Jason Momoa as Stargate Atlantis' Ronon Dex. Photo copyright of MGM.
It is time for another round of Sci-Fi Blast From The Past interviews! For those new to Sci Fi and TV Talk, these are interviews that appeared in print only and not on-line. Today, the larger-than-life and incredibly nice (as well as, of course, talented) Jason Momoa talks about filming season four of Stargate Atlantis and playing Ronon Dex.
Not that long ago, Stargate Atlantis’s Ronon Dex was a man on the run. A former military officer on his home world of Sateda, he was captured by the Wraith, who decimated his planet and ingested the life forces of his people. For some reason, however, they could not feed upon Ronon, so the Wraith placed a tracking device inside him and for the next seven years hunted him as prey. Only when he met Colonel Sheppard and his off-world team did Ronon’s ordeal finally come to an end. He has since been a member of the Atlantis expedition, much to the delight of the actor who plays him, Jason Momoa. This past March, the native Hawaiian began work on season four of Atlantis, and even after three years with the show, he still does not take it or his performance as Ronon for granted.
“At the beginning of each season it always feels somewhat awkward getting back into the swing of playing Ronon,” says Momoa, strumming on his guitar during a break on the Atlantis set. “Having five months off for hiatus and then getting up one morning and having to go back to work again makes that a little bit tricky. Last year it seemed easier, probably because we did Sateda, which was a big Ronon episode, at the start of the season, so I didn’t have much time to think about it as I was thrown back into the work relatively quickly. The first couple of episodes are the toughest because you’re finding your step again along with the voice and frame of mind of your character.
“This time around we began by filming an episode called Doppelganger [scheduled to air sixth this season] which is a really neat story for Joe Flanigan [Colonel John Sheppard]. It was pretty cool watching him play two very different versions of his character, and I have to admit I was a little jealous of him, too. I’d love to play a ‘nice’ Ronon and an evil version as well, especially if I got to fight myself. That, I think, would be an interesting acting challenge. In Doppelganger, though, the evil Sheppard beats Ronon up at one point, which was a blast to do.
“Overall, it was business as usual for me and my character starting out this year. After Doppelganger, we filmed the season opener, Adrift and Lifeline, both of which were team-oriented episodes, so Ronon was running around a lot with the rest of the guys. Probably one of the biggest differences this year is that my buddy Paul McGillion [Dr. Carson Beckett] is gone, and that’s a real bummer because he’s one of the people on this show who I’m closest to. The good news, though, is that he’s coming back later in the season for a couple of episodes. Of course, we have Amanda Tapping [Colonel Samantha Carter from Stargate SG-1] with us now, and Jewel Staite [Dr. Jennifer Keller], so that’s all good for the show as well.”
At that moment, the actor is called away to shoot a scene for the fourth season story The Seer. This particular scene involves a MALP [Mobile Analytic Laboratory Probe] being sent through the Stargate. Using a remote control device, one of the crew maneuvers the MALP onto the floor of the Atlantis gate room set. While waiting for the camera to be moved into position, David Hewlett (Dr. Rodney McKay) is handed the remote control and takes a stab at driving the MALP. Momoa wastes no time and jumps onboard for a brief spin around the set. It’s obvious that the actor and his fellow Atlantis castmates share a similar sense of humor, and Momoa would like for a bit of that to translate to the screen with regard to Ronon’s relationship with the other characters on the show.
“It’s interesting because I was just thinking about this last night. I’d love to see more of Ronon’s humor and for him to be slightly more relaxed,” notes the actor. “At the same time, though, I really like it when he’s stoic and subtle and doesn’t say much with words, but rather with his eyes. There’s something to be said about that. Clint Eastwood can play stone cold, but at the same time he lets you know what he’s feeling though his eyes, do you know what I mean? That’s a quality Ronon possesses that none of the other characters do, so it’s nice for me to play that. However, that said, I don’t want him to be too one-way. It’s fun to put a little laughter in there between him and, say, McKay. The show’s writers have been doing a great job having Ronon interact with characters that he really hasn’t had much interaction with in the past, so hopefully we’ll occasionally see his lighter side shine through.”
Like Sateda did last year, a season four Atlantis episode called Reunion gave the actor the opportunity to reveal one or two different sides of his character. “In this story, we go off-world and meet up with three of Ronon’s best friends who survived the war on Sateda,” explains Momoa. “It’s also the episode where my character gets ‘tatted.’ As for me, I actually got this a while ago,” says the actor, holding up one of his arms to reveal a tattoo. “This is my family tattoo; it’s the [Hawaiian] symbol for the shark, which is like a guardian. The producers were a little ‘surprised’ when I showed up with this,” he chuckles, “and we had to hide it for a few episodes, but then they decided to write it into Reunion.
“Getting back to this episode, we meet up with Ronon’s old pals only to find out later that they’re, in fact, Wraith worshippers. They betray my character and Ronon basically ends up having to fight against them. It hurts him knowing that the Wraith made them turn on their own race, and on top of that, he now has to turn against these same soldiers who he once stood side-by-side with in battle. There’s a great deal of emotional turmoil that goes along with that for Ronon, which I really enjoyed playing.”
Momoa was thrilled to find out that for Reunion he would be shooting a fight sequence with one of his longtime “heroes,” martial arts expert/actor Mark Dacascos (The Crow: Stairway to Heaven), who plays Ronon’s friend Tyre. “I remember me and my little brother watching [the feature film] Brotherhood of the Wolf, which has one of Mark’s greatest on-screen fights ever,” enthuses the actor. “I was kind of dorky about meeting him for the first time, and really excited and stoked about the fight sequence. Mark is a great guy, a wonderful actor and an amazing martial artist, so it was truly an honor for me to be fighting just with him at one point. You wouldn’t believe how quick he is. One of Mark’s kicks over my head is so fast that I don’t even see it, and the acrobatics he does are also pretty incredible.
“As far as the actual sequence itself, Ronon starts off fighting all three of his friends, then it goes down to one, and then back to three again, plus there’s a knife fight. My character comes out of it a bloody mess, and there’s a twist to the whole thing at the very end which I won’t give away,” teases Momoa.”
Having lived on his own for so long while being hunted by the Wraith, Ronon was initially unaccustomed to taking orders from either Colonel Sheppard or Dr. Elizabeth Weir (Torri Higginson) when he first arrived in Atlantis. After two-and-a-half years, it’s something that he’s gotten used to, but now this season on Atlantis, Ronon must learn how to take orders from yet another person, Colonel Sam Carter.
“Not surprisingly, there’s some tension between my character and Carter,” laughs Momoa. “It’s more or less the same thing that happened at first with him and Dr. Weir. Ronon doesn’t like any form of authority, especially of the female variety. For example, in Reunion, he’s not pleased about having to ask Carter’s permission to bring someone who’s like family to him back to Atlantis, and she won’t let him.
“Anyone would react that way to a new boss, but Ronon can be that much nastier, so he takes it to a whole other level. However, when things suddenly get screwed up, he has to ask for Carter’s help, and she goes out of her way to help him. So without directly discussing it, they resolve any issues they may have had and Carter ‘proves’ to Ronon that she’s worthy of his loyalty. It doesn’t mean that he’ll always take her side. I’m sure they’ll have conflict along the way, but it won’t be so hostile, especially on Ronon’s part.”
While his Ronon character meets up this fourth season on Atlantis with some faces from the past, Momoa also enjoyed seeing an old friend and fellow actor, Jill Wagner. Formerly Krista Starr on Blade: The Series, she guest-stars on the Atlantis episodes Travelers and Be All My Sins Remember’d.
“Jill is one of my best friends,” says Momoa. “When I was 21, she and I went to acting school together, and the two of us were later cast on the TV show North Shore. After that, I came to Vancouver to do Atlantis, and then Jill got the job on Blade, so we ended up hanging out together last year.
“When this role [of Larrin] on Atlantis came around, I said to the guys, ‘Man, you’ve got to see my friend, Jill. She’d be perfect.’ So Jill came in for the audition, we watched the tape, she did a fantastic job, which I knew she would, and they hired her. It was terrific to have her on-set, but, unfortunately, I never got to work with her. I’m guessing she’ll be back, though. Everyone here loves her and I know they’re extremely happy with her performance.”
Looking ahead to the rest of Atlantis’s fourth season and, hopefully, beyond, what are some of the things on Momoa’s “wish list” when it comes to his character’s continued development.
“Prior to the start of this year I spoke with the show’s writers about a few ideas I had for Ronon, and in a certain way, a number of those ideas wound up happening in Reunion.” he says. “Fingers crossed, we’ll be doing this show for a while longer, so there’s plenty of time for other stuff to happen with him. One thing I’d like to see is for Ronon to be bad. It would be neat for him to temporarily go to the ‘dark side’ at some point, but I don’t think it’s the right time for that just yet. It’s probably best if we wait a little while for that one,” says the actor smiling.
Steve Eramo
