Louis Ferreira as Colonel Everett Young on Stargate Universe. Photo by Art Streiber and copyright of Syfy.
This is one of a handful of unpublished interviews I still have left from my Stargate Universe set visit last July. Hope you enjoy it!
Decisions, decisions, decisions – if you happen to be lucky (or in some cases unlucky) enough to be in a leadership position, then you are faced with making decisions on a daily basis. Stargate Universe’s Colonel Everett Young knows that only too well. As commander of a group of military men and women as well as scientists and civilians,all of whom are marooned onboard the Ancients starship Destiny, he constantly makes decisions that affect his life as well as theirs.
In the Universe second season episode Deliverance, the colonel is juggling several balls, including one where the outcome will determine the future of one of his crewmates. For actor Louis Ferreira, who plays Young, this sort of personal angst is what makes working on the series and playing his character so much fun for him.
“The episode that we’re currently filming [early July 2010] is one big space battle,” reveals Ferreira, who has stepped away from the set for a chat in Universe’s publicity office on the Bridge Studios lot in Burnaby, British Columbia. “And the challenge with it, really, because I think this show is, in fact, a character drama, is bringing the history of these people to the battle. So instead of just having an episode about things blowing up, it’s one where you have all this character development running parallel to all the action, if that makes any sense,” says the actor with a smile. “That to me is what makes a good drama, where the characters get under your skin and you come to understand where they’re coming from and even what it must be like for them to confront their demons.
“And I can tell you that this season, my character hits rock bottom. It gets worse and worse for Young until he sinks right to the bottom and is challenged in such a way where he has to make some tough decisions.”
As dedicated as he is to his military career, Young was prepared to give it all up in order to save his failing marriage. When we first met him at the start of Universe’s first season, he was planning to make his tour of duty on Icarus Base his last. Then, of course, the Lucian Alliance attacked, sending him and dozens of others on a one-way trip through the Stargate and onto the Destiny. After spending months eking out an existence millions of light years from home and then finally adjusting to their alien surroundings, Young’s life and everyone else’s are thrown into turmoil when the Lucian Alliance attacks Destiny. The situation looked bleak for our heroes as the minutes ticked down to the ending credits of Universe’s first season finale, Incursion.
“I was really pleased with how things were left at the end of last year,” says Ferreira. “The last five minutes were fantastic, and I loved the build up to that, where the audience was left with that feeling of, ‘Really, this is how it’s going to end?’ So that’s what stood out for me – how everyone involved was able to execute those final scenes as well as they did. The jeopardy of the entire situation really stood out, and that final shot of Young looking upward got a great deal of positive feedback from viewers, which I was thrilled to hear.
“Then the first episode coming back this season [Intervention] picks up right where we left off, and our characters’ dilemma resolves itself in a really interesting way. From there, we begin to explore all these other sorts of stories that take our characters to many different places. I had the luxury of coming into the first two episodes of this season rather light work-wise, which allowed me to really find my footing with Young once again. My hope is that by the time we get to season whatever with this show, that we find that Young has developed into a whole other character.
“What we’re seeing in season two, which I love, is that all the rules that apply on Earth no longer apply on Destiny. In fact, these people are creating their own world, their own civilization. Even the rank of colonel in the military doesn’t mean the same thing when you’re stuck in a tin can flying through outer space and all you have to live on is what you brought along on your back. Trying to find a positive beat with that is hard just because of the reality of the situation, and what’s happening with Young this year is that he has begun to look in the mirror and question himself. He is constantly struggling between what he’d love to be, which is a bit more relaxed and lighter, compared to what he’s been trained to be. All Young has known is the military and being that old school, almost 50’s father/parental tough love type of guy. Now, however, in the grand scheme of things, who is he, really, and I think that’s a question not only for him, but for everybody else onboard.
“You’ve got to remember that Young didn’t want to go on this mission to begin with. His last mission was supposed to be on Icarus. After that, he was looking forward to getting back home and mending fences with his wife. Well, in season two, he not only loses his wife when she asks for a divorce, he loses his baby as well. And having lost everything that he really believed it, and to now still be in a leadership role, really stinks. Young isn’t the type of person who’s going to come in and go, ‘Hey, guys, I’m here to keep you all happy.’ That’s not the deal. With my character, you’ve got someone who’s really conflicted and does this job because he has to, and I think that’s what’s interesting about him. He’s not looking to impress or be liked. He’s looking to get his mission done, and that mission is still about getting everyone, including himself, home.”
The baby that Ferreira just spoke of was the result of a brief affair between his character and Lt. Tamara “TJ” Johansen (Alaina Huffman). Young learned of TJ’s pregnancy last year on Universe, and in the aforementioned Incursion, she was wounded during an altercation with the Lucian Alliance, leaving her life and that of her baby’s in jeopardy. In the season two opener, Intervention, an omnipotent alien force intervened to save her and the baby – or did it? TJ wants to believe that their child is alive and well and still with the aliens, while Young has his doubts and is convinced that the baby is dead.
“You never truly know what’s what with Young is because he tends to keep his feelings close to his chest,” notes Ferreira, “but the loss of this child is what probably sends him into his depression and subsequent drinking Young and his wife tried to have a child, but couldn’t. I think there’s a certain paternal need in him and it’s something that he’s never been able to act on. There was a scene last year where TJ came into my character’s office and you see Young almost light up because there was some hope for him. The baby was a new life, and it would have been just the thing he needed to ‘wake up.’ Had he become a father, then there would have been greater purpose to his life.
“I think the way that the show’s writers handled the whole baby situation was quite good. It was certainly a darker way to go. Now at this point, Young is on this ship where he is constantly reminded of his failures with TJ, and now the baby, and TJ represents the loss of his wife, too. This all causes a great deal of heartbreak as well as grief for Young, and also adds another layer to my character.”
Following Intervention, the weight of command continues to bear down on Young’s already overburdened shoulders when, in the episode Aftermath, Sergeant Riley (Haig Sutherland) asks the colonel to euthanize him after he is severely injured in a shuttle crash with no hope of rescue or recovery.
“Man, that was a crazy scene,” recalls Ferreira. “Will Waring, who directed the episode, said to me, ‘I watched that scene at least 20 times and I got the shivers every time.’ I mean, it’s one thing to talk about what happens as the character where you’re doing something like this and you understand what you’re doing as an actor, but then you’ll go to shoot the scene and acting-wise it sometimes becomes overwhelming. That was true here. When Young euthanizes Riley, he does it with this sort of hand over mouth motion, and it was actually scripted that while he’s doing it, Young himself is unable to breathe during the entire ordeal.
“Can you imagine having to do something like that in real life, and you were doing it because you felt it was for the right reason. Me, personally, I wouldn’t want that responsibility. I don’t think I could live with it, but it’s a strength that Young has and that I don’t have. He’s able to do this because he’s assessed the situation and in that moment realizes what Riley is, in fact, asking. It wasn’t my character’s decision. Young was asked, and to respond with that sort of ethic and the ability to carry out this man’s last request was pretty brave of Young, not to mention kind of messed up. Again, shooting that scene gave me a very eerie feeling. Our cameraman actually had tears in his eyes. It was one of those scenes this season where you were like, ‘Wow, that was tough,’ but it’s also one that I’ll always remember.”
In season two’s Trial and Errorthings finally become too much for Young, He locks himself away in his quarters, venturing out only to get more booze from Brody’s (Peter Kelamis) still. The colonel also begins to experience intensely vivid nightmares in which Destiny is attacked and destroyed by alien ships. Someone, or some thing, is trying to tell him something, and only after an intervention of sorts from Lt. Scott (Brian J. Smith) is Young able to pull himself together. This episode presented Ferreira with a multitude of acting challenges that he was eager to take on.
“In this episode my character gets to a place where he crosses the line that we all have as human beings to wake up every day, go out there and get done what you’re supposed to get done,” says the actor. “We all have responsibilities and sometimes you’ve got to suck it up. Young is the first one to go on about that type of thing, but that no longer applies here. He’s lost, hurt and confused. We see this broken man who, for all intents and purposes, we’ve always seen as being together.
“Whether or not you like him, Young is good at what he does, and he doesn’t have to do things in a bright and cheery way either. People will sometimes come up to me and say, ‘But he’s so stern,’ and I admire individuals like Young. He’s so opposite personally from where I’m at. I’m quite gregarious and I love humor, but there’s something about the dependability of a person like Young. The structure is there with him and it’s something that you can always count on.
“That’s who Young is, but for the first time that’s not the case in Trial and Error. There’s actually a line in the episode where he says something like, ‘You know what, it all eventually adds up,’ and that humanness in him comes out. It’s rare for Young to ‘exploit’ his insecurities and vulnerabilities, but that’s one of the things I really enjoyed about the episode. You got to see Young weak, you got to see him fail, and you got to see him be more human in some ways. So I was very pleased with how the episode turned out.”
Since arriving on Destiny, Young and scientist Dr. Nicholas Rush (Robert Carlyle) have been at odds, but as Ferreira explains, the tension between these two Alpha males mellows slightly this season on Universe.
“It’s frustrating for my character to be onboard this alien spaceship and not be more familiar with the scientific part of the puzzle. So Young and Rush really need each other, but in some ways Young needs Rush more than vice versa. I don’t think Rush could necessarily lead, but he’s a brilliant mastermind who in a way is in control. That annoys my character beyond belief, which is the whole point of the Eli [David Blue] character. If Young could groom this young kid to take over, then he would be more than happy to leave Rush behind on a planet and let Eli take over the scientific end of things. Oh, wait a sec, Young already tried that and it didn’t go so well,” jokes the actor. “Then there’s the moment where Young comes along and, in fact, saves Rush.
“What happens, though, this season is that Rush and Young come to an agreement. They’re like, ‘Look, this is the reality and we’ve got some options here. This head-butting thing is, perhaps, not the best one. So for the sake of the crew, let’s try a new plan.’ And I think Young does sincerely try to make an effort, but when you’ve got a bad relationship, there is some damage done that is beyond repair, so that throughline is always going to be there. They’re never going to trust one another and never be quite comfortable around each other, but that’s something they’re both just going to have to live with.”
While his Universe character may have had his difficulties trying to adjust to his new outer space surroundings, Ferreira continues to feel very much at ease working on the series. “I’ve never worked with a greater group of people, and yet there’s something ironic about that because this is probably the darkest show I’ve ever worked on,” he muses. “So you have this juxtaposition between the people working on SGU and the actual show itself, which is great. It couldn’t work the other way around. If we were a bunch of actors with attitude and all the other crap that you sometimes hear about on other sets, it would be really difficult to execute this type of series. The way we ‘survive’ is because we are able to bond as a group both on-camera and off-camera.
“So this is a great family, from the cast to the crew, to Brad Wright and Rob Cooper [Universe co-creators/executive producers], everyone, and it’s nice to look forward to coming to work because you know you’re dealing with good people who are your real and true friends and not only respect each other but are there to work hard, too. That’s a dream scenario in this business, and truly a luxury as well as a blessing that we have on this particular show.”
Steve Eramo
As noted above, photo by Art Streiber and copyright of Syfy, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!
Way Cool! Thanks very much for posting this interview with Louis Ferreira. He provides real incite into his thoughts on Young and how he plays him. Great character & actor too.
Posted by: kimmy | 05/16/2011 at 12:17 AM