with each episode followed by aftershow After Dark.