Colin Ferguson's character of William is one of the new faces this season on Haven. Photo copyright of Syfy.
A handsome stranger comes into town, stops by the local bar for a beer and begins talking with the beautiful bartender. Their conversation is interrupted when another stranger, this one with a gun, walks into the bar and threatens the woman. The first stranger comes to her aid and then, out of the blue, starts to tell this woman he just met things about herself that she finds difficult to believe.
The above sounds like a straightforward story of sorts, right? It probably would be, if it was not unfolding on Syfy’s hit supernatural drama Haven. In the show’s current (fourth)season, actor Colin Ferguson, best known to his fans as Sheriff Jack Carter from the Sci-Fi TV drama/comedy Eureka, has joined Haven as William, a mystery man who is somehow linked to and appears to know quite a bit about the show’s heroine, Audrey Parker (Emily Rose). A veteran actor with years in the business, this new gig came about for him thanks to an old friend.
‘Funnily enough, I’ve known Shawn Piller, one of the producers on Haven, going back almost 10 years ago to another show I worked on called Coupling,” says Ferguson. “I was on Eureka when Haven started up, and I would go to their premieres and finales at Shawn’s house every year. So I got to know a bunch of the other producers along with the writers as well as the cast, and, in fact, years ago I did movie with Lucas Bryant [Nathan Wuornos], so I’ve known him for long time.
“When the show’s producers and writers were knocking around ideas for this season, Shawn asked me, ‘Would you consider or be interested in doing a role for us?’ and I said, ‘For sure.’ When you’ve worked on a TV show for six years like I had with Eureka, it’s really nice when you can go into another environment where you’re already familiar with the people, it’s a friendly atmosphere and you’re not looking to ‘prove’ yourself, you know? Everyone on Haven has been incredibly welcoming and unbelievably kind, so it was the perfect transition gig for me following Eureka.
“With regard to my character of William, I shot eight episodes with them, or when I finish shooting it will be eight episodes. Because Emily had a baby this year, they tried to condense her working days to give her as much time as possible to be with her baby as well as rest and do all the other things that she needed to do. So when I came onboard, I shot four episodes worth of scenes in a little over a week up in Halifax, and my stuff was primarily with Emily right out of the gate. That allowed us to find our way pretty quickly with our two characters and their relationship.”
Longtime watchers of Haven are aware that former FBI Agent Audrey Parker’s connection to the small seaside town and its supernatural “Troubles” began long before she decided to take up residence there. At the end of the show’s third season, Audrey sacrificed herself in order to save Haven and end the Troubles. She and Duke Crocker (Eric Balfour) disappeared inside a strange barn, only to resurface a long way from Haven in the season four opener Fallout. While Duke manages to make it back home, Audrey is living a new life as a woman named Lexi Dewitt and has no knowledge of her past lives or events. Then one day, William walks through the door of the bar she is working at.
“What I like about my character per what they’ve told me – and I don’t actually know if they’re still on the same track with him – is that you’re not sure if he’s a good guy or a bad guy,” notes Ferguson. “Even when you think he might be a bad guy, he still might be a good guy, and even when you think he might be doing something right, you’re not sure why. There’s always a counter subtext with him; he’s one of these characters that gets to snake in and out of moralities, which makes him fun to play.
“In the six out of eight episodes I’ve shot so far, they’ve developed his point of view as well as sense of humor quite a bit. A lot of times a character can go, say, maudlin or saccharin with what they have to do, but in this case, William has a tongue-in-cheek irony about things. I really appreciate that and key into that when playing him. As I just mentioned, I don’t know yet where the character is headed. I’ve been playing both sides of it, and I’m not sure if he’s going to thread the needle as it were and be a hero or just fall off the cliff and be a villain.
“As far as William’s and Lexi’s/Audrey’s relationship, they’re connected, but I’m not quite sure how,” he continues. “At the beginning, the writers weren’t certain if these two characters were going to be brother and sister, boyfriend and girlfriend, or what exactly their relationship was, but, again, they are connected. Now, six episodes in, not only do Lexi and William have a history, but they might have a present as well, and I thought that was pretty cool for the writers to throw into the mix.
“What I’ve enjoyed about the scenes that we’ve done so far are the reveals. Right from the start, William put his cards on the table, so with every episode or every two episodes, there’s another draw, there’s another reveal. Those moments are a blast because we try to humanize it as much as possible as well as keep it funny and keep things moving. At the same time, we have to do due diligence to Lexi’s reaction. It’s not a scene about William revealing something. It’s a scene about, oh, wow, what does this mean about Audrey or Lexi or Sarah or Lucy [Audrey’s previous two incarnations].
“So there are a lot of neat things to play. I find when working on a TV series that the most
interesting material generally has to do with the mythology. The standalone episodes don’t really have any roots to them because there’s another one that comes along next week. However, with the mythology-based stories, all the actors seem to focus in on those and everyone gets a little excited when they get to do a scene, so I’m lucky enough to be a part of that.”
Prior to Haven, the actor spent five seasons policing another small town that was also prone to strange phenomena – mostly due to scientific mishaps - as the affable Sheriff Jack Carter on Eureka. Like any cast members of a long-running series, Ferguson and his fellow actors were sad when that series ended. “It’s two years out since we last shot the show, and looking at all the other series on TV and the other offers that come your way, you realize, ‘Wow, we really had a great thing going and are really appreciative of the time that we had,’” says the actor.
“Coming out the other end of the tunnel at this point, as I said two years later, I think what I probably enjoyed most about my Eureka experience are the opportunities that it provided. I got really close to a terrific group of people and I learned my craft in a way that few have the opportunity to get to do. I also received great exposure from my work on the show and I did well financially, so that makes for security in my life, which for an actor is rare. In addition to acting, I got to direct and I was a producer. All those things have made my post-Eureka years incredibly enjoyable. I hold the entire time very close to my heart and look back on it with very, very fond memories.”
In between Eureka and Haven, the actor guest-starred in a two-episode arc on the TV Land sitcom Happily Divorced as well as an episode of the Sci-Fi series Primeval New World, which starred former Eureka cast mate Niall Matter as Dr. Evan Cross.
“The cool thing about Happily Divorced and the way they run that show, which I really approve of, is that they just offer you the role,” enthuses Ferguson. “They call you up and say, ‘There’s this character we’d like you to play. Would you like to talk with the executive producers about it?’ That’s another example of a set where everyone is a total professional and has been doing this for years. I hadn’t done four-camera work in a while and I was really pleased with how the episodes turned out.
“As for Primeval, Niall Matter, who played Zane Donovan on Eureka, went off and became the lead of his own TV show. He called me up and said, ‘You’re coming up here [to Vancouver] and you’re going to play our nemesis.’ I said, ‘OK.’ The script was well-written and there was a lot of dialogue between me and Niall, which we’re comfortable doing because of the history we have together. I get really lucky sometimes with what I get asked to do, and this was a key example of that.”
Steve Eramo
As noted above, photo copyright of Syfy, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!
