Felicia Day

If the average TV fan were to pass Felicia Day on the street, most wouldn’t recognize the woman who has been crowned the queen of the internet. Thanks to her award-winning web series, The Guild, and a starring role in Joss Whedon’s web musical Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Day’s share price has been rising within new media circles. The same, however, cannot be said of success when it comes to traditional media, despite national commercials and a role in perhaps the two best episodes of Fox’s critically acclaimed Dollhouse.

AfterEllen.com talked to writer-actress Day, who created and The Guild as an alternative to being typecast as the “best friend”/secretary all the time, about playing gay on Dollhouse, coming back from the dead a la Buffy in Dr. Horrible II, how Codex, her on-screen alter-ego in The Guild may not have a clue when it comes to her own sexuality and what’s next for the series’ resident same-sex couple Riley and Venom.

AfterEllen: The Dollhouse series finale, “Epitaph Two: Return,” included a nice tip of the hat to the lesbian community when your character, Mag, came out. What’d you think of that when you read the script?

Felicia Day: Yeah! That was interesting. I was all for it, I was like, this seems absolutely right. It was funny because it wasn’t mentioned in “Epitaph One,” so as an actor, I had to wrap my head around that — having established the character because I had a bit of an emotional connection with the guy who died in the first part, so I thought it deepened the subtext there. I had to re-wrap my head around it. But the cool this is that I was attracted to (Dollhouse and Dr. Horrible writer-actress) Maurissa (Tancharoen), who is a great friend of mine — but also beautiful! It really wasn’t that hard; it didn’t fall outside the realm — she’s just a person. She could be attracted to anybody.

AE: It was great that it continued the Dr. Horrible connection.

FD: It was, “OK, this is awesome!” She’s a really good actress and such a great writer, too. I’m always so impressed with her because she juggles so many things at the same time. I’d love to work with her in any capacity in the future.

AE: She’s writing for Spartacus now, too.

FD: Yeah, she and (husband) Jed Whedon (Joss’ brother) are on Spartacus right now and they’re probably having a really good time. I lent her a couple of books because I love Roman and Greek history as well — but all like the racy bits. I’m obsessed with the seedy side of history, so anything with like a torture implement or a weird sexual things in it is probably on my shelf! [Laughs] But only historical, I don’t know why!

AE: Any chance we’ll see you on Spartacus?

FD: That shoots in New Zealand, so I would kill to be on a show like that, even just a small part but it’s problematic that there’s a 17-hour plane flight. They tend to hire actors down there, unless they’re huge regulars. They’re actually my favorite kind of shows, so to be on something like that would be a dream.

AE: Season 3 of The Guild introduced Michele Boyd as Riley, who hooked up with Venom in the finale. Where will that story line pick up in Season 4?

FD: I’m still working out story lines right now, but I get wedded to characters. The problem is — and it’s not really a problem &mdsah; but I love writing these supporting characters. Like Dina — Bladezz’s (Vincent Caso) sister — was only supposed to have one line in the first season and was actually supposed to be a late-20s, trashy girl and I met his real-life sister, Tara, and thought, “This is the funniest kid I’ve ever met,” so I’m just going to rewrite the part for her so I could bring her back because he brings so much to the table as actor and helped me develop the character.

It’s the same thing about Michele: That character was one that I didn’t really know what to do with and she started as an antagonist to me, just kind of a one-episode girl. Then I had the idea to bring her back and she’s fully formed as a much more interesting character that there’s so many more things I can play with her. It’s just a question if I have room for her. Michele is a fantastic actress and I’d love to work with her again.

AE: The scene in Season 3 where she starts giving you a backrub is pretty gay.

FD: [Laughs] Yeah! I mean, it wasn’t subtle! I’ve alluded to that a few times with Codex. I think there’s a few times in Season 2; there’s a whole monologue where she says that she went out for dinner with somebody and it wasn’t until she had her hand halfway up my leg that I realized something was up and Codex was going out with a gay woman. I’ve alluded to Codex being confused and not opposed to that in the past. I think she’s the kind of girl who went through college intellectually thinking, “Well, I don’t know (about her sexuality).” [Laughs] So I’ve kind of dropped hints here and there and actually in one of the drafts I wrote, the kiss at the very end (of Season 3) was Michele kissing Codex, but I thought that wasn’t a direction I wanted to go.

Then I had the idea to pair her and Venom up, which I thought was perfect: The characters compliment each other; they’re very dysfunctional and not very representative of everybody in the world. But for these few characters, it doesn’t feel like a huge leap to pair them up in the end. I’d love to see their home life! [Laughs]

AE: AfterEllen readers would, too!

FD: Oh good! Maybe we’ll see a spinoff then! [Laughs]

AE: It’d be great to see more of those two in Season 4.

FD: It’s definitely in the back of my mind. We just have very limited time in five to eight minutes, so I want to get as much funny and as many of the great characters in as I can.

AE: With the success of “Date My Avatar” do you have plans to promote Season 4 with another great music video?

FD: It’s kind of hard when you set the bar that high if you think about that you need to be as good as that. There were so many elements that went together in that video and at the same time it was kind of a whim. … We always do an extra video for every season; I just wouldn’t want to do a pale version of the “Date My Avatar” video. After I get the season done, we’ll focus on that. I have a couple of ideas, but we’re not going to imitate that.

AE: The first of three Guild comics comes out March 24. Any plans to continue it beyond that?

FD: It depends on how it does. I’m a new comic book writer, so we’ll see if people get the comic. I definitely had to reinvent the way I tell stories, especially for the show for the comic format. It makes me appreciate comic book writing even more, because you have so little room.

At the end of the day, I ended up with something I’m really proud of. I’m really happy with how it came out, and I think fans will be, too, because it doesn’t interfere with the web series story line. So if they enjoy it, I would definitely be open to doing more of them.

AE: So it’s a completely independent story from the web series? It’s not a bridge story?

FD: That’s what I didn’t want to do because I feel like that narrows the audience a little. It requires you to have watched the show and then remembered everything that went on during the show and that’s fine, and maybe in the future that’s a good idea, but for the first comic I wanted to be able to introduce the show; I’m not going to assume that everybody has watched my show. That’s why I held off agreeing to do this for Dark Horse for like a year.

Then I got the idea where I knew how to tell the story in a way that would represent how Cyd Sherman becomes Codex in The Guild form. It really is a story about somebody who is lost in life who finds fulfillment and also a love letter to video games.

I think online gaming has this perception that it ruins people’s lives. But I also think the reverse is true; we live in such a huge society and some people are adrift and can’t really connect with people face to face or they don’t know where to find people who have the same interests. Online, you connect with people over a passion or a topic vs. being circumstantially next to them physically or seeing them and saying, “I like the way that person looks,” as the way to talk to them. That doesn’t represent people.

That’s why I’m really proud of my show, because if you look at our cast, they’re different ethnicities and at the same time, different ages. I think that’s what’s beautiful about the online world in that people are connecting past these preconceived notions that we think when we see somebody. Even I do it when I see somebody who is a certain race or a certain age and I’ll think that I won’t have anything in common with them, but they could be my best friend online if you never met them face to face. That’s why I love my show and I love the internet.

AE: I think that’s what AfterEllen really does, too.

FD: Yeah. I don’t know if we’re meant to live with billions of people on this Earth with the way that we’ve developed as small societies and that’s what I think the Internet provides: small societies that you can really feel an emotional connection to where you feel like the world is tangible and you have real connections with people. It’s weird because it’s online, but maybe it’s just an evolution of technology.

AE: Joss Whedon has talked about a Dr. Horrible sequel and perhaps a movie. What can you tell us about that?

FD: I know that since Dollhouse ended, it’s definitely a priority for him and the crew. I don’t know if I’ll be included, but I hope so.

AE: Any shot our beloved Penny will pull a Buffy and come back from the dead?

FD: [Laughs] It’s hard because I’m a writer and I know how it is to love an actor and try to figure out how to work them in, but I really have to think of the story. I’ve actually gotten some really cool fan art in the past of Penny in a vat of liquid, Ghost Penny, Robot Penny — which I really like because that could be cool makeup— Zombie Penny, Franken Penny, all this really great fan art. It’s really cool what people come up with.

AE: Has The Guild helped you break free of the best-friend character stereotype?

FD: [Laughs] Not really! I actually auditioned for three or four secretaries this pilot season. But it’s fine. At the end of the day I’m doing something that’s much more fulfilling than doing that. It’s just two different worlds. I have had other opportunities open up because writers are more aware of me than executives or producers and casting directors. I’ve actually had writers write me parts, which is awesome.

Felicia Day will be signing copies of "The Guild" #1 at a special cocktail party at Golden Apple Comics in Los Angeles (7018 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90038) on Friday, April 2 from 6-9 p.m. Admission is free.