Kiera Cameron (Rachel Nichols) and Carlos Fonnegra (Victor Webster) in season four of Continuum. Photo copyright of Shaw Media/Showcase.
Victor Webster experienced more than his fair share of action during his first three years playing Vancouver Police Department (VPD) Detective Carlos Fonnegra in the Canadian-made Sci-Fi TV drama Continuum, and that continues in the upcoming fourth and final year. With only six new episodes left, the actor along with the rest of show’s cast and crew have a great deal of story to tell in a short period of time. That includes tying up several loose ends, not the least of which is whether or not the show’s heroine, City Protective Services (CPS) officer Kiera Cameron, will return to the future she left behind. At the time of this interview (early May), Carlos Fonnegra was once again in the middle of a high-octane situation, and Webster was enjoying every minute of it.
“The episode we’re currently filming is very much a procedural one for my character,” says the actor. “There’s a lot of S.W.A.T. team involvement, including massive gunfights, fistfights and explosions. Carlos is on the front lines leading the assault, and viewers will see how all that unfolds onscreen. This year the action is on a whole other level and we’re really going out with a bang, It is unbelievable the amount of action we’re fitting into these final episodes. Last season our story was really character-driven, which is definitely still part of the storytelling this time around, but season four is also about helicopters, tanks and blowing a bunch of crap up,” jokes Webster, “and we’re having a ball doing that.”
When Carlos Fonnegra first met fellow law enforcement officer Kiera Cameron (Rachel Nichols), he was under the impression that she had come to Vancouver from Portland, Oregon to investigate a case. He had no idea that Kiera had, in fact, just arrived from the future, 2077 to be precise, along with a group of terrorists called Liber8. With Carlos’ help and that of a tech-savvy teen named Alec Sadler (Eric Knudsen) – who one day would establish a company called Piron that would alter the global landscape – Kiera risked her life to stop Liber8 from changing the future. She eventually revealed her secret to Carlos, and while he continued to stick by her side, it could not help but further complicate matters.
“Kiera’s and Carlos’ relationship has always been a tumultuous and at times frustrating one,” says Webster. “He loves her, not in a romantic way, but they’re very, very close and the two of them would do anything for each other. However, Kiera definitely pushes the limits this year, for sure. She puts Carlos in a number of compromising positions, which he then must find a way to get out of and still do the right thing. So there’s not much new on that front,” says the actor with a chuckle, “because that’s what she’s always doing to him. When it comes to Alec, my character has more to do with him this year. Both their storylines are directly intertwined, and Eric Knudsen and I have had some really terrific scenes together. His character is also torn, because Carlos is pushing him for something, Kiera is pushing him for something, and Alec is caught in the middle. As a result, he’s making certain decisions for himself, and we see him maturing into the man that he eventually becomes in the future, namely this powerful entity that runs a multi-billion dollar company.”
In the season three Continuum episode Minute of Silence, a hospital patient known only as John Doe (Ryan Robbins) awakens after two months and is suffering from amnesia. This mysterious stranger’s real name is Brad Tonkin and, like Kiera, he, too, has travelled back to the present, only he comes from 2039. In his future, ex-Liber8 member Matthew Kellog (Stephen Lobo) has shaped world development, and Brad joins with Kiera to try to erase that timeline. Meanwhile, Carlos faces a battle on his own turf when he grows uncomfortable with Piron’s influence over the VDR and his boss, Inspector Dillon (Brian Markinson). To make matters worse, in the season three finale Last Minute, a group of heavily-armed soldiers from 2039 materialize in the middle of Vancouver. All this made for quite the jumping off point for Webster when he began working on the fourth season opener Lost Hours.
“It was interesting coming back to Continuum this season because I’d just come from working on a new series in Brazil called Rio Heat, and that character of Sean and my Continuum character of Carlos are completely different,” notes the actor. “Carlos is very serious and by the book, whereas Sean is the opposite. He doesn’t take much of anything seriously; he deals with everything with a wink and a joke. That’s how he goes through life, so to switch gears like that was a bit tricky. The writing on Continuum is so good, so in that respect it wasn’t difficult to step back into the role. Acting-wise, however, I found myself making, I guess you could say, ‘lighter’ [acting] choices in some of the scenes that maybe I wouldn’t have done last year when Carlos was in an especially dark place.
“This season, my character is faced with making judgement calls and struggling between what he feels personally and professionally. Carlos feels very off-kilter in season four because so much is going on. For example, there are the soldiers from the future, there’s Liber8, and there’s also Kellog, who Carlos would like nothing more than to punch out. That’s another great relationship that will be fun to watch unfold.
“So Carlos is being pulled in a million different directions at once and he’s pretty frazzled. There’s also some personal stuff going on in his life that is tugging at him as well. On the job front, Carlos has temporarily taken over from Inspector Dillion, who was injured towards the end of season three, but he doesn’t want to be in charge and make all the big decisions. He just wants to be a detective, do his job, and solve crimes. My character prefers to have his feet firmly planted on the ground and figuring out the pieces of the puzzle, do you know what I mean? It’s been an interesting acting challenge for me to have Carlos wrestling with the idea of being in a position of authority and trying to maintain that balance of still being the good guy that he is, while having to tell his fellow cops what to do.”
Part of Continuum’s appeal has been its ability to constantly surprise its many fans, and that will be the case right up to the last moments of the series finale. “I’m really pleased with how our story ends, and I don’t think viewers will be expecting what we’re going to show them,” says Webster. “They’re going to be quite pleasantly surprised, and it’s not a cut and dry ending, either. It leaves you thinking; Simon Barry [series creator/executive producer] is a genius at that. Our finale will leave you with as many questions as it does answers.”
Looking back at his four years on Continuum, what is the actor going to miss the most not only about playing Carlos Fonnegra but also just in general working on the series? “Carlos has been a joy to play, and amongst all these other characters that change the rules whenever they feel like it, he’s been a constant,” he says. “Carlos follows the rules as much as possible, and although he’s very serious, he can also be a bit more light-hearted at times. So it’s been nice to breathe life into that strong, morally-centered, leading man type of character.
“As for the show itself, wow, I could go on for days about that. First and foremost, I love the people I work with. Every single actor is so different as well as talented, and they bring such color and dimension to their respective character. I have to say that Rachel Nichols is so connected as an actor. She’s always right there in the moment. Rachel wears her heart on her sleeve, and anytime there’s an emotional scene, she’s never acting, she genuinely feels it. She’s a sweetheart and it’s been a pleasure working with her over the past four years. Rachel is someone who truly challenges me as an actor and makes me step up to the plate every time we get in front of the camera.
“Simon Barry has been a dream to work with as well, and so has Pat Williams, one of our producers/directors. They’re both incredibly collaborative. With them, it’s not, ‘OK, this is what you’re doing and how you’re doing it,’ but rather, ‘Do you have any questions, thoughts or ideas that we can incorporate into the script and your character?’ When you work with people like them, you feel like you’re actually part of the [creative] process and not just a pawn in the game. The Continuum crew is also phenomenal and lots of fun to work with. No one here has a bad attitude, and that comes from Simon. He hand-picked all of us, and it shows. It’s a true testament to who he is as a person.”
From Vancouver, British Columbia to Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro, Webster jumps continents for his next TV role in the upcoming TV series Rio Heat. “Rather than a soundstage, we’re filming Rio Heat in the streets of Rio de Janeiro, including in its bars, restaurants, nightclubs as well as on its beaches, and dealing with everything that that has to offer, including onlookers wandering into the shots, trucks, motorcycles, roosters, stray dogs, guys with megaphones selling fruit off the back of a truck, you name it,” says the actor.
“It’s a very rich working environment and one I’m sharing with Harvey Keitel, whose character is similar to Charlie in Charlie’s Angels. My character of Sean Williams is a former-Canadian-special-forces-officer-turned-cop who has moved to Brazil to look for his mother and sister. While doing so, he’s basically drinking and sleeping his way through half the women of Brazil. Sean is a very, very flawed individual, and, like I said earlier, his way of handling things is with a joke. He’s not serious at all and throws around one-liners like crazy.
“So this is a show where they let me improv a lot. Like Continuum, it’s a very, very collaborative process, but even more so, and it’s also really different being the lead of a show. We make script changes together, we come up with storylines together, and I’m even involved with the casting. It’s been a fantastic experience and shooting in Rio is incredible. Earlier this year, I filmed the first two episodes of Rio Heat, then I came back here to Vancouver for Continuum, and once we wrap, I fly back down to Rio to finish the other 11 episodes of Rio Heat. I ended up working six days a week, 14 hours a day on those first two episodes, so I didn’t get to see too much of Brazil or its surrounding islands, However, I’m looking forward to doing some exploring in mid-to-late September after we finish the remaining episodes of the first season.”
Steve Eramo
Season four of Continuum premieres Friday, September 4th @ 9:00 p.m. EST/PST on Canada's Showcase Network, and in the States on Syfy, Friday, September 11th @ 11:00 p.m. EST/PST. As noted above, photo copyright of Shaw Media/Showcase, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!
