Summer Glau

Following her roles in Firefly, Serenity, and The 4400, Summer Glau continues her one-woman domination of science fiction in the next television season, with the premiere of The Sarah Connor Chronicles on FOX. This new TV series is a spin-off of The Terminator films, picking up two years after the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, as Sarah Connor (300’s Lena Heady) and her son John (Heroes’s Thomas Dekker) are on the run and preparing for a possible future war against the machines.

As for Glau’s role, well, if you want to remain completely spoiler free on the pilot episode of The Sarah Connor Chronicles beware, because we’re about to discuss who she plays, which was previously given away by Heady. But once more, this is your last Spoiler Warning.

Glau’s character Cameron — we hope you all get the reference? — is a classmate of John’s... who is in fact a Terminator, sent back in time to protect the future savior of humanity. This fact is revealed early on, as Cameron lets her true nature be known after a new threat to John shows up.

At a recent FOX event, I was able to speak to Glau for an exclusive chat with IGN, to find out what it’s like to be the latest in a line of unstoppable robots, played in the past by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Robert Patrick and Kristanna Loken. We also discussed Glau’s part on The 4400, and whether she’ll be back for Season 4, premiering this month.

IGN TV: The last time we talked you had to be all secretive about Sarah Connor and your role in it.

Summer Glau: So you know all about it now, right?

IGN TV: Yeah, I actually did a speculative piece about how you were in The Sarah Connor Chronicles and I thought you were probably playing a Terminator.

Glau: It was so hard for me not to say anything, but now the cat’s out of the bag, so I don’t have that pressure on me anymore.

IGN TV: Was it strange to have to be so secretive?

Glau: That’s not ever happened to me before. It was pretty exciting, but I think Lena actually ended up telling people at a comic book convention. I said, "Thank you, Lena! Now I don’t have to keep it a secret anymore!"

IGN TV: What did you think when you went in for the role? Considering how big the movies are, this is a pretty iconic world you’re entering into here.

Glau: Well to tell you the truth though, I hadn’t seen The Terminator.

IGN TV: Wow!

Glau: And my friends all thought I was just from a different planet. Everybody, even Joss [Whedon] - When I told Joss I was up for the role, he said, "God, it’s a movie that changed film. It’s a really special and important movie." And I hadn’t seen it! So when I got the role, my dad went out and got all the movies for me and we watched them together.

IGN TV: So when you watched the movies, did it give you a good idea what you were getting yourself into?

Glau: I think so. You know, I think I might have it a little easier than Lena and Thomas in that my character doesn’t exist yet [in a prior movie]. My character’s very complicated, and I’m having a hard time with it, to be honest. I want people to be able to relate to her, and I think that it’s gonna be really interesting trying to play a machine that is so human. She’s supposed to be the most human Terminator that’s ever been created. So I am very human, but I have to try to find ways to make her foreign as well. You know, by showing little things about her; details about her.

IGN TV: In the pilot, your character is sort of undercover as a high school student, right?

Glau: Yes. Yes, I’m still playing high school! [Laughs]

IGN TV: But now you’re playing someone only pretending to be in high school.

Glau: True! True enough. It’s really fun. We had a great time.

IGN TV: Obviously you’ve had a lot of action scenes in the past, especially in Serenity. Were you able to call on some of the same skills here?

Glau: Yes. You know, from being a ballet dancer, there’s something about it —Getting your adrenalin going on set. Getting your heart pumping. Getting physical - that really is satisfying for me. I loved it. And that was my favorite day on set. My favorite day of the shoot was when I got to do my big fight scene with Owain [Yeoman], who’s also in the pilot.

IGN TV: Can you talk at all about what the central plotline will be? Will Owain always be the bad guy, or are there other threats coming at you guys?

Glau: Well you would have to ask that man there [pointing across room]. He’s one of our executive producers and he wrote the pilot. He created this whole thing and we keep trying to get him to give us secrets, but we’re shot down. [Editor’s Note: In fact, we did speak to that man — Josh Friedman — and will be putting up that interview soon on IGN TV]

IGN TV: So from the clips I saw, it looks like you have a fight scene while you’re naked?

Glau: [Laughs] Can you believe it was snowing outside too?! We were in Albuquerque and I’d never been so cold in my life. I had three different night shoots where I had to be naked.

IGN TV: You’re kidding.

Glau: Three different nights where it was snowing and it was night shoots, so it was all night long. So I wasn’t very happy about that, but actually, I saw parts of it and it looked pretty cool.

IGN TV: I have to tell you, I wondered what it was about you, science fiction, and nudity...

Glau: I know, I’m always naked and always fighting people! [Laughs]

IGN TV: Well at least you’re always kicking ass.

Glau: Thank you! Yeah, I’m doing good.

IGN TV: Do you start shooting the series in July?

Glau: That’s what I’ve heard, but I haven’t heard anything definite yet. I’m still doing The 4400 right now too.

IGN TV: That was my next question. So you will be back this season?

Glau: Yes, yes. I’m doing more 4400’s.

IGN TV: That’s great. Do you know how many episodes we might see you on?

Glau: It’s supposed to be four. I’ve already shot one and I have four more.

IGN TV: What episode will you show up on for that?

Glau: I’m in the opener; the premiere. And then I’m slated to be in the last four. We’ll see. You know, it depends on what happens with [Sarah Connor]. But I’d love to go back. I love that show.

IGN TV: So you’d consider yourself fully immersed in the sci-fi world at this point?

Glau: I think so! Science fiction’s been so good to me.