Emily Rose is no stranger to science fiction having popped up briefly in Jericho and starred as Elena Fisher in the stellar Uncharted trilogy; but it wasn’t until Syfy’s Stephen King adaptation Haven that she became much more than someone who happened to share a name with that exorcism movie. Rose returned to UK screens last night for the season three premiere of Haven , which continues every Tuesday at 9pm, only on Syfy.
SFX : What lessons did you learn from previous years going into the third season of Haven ?
Emily Rose: “The ability to mesh the trouble of the week with the mythology of what’s going on. We are a show that, by nature, exists to try to satisfy people’s weekly desires for a case to wrap up at the end of each episode. But today’s viewer, which I am definitely one of, is more and more interested in the long-term mythology, and that being a rewarding and long-term mystery. The thing that this season does really, really well is it gives time for the trouble of the week but it focuses on the mythology of the characters and the town, and it has something really new this season which I’m excited about, another long term mystery on top of the mythology of the town. There’s a long term crime that has to be solved that’s getting tied into the troubles, so there’s a lot going on.”
Will the Colorado Kid be addressed in greater depth this season?
“I would say it’s a central point. Something that was just a prop, or this thing in the background has come to centre-stage this year.”
Is it helpful for you as an actor to be kept just as in the dark about where the story is heading as your character?
“It’s a tough question because I, like Audrey, would say no, it’s never helpful to be in the dark. But it was helpful the first season because not knowing there was another Audrey that existed aided in the surprise element and the feeling that my world had been flipped upside down. That really helped keep me grounded in what that would really feel like. At times it’s beneficial because it keeps you excited as the season is being unfolded in front of you, and at other times it’s hard because you’re like, ‘Well, if I would have known that then maybe I would have done this.’ Life is that way; we don’t know what’s going to go on, and maybe we would have made different choices, but we have to trust it to unfold in front of us, and as much as I’d like to say I don’t like being in the dark there’s definitely advantages to it.”
What can you tell us about the time travel episode coming up this season?
“It is one of my favourite, favourite, favourite episodes. It’s something that when the showrunners talk about it, or when your showrunner says, ‘This is what we hope to do,’ you think, “Okay, well, I hope we get to do that.’ And also, what would my show look like if it was faced with that challenge of doing a true time travel episode? And it was one of the most rewarding shows we had. To see the town of Haven, which was already classic by nature and timeless, to see it in this era, and also to be able to play two different characters and aspects of Audrey was a huge challenge, but extremely rewarding, so I cannot wait for that episode to roll around because I think the fans are going to absolutely freak out.”
Are you pushing the sci-fi aspect of the show more than in previous seasons?
“Well, I think what’s really neat about television in this era is a lot of the drama and a lot of the mystery, because the technology is getting closer and closer to the kind of things you see in sci-fi, have very sci-fi roots. So what’s neat is our show is definitely part of that genre, for sure, but I think it also appeals to a wider audience because the nature of viewership nowadays has gone to a dramatic, otherworld, what else might be out there mentality. So while we are aiming to please sci-fi fans, we’re always looking for new audiences and new viewership as well. We are excited and thankful for the sci-fi fans we have, and we just want them to tell everybody else, because on top of us appealing to a sci-fi audience I think we appeal to other people who like really thrilling, mysterious, dramatic television.”
Haven has featured some pretty crazy troubles in the past. Is there anything to rival stuffed animals coming to life or snowglobes that make people disappear this year?
“Yeah, the first three episodes all have very cool, creepy Troubles. We’ve come light years from the first season, because now we have a fall premiere date it allows us to be a much, much darker show than we were with a summer release date, so a lot of our troubles and everything are darker and deeper and more daring.”
The end of season two put Nathan and Duke on opposite teams, how does that affect the dynamic between you three this season?
“Well, we always say the better the show is when the three of them can get on the same page to fight whatever is coming against them, but always what makes it way more interesting is when they’re forced to do that while being at odds with each other personally. You find Audrey and Nathan drawn closer together at the end of the second season, but at the beginning of the third season events occur that push them further apart. The three of them will always be drawn and pushed apart in a lot of ways. The boys, though, even though they’re at odds they’re forced to work together because they have a common interest; Audrey is the glue that holds them together, so it is really interesting to watch them struggle through their demons.”
Things ended in quite a fraught way between Audrey, Dave and Vince at the end of season two, is that tension still there throughout season three?
“Very much so. We come to find out Vince and Dave really, really are more than meets the eye. They’re creepy, man. They’re just creepy old men and they’re not letting on a lot. I think Audrey was one of the first to be privy to that and then she drives it home early in the first episode. They’re at the heart of what’s going on in Haven, or at least they know because they’ve been around the longest, so it’s important she keeps them close while still keeping them at bay, which again is a very interesting relationship dynamic.”
Nolan North and Claudia Black, your co-stars from the Uncharted games, will be featuring in this season. How did that come about?
“We’d been talking for a long time about cool it would be if he were able to come out and do an episode, and one of our writers, who is our classic videogame demographic kind of guy, kept telling the Haven office what a great videogame it was and what a good dynamic we had, and what a great fanbase we had. So I think our producers just finally saw the writing on the wall and the numbers of what a great following it had and realised how much some of those fans would like to see us do something that wasn’t motion captured! They saw and realised that a lot of those fans are crossover fans and also have a whole different audience of people. Every season that we grow we’re trying to get new viewers to come on board and satisfy old viewers with all those mythology bits, but still bring in new people.
“So we reached out to Claudia – she obviously has a major sci-fi following, and history – and then also to Nolan, and they both agreed and said they’d love to come out. So we were all really, really excited to be able to work together again, but in a completely different capacity. As actors that’s so much fun, given the opportunity to work together again but as different characters and different people, and with a different storyline, it’s a huge gift. We had a lot of fun filming those different episodes and I think people will have a lot of fun seeing us in a different light.”
So for UK fans what do we have to look forward to from season three?
“First of all I have to say I have a special place for UK fans because they have been hardcore from the very beginning and we realise that and appreciate it. So I heart UK fans! There’s a real desire among us to see the show go darker, for it to be deeper and more romantic, and also to be creepier. This season we get to do all that. I’d say to all of our fans that as much as I love to DVR things as well the more you watch it live the better our numbers are and the better opportunity we have to come back, because it just shows that people want to watch each week. So that’s something that can be done for us, if they want to, but we just really appreciate you watching and tuning in each week and we really think you’re going to enjoy it and won’t be disappointed. There’s a lot of answered questions, and there are a lot of new questions that make you go, ‘What on Earth is going on?’ And I think that makes for pretty great TV.”
Haven Season Three airs e xclusively on Syfy UK, every Tuesday at 9pm.
• Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception videogame review.
• Read our review of the Haven season three premiere (once it’s posted later today)
