Dollhouse

Joss Whedon told reporters he still has hope for a second Dollhouse season (and explained about that post-apocalyptic finale.) And Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles producers debunked their show’s cancellation rumor. Plus season three details!

Whedon did a group interview last night as part of his Paley Fest appearance, and sounded as though he hasn’t given up on a second season of his mind-wiped slaves-of-the-rich show:

The chances are] not very good but in limbo. Obviously our numbers are pretty soft, and there it is, but we live in hope. I’m really proud of the episodes that are coming out. More than that, I can’t really ask.

He still holds out hope for renewal. Fingers crossed! (Although the ratings numbers, for both Dollhouse and Sarah Connor, do remain pretty discouraging.)

And Whedon explained how the show’s post-apocalyptic thirteenth episode, which stars Felicia Day and won’t air on Fox, came out. Apparently, both Whedon and Fox agreed that he had fulfilled their order for 13 episodes, counting the unaired pilot and 12 regular episodes. But Fox insisted that they needed a thirteenth episode for overseas distribution, or the season would seem too short. So Whedon said:

I’ll tell you what. I’ll shoot a post-apocalyptic thriller that’s all on our sets in six days with a cast of four other people, then we’ll pepper it with different bits from our regular cast, and we can do it all during the schedule. It’ll cost you half. I can do this.’ And I was so in love with the idea that I just came up with off the top of my head, and that’s what it turned into. It’s one of the best episodes we’ve ever made

And Day told Sci Fi Wire she plays "a post-apocalyptic fighter girl" and hinted the episode takes place on the Dollhouse’s regular sets.

Meanwhile, Sarah Connor Chronicles writer Ashley Edward Miller Twittered that we shouldn’t take Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Ausiello too seriously when he claims the show is already canceled, since he said the same thing before season two, and midway through season two:

Time for Ausiello’s semi-annual SCC termination report. False again. (Remember "sets were destroyed" report? Now you know context, people).

(For the record, Sarah Connor Chronicles has no standing sets, as anybody who’s watched the show can attest.) For his part, showrunner Josh Friedman settled for Twittering:

Waiting for Michael Ausiello to tell me what I’m supposed to do now with my career.

So what would happen if Sarah Connor Chronicles gets a third season? Actor Brian Austin Green spilled a few details to Comic Book Resources, and it sounds fantastic:

The third season is going to be incredible, if it happens. There were no intentions of this being a series finale. It was absolutely a season finale. There’s a plan where this can go and it’s so good....

You have this episode where John Connor travels to a future where John Connor never existed. I don’t know if people completely get it because we work on a string theory, which we’ve dealt with during the season. We dealt with that with Jessie, in the future that she came from there was Charles Fisher, who tortured everyone. In the future I came from, he never existed. I don’t remember him. We were still together within these parallel futures but they were still different and they still had their own paths. This is the same concept. For John Connor to travel to a future where he never existed, where Kyle Reese never left, where Derek and Kyle are still fighting side by side, where Allison (the human Cameron was based on) is still very much present, what becomes of John? What better situation for somebody to grow up in and become the future leader than that? Than to be fighting in what he’s been trying to prevent? Not just being the top dog, being listened to for everything, but having to actually listen and follow.

And he clarified that, despite that crackle of lightning at the end, Sarah Connor did stay behind in the present. And John Connor himself may have sent Catherine Weaver back in time to create an alternative to Skynet. He also talks about Derek’s undramatic death scene, and how the producers always planned to bring him back in the alternate future. It sounds like if we get a third Sarah Connor season, Derek will be back full time.