by Taryn Ryder and Jennifer Godwin

The Visitors are leaving for a while. (You know what they say about guests and fish stinking after three days.) Tonight is the last new episode of V‘s premiere pod of episodes, and it’s a doozy. There are major reveals about the future (think circle-of-life type stuff), someone gets tortured to death, we learn more about the so-called “fifth column,” we learn that the Vs are out to get us using a method that would make Bill Maher nod and go “Toldya!,” and, oh yeah, Lisa (Laura Vandervoort) brings Tyler (Logan Huffman) home to meet her “mother.” Eek!

What’s to come after all of tonight’s alien madness is said and done? We caught up with superfoxy alien babe Morena Baccarin for an exclusive chat, and she hinted that things (maybe even big romantic things) are heating up for Anna. Here’s what we learned:

OK, what is up with your and Scott Wolf’s characters?
The relationship is definitely going to keep going in whatever strange direction it’s going now. You don’t really know if they’re going to fight each other, love each other, or if she’s going to eat him. You don’t know what’s going to happen! It gets really interesting in the episode that comes out on Tuesday. Something happens to his character that makes him very dependent on us. He has to sort of battle with his will to see what he’s going to do. It’s a very interesting dynamic.

Did you watch the original V to research your role at all, or did you steer clear from it?
I didn’t watch the original…I had seen it when I was really little, so I remember it and I remember the creepy factor, but I haven’t watched it since. I think I won’t, because I want to create this character on my own.

Now that we’re hooked, you’re taking a break from filming…
Yes! It’s torturous isn’t it? It’s torturous for me too. I really want to know what happens. We start back up in January, so just right after the holidays.

Does it make you nervous that you have several months of hiatus? Or do you think the suspense will help the show in the end?
I think it will help it. When people see the next episode, they’re definitely coming back for more!

(Source)

By Donna Freydkin

And don’t tell her bosses at ABC, but she has gotten a little sick of it.

“I want to bleach my hair blond. I’d love to, but they would kill me right now if I did that,” she says.

No kidding. The series V, starring Baccarin as Anna, the poker-faced president of the extraterrestrial Visitors, has proven to be a hit for ABC. The fourth episode airs tonight (8 ET/PT), and the series returns in March.

Baccarin, 30, is animated and peppy in person. On screen, she’s as cool as, well, a lizard.

So she’s particularly excited that this week, “you get to see what makes Anna tick a little bit. It’s fun to be mysterious. I know that what Anna is doing and what her agenda is are really important, but you can’t let on. I have to make her likable and intriguing to people who feel like they shouldn’t like her.”

The Los Angeles-based actress, who was born in Brazil but grew up in New York, auditioned for the part and landed the job in one day.

“I read this role and gravitated toward it, which I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing,” she says with a laugh.

Her shorn hair, which she had cut earlier, worked in her favor. “There was a tiny bit of debate in the beginning. There was a second there where we discussed if she should have long hair. But having her be different would be better. I voiced my opinion that she should be crisp and clean and precise. The costume designer totally agreed.”

Given that Baccarin played a courtesan in Joss Whedon’s sci-fi series Firefly and its big-screen adaptation, Serenity, has she been crowned the queen of the geeks?

Sort of.

“It’s been really weird to walk down the street. At the post office the other day, a woman said I looked exactly like the alien on V. It’s so weird to have people recognize you. They look at you like you’re an alien.”

(Source)

by MARGIE BARRON (Source)

The Beautiful V Supreme Commander, Morena Baccarin, is perfect.

V, the ABC series about alien visitors who have come to earth, “in peace, always,” is showing that a science fiction show can pull in a strong network audience. Getting more than the usual cult genre attention, V has racked up impressive numbers since its debut opposite the top-rated NCIS. But it still might be considered the ultimate fantasy ensemble, since its cast is made up of actors from Lost, Smallville, Firefly, and a few more comic-con favorites.

The biggest gift to the cast is V’s Supreme Commander, the ultra-attractive Anna, played by Morena Baccarin. She has become the breakout star, and yet the fan boys discovered her years ago, since Morena can boast of being in multiple episodes of Stargate SG-1, as well as Firefly and the movie Serenity.

Born in Brazil and raised in New York, the stunning beauty blushes whenever someone mentions that she has the classic look of a young Audrey Hepburn. Morena says she believes her short hairdo won her the role because it gave her an interesting look. She likes her hair short because it’s easy, “just wash and go.”

The executive producer of V, Scott Peters says he needed the perfect person to be the perfect image of what the public would love to see a good alien look like. And yet she had to have an ominous air about her, since it was revealed in the first episode that the aliens-with-an-agenda looked more lizard-like underneath. When he found Morena, Scott described her as “Awesome.” And fans of the show agree.

Morena says, “I have big shoes to fill as a being, I guess, as the face of what people want to see. And there’s kind of no way to prepare on how to play an alien.”

She jokes that she wanted to do research on aliens who have come to earth “but there’s not a lot of information out there. So, you know, I think I just try my best to be as trustworthy as I can. I want to try to be what I would like somebody to be like if they were to come down to Earth.” She smiles knowing the menacing nature of the V mission.

Morena seems to hit the nail on the head when she describes her V Supreme Commander as a politician. “I think there’s an aspect of politicians in that role, because you need to embody what everybody of every nationality needs and wants to see. And at the same time, you have your own agenda.”

The most popular question Morena gets asked is “Will Anna eat a rat?” Well, executive producer Jeffrey Bell happily reports, “We would be morons if we didn’t find a way to pay homage to the original.” In the original V series from the ’80s, the Lizard-lady commander has an appetite for rodents.

Producer Peters jokes that when he and Bell hired Morena they asked her if she had any problems with rodents. “So it’s her fault she said ‘No.’”

Morena explains, “I meant that I don’t mind holding them.” Eating them is a different matter. But you can bet she’ll look good doing it.

by theTVaddict.com (Source)

To borrow a phrase made popular by the ubiquitous Kathy Griffin, “Chad Decker can suck it.” For unlike the now-infamous reporter who last week 13 million of you watched trade in his journalistic integrity for a once-in-a-lifetime exclusive one-on-one with head Visitor Anna, this TV Addict doesn’t believe in compromise. As you’ll see in our own no-holds-barred interview with her portrayer Morena Baccarin, who was kind enough to take some time to answer some pressing (and a few not-so-pressing) questions about what us lowly humans can expect in the coming weeks on ABC’s smash sci-fi hit V.

Bluntly, is Anna a “good” V or a “bad” V?
Morena Baccarin: Maybe she’s a little bit of both, I suppose it depends on who you ask.

Do you, as the actress playing her, have a definitive answer to that question?
I sort of know the answer but to be honest I feel like what I know can change. Especially when the producers may be telling me something only to have other plans for me later on. They are a very wily bunch and really only tell us what we need to know.

Last week’s premiere saw Anna spend an awful lot of time with reporter Chad Decker (Scott Wolf), how long until she comes face-to-face with Erica (Elizabeth Mitchell) or Ryan (Morris Chestnut)?
Anna does interact with more human characters, but not those two in particular. Coming up, Anna shares scenes with Tyler (Logan Huffman), Lisa (Laura Vandervoort), Marcus (Christopher Shyer) and some new characters. You’ll get to see more sides of Anna through those people and there’s definitely more stuff with Chad.

Are there any V above Anna? Is she the “Spokes-V” or is she the (wo)man?
Anna is the boss!

The premiere gave us a quick glimpse of what’s underneath the V’s skin exterior, will we ever see the full V?
You will see a little bit more, but I don’t think we want to do a whole reveal just yet.

When V ends its initial run in November, just how massive of a cliffhanger will it end on?
A massive one! I can definitely say things are not at all what they seem and the people you think you know, you really don’t.

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask you about the big news from last week that had ABC and Warner Bros. replacing original showrunner Scott Peters with Scott Rosenbaum. Were you surprised by the move?
We [the actors] have been aware of some of the creative changes Warner Bros. and ABC wanted to see made, but it’s weird to have all the changes happen as we’re working. Truthfully, I don’t really know the politics of it all. But what I do know is that we’re all trying to make the best show and whatever changes are made are for the best.

Do you ever get used to seeing your face on giant billboards and flat screens across the country?
[Laughs] You really don’t. But I think it’s cool, the other day I was online and my face popped up and I screamed. It’s very odd but at the same time I’m flattered and think it’s a really fun marketing campaign for the show.

What would you be doing if you weren’t acting?
That’s a good question, I don’t know. I kind of can’t do anything else. Perhaps I’d be a cook, or a photographer. I really haven’t done anything else and never really thought about it. Since I was 14 I pretty much knew what I wanted to do. I applied to LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts in New York because it was a really great school and I was into english. I thought maybe I could be a writer, but than I started acting classes and from the first day I was like “Oh My God!” From that day I knew what I wanted to do with my life.

And finally, now that you’re on a successful show, one of my favorite questions to ask actors is to look back on the road not taken. Was there any show you auditioned for, or came close to getting that fans would find fun to imagine you in.
[Laughs] While I’m sure there are shows that I tested for and didn’t get, I try to put those out of my head! I do remember auditioning for GREY’S ANATOMY though, although I didn’t really come close. And I tested for EASTWICK, although I’m very happy how things turned out. [Editor's Note: This interview was conducted prior to the news of EASTWICK's cancelation!]

by Natalie Abrams (Source)

ABC’s V has finally arrived and, boy, did the Visitors make one heck of a first impression. While most of the world puts their faith in these new alien friends, Erica Evans (Elizabeth Mitchell) and others come to find out that they’re not all they’re “cracked up to be.” Pulling the strings to keep their dirty little secret is Anna (Morena Baccarin), the Vs fearless and seemingly ruthless leader.

TVGuide.com sat down with Baccarin to get the info on all things V, including the cliff-hanger in Episode 4, the last episode until 2010. She also teases the relationship between Anna and Chad (Scott Wolf), the natural occurrence of deaths on the new ABC series, and why Erica should be keeping an eye on Tyler (Logan Huffman).

TVGuide.com: V doesn’t seem to be your typical sci-fi show, though it boasts many actors who’ve been in the genre before.
Morena Baccarin: We don’t see ourselves as sci-fi people for the most part. It’s not like we’re talking a different language, like an alien language. Elizabeth was on a sci-fi show and [Alan Tudyk] was on Firefly with me, but I don’t feel like V is a sci-fi show. There’s not one big sci-fi fiasco. It’s a show about heart and people and relationships. There’s some spaceships thrown in there, sure, but the sci-fi element is evened out with other things.

TVGuide.com: What is the Visitors’ ultimate goal?
Baccarin: You’ll have to watch to see, but by Episode 4 you get a very good idea that we’re not what we’re all cracked up to be. There’s more to it than we’re saying. We are here for more than just a short while, and we’re here for additional reasons than just water and minerals.

TVGuide.com: Are there any good qualities in the Visitors?
Baccarin: Yes, absolutely. Anna is very loyal to her people; that’s a good quality. I think there are Vs that have been living among humanity, so they take on some human qualities. There are parts of Anna that, depending on who you ask, can be seen as good.

TVGuide.com: Is Anna the type of leader to get her hands dirty?
Baccarin: You mean like fighting? Not initially. I think Anna is very capable of throwing down with the best of them, but I think we want to keep her more elevated, more political, more presidential than getting down and dirty right now.

TVGuide.com: Will people start to discover that the Visitors are bad or do they hide it pretty well?
Baccarin: I don’t know what you’re talking about [Laughs]. I think that the Vs are pretty good at masking to the masses, but I think that humans are very smart and they have instincts. You can tell right away there’s something going on behind the surface, and it becomes more public knowledge.

TVGuide.com: When do we get to see an unmasking?
Baccarin: It’s throughout the series in different people. I don’t have a big peel-off-my-face moment, but I’ve been told that there may be some effects in that direction.

TVGuide.com: The Ambassador program feels like an homage to Hitler Youth. How does that develop?
Baccarin: It grows quite a bit actually. It’s very smart of the Vs to invest in the youth of the world. One of their plans is to get the young people really excited about the Vs, so they can influence other people. As the generations change, they will be present. It definitely gets out there a lot.

TVGuide.com: Who would win in a fight between Anna and Erica?
Baccarin: I’m going to have to go with Anna, because I need some loyalty to my character, but I think it’d be a good fight. [A fight between Anna and Erica] could happen. I do meet Tyler, so maybe there’s something there she needs to be protective of.

TVGuide.com: What precarious positions is Anna going to put Chad in?
Baccarin: It’s going to get really interesting because he’s very ambitious, and he really wants to succeed at what he does. By the end of the four episodes, he’s going to find himself in a real decision spot of not knowing which way to go, and maybe their relationship will progress into something else. The power shifts back and forth a bit, so he doesn’t just fold like a cheap suit [again].

TVGuide.com: Could there be something more to their relationship?
Baccarin: There definitely could be, and I think that that’s what we’re laying the ground work for. But we’ll see how it plays out.

TVGuide.com: Have you seen anything in the scripts that really surprised you?
Baccarin: Yeah, a lot of things. There are some great plot turns and character twists that I love. I love that every character has a good and a bad side. I love that Elizabeth’s character is struggling with being a good mom and saving the world. She’s got some faults when it comes to her family and I think that’s a wonderful thing.

TVGuide.com: What can we look forward to in future episodes?
Baccarin: We get to see more about how the Vs live. There are more hints at how they do certain things and there’s some really great plot twists. [There are] characters’ worlds that collide that you wouldn’t expect.

TVGuide.com: What can we expect in the cliff-hanger of Episode 4?
Baccarin: Some relationships get explored, and you’ll want to come back to find out. We’ve laid some groundwork for some V things, and you’ll want to come back to find out what exactly they were.

TVGuide.com: Will deaths be a natural occurrence on this show?
Baccarin: As in life, there’s death, so probably. There’s not an intense amount of it, but nobody is safe. Everybody on the show — things can happen. We live in a very dangerous area with Vs and humans. At any moment something can happen.

TVGuide.com: What is your one little pitch to fans to come in and watch the show?
Baccarin: It is not only a show that has all the exciting stuff you want to see on TV when you want to veg out. There’s cool effects and action. That aside, the creep factor of a huge spaceship hovering over our major cities, gives me goose bumps when I think about it. That element and the element that anything can happen and there’s characters that are all people you can relate to. On some levels you relate to Elizabeth, we all relate to Tyler, we relate to all these people who are having struggles with their lives in addition to an alien invasion. It’s a show that has a little bit of everything for everybody.

by Charlie Jane Anders (Source)

We spent ten precious minutes with V‘s Morena Baccarin, our favorite alien visitor — and she answered all our questions, as long as they painted her in a positive light. Of course, we had to ask her if she’s Obama.

Baccarin plays Anna, the leader of the alien Visitors (or Vs) who come to Earth professing peace and friendship and promising healthcare and advanced technology. And of course, it’s all too good to be true. Some pundits have been saying her character is meant to be Barack Obama, and Baccarin seemed to be aware of the comparisons. So we asked her if she thinks she’s playing our new president, and she says:

I don’t think we’re saying Anna is President Obama. But she is the leader of her people, and she is coming down to Earth and offering healthcare, and offering cures for diseases, and things that sort of clean out and give people hope, and there are definite parallels to be drawn and our intentions are to create a show that people relate to. And I think this is something that’s been on people’s minds, even before Obama… finding hope again, and healthcare, and finding a leader, and someone who can save us from the hole we’ve gotten ourselves into.

Don’t expect Baccarin to play to the cheap seats. One thing Baccarin stressed over and over again, in our interview, is that she’s going for a subtle portrayal of Anna, and she never plans to become as out-and-out sinister as Diana, the evil alien leader in the original miniseries.

“We’re working with Anna being a little more subtle than in the original,” says Baccarin. She wants Anna to be “creepy” and “scary” but also have qualities that the audience can relate to. That said, in the next few episodes, we’ll get to see Anna “show her true colors a little more.”

Baccarin says her goal is to make the audience feel drawn to Anna, even though they know they shouldn’t be:

It’s really true of all the characters on the show: We walk a fine line. It’s way more interesting to question why they feel they want to follow this character. There should be qualities that [the audience] can identify with, that we see them in ourselves. People identify [with Anna] and feel compelled by her, and feel like they want to follow her… and can’t understand why they feel drawn to her. [The audience should be saying,] “I don’t know, this isn’t right that I’m going for it.”

This was something the producers had worked out early on, she adds:

We had discussed early on, when I auditioned, [that] she couldn’t be robotic or alien. She had to be nurturing and human, to be allowed into people’s lives, so that people would trust her… We created this character who’s very calm and controlled and nurturing. You don’t see her losing her cool, and you don’t see what’s behind her motivations. It’s like having your neighbor turn out not to be who you thought they were.

This subtle approach means that you have to watch Baccarin carefully to catch the little cues she drops in. The way she flutters her eyelashes. The way she lifts one eyebrow, or looks straight at someone, or looks away. Says Baccarin, “Obviously, Anna lives in a very constrained space, in that she is very precise, but there is a lot of freedom of subtlety and nuances.”

I asked Baccarin how she felt about playing a villain after playing the more sympathetic Inara on Firefly, and she responded: “It really is fun. I’m not going to call her a villain. I’m going to say that you said that.” (She really is good at the slippery politician thing.)

From Anna’s perspective, “she is is being the best leader she can be. And if it’s at the expense of a couple of humans, so be it.”

Baccarin admits she gets asked whether she’ll be eating a live hamster — like, pretty much all the time. She says:

We haven’t done it in these [first] four episodes, and I’m bracing myself. And so many people ask about it, I think it’s imminent. I think we are going to pay homage to those moments, but not maybe do them the same way — so hopefully I won’t have to put a hamster down my throat.

Finally, I asked Baccarin how, as an immigrant from Brazil, she feels about taking part in a show that promotes xenophobia and suspicion of visitors. She says you shouldn’t read too much into V:

I think we should all be suspicious of aliens. We’re not saying be suspicious of people from other cultures, I think we’re saying be suspicious of people from outer space. So we’re very safe there. There’s a lot of ethnic diversity in our world now, and we’re not commenting on that all. It’s literally about people coming from another world.

V airs on Tuesday nights for the next three weeks, and then goes away until March due to some kind of sporting event.

By Jenna Busch (Source)

Morena Baccarin, star of alien remake ‘V,’ is Anna, the head of the alien visitors. She’s beautiful and cool as a cucumber, but underneath it all, she’s…well, she’s a lizard. In the pilot, we catch a glimpse of character’s true nature – and in real life, we catch a glimpse of something much sweeter. PopEater chatted exclusively with the Brazilian-born actress about the show, whether or not she’s going to have to eat a rodent, her loyal ‘Firefly’ fans and how she feels about today’s reports that the show mimics the Obama presidency. She even talks about her famous haircut.

First of all, congratulations on last night’s great ratings!

“Thank you!”

I’ve been told to ask you only questions that would “paint you in a positive light.”

“[laughs] Excellent! That’s what I like to hear. But ‘feel free to ask anything’.”

I have to get this out of the way since I know it’s probably the first thing you get asked. The rodents…

“[laughs] Oh yeah!”

In the original ‘V’, the head alien, Diana, ate a rodent. Were you nervous about that during the audition?

“It wasn’t really a thought that crossed my mind right away, but then I realized as I got the job, oh crap. After I YouTube’d it, I remembered. [laughs] And I knew, obviously, that it wasn’t in the pilot script. There were a lot of jokes by the producers about being ready for the hamsters. But I haven’t had to do it yet. I think that their position is, let’s wait but let’s also give the people what they want. I think that they want to do it in a different way. Pay homage to that moment without necessarily sticking a hamster down my throat.”

Now, should that actually happen, are you OK with rodents?

“You know, I don’t love ‘em! [laughs] It’s not necessarily something I look forward to. I don’t know. I think I have to wait and see when I’m in the room with it. I might have a total freak out.”

I know there are going to be nods to the classic series. Have you filmed any that were surprising to you?

“Yeah, there were some really great things in the script. The stories have been really, really fun. We’re not just redoing the original. We’re updating it. I thought it was wonderful the way they adapted the script to embody the fears we have today, post 9/11. Things like that that really make sense in today’s world.”

Anna is a very different sort of V leader than Diana was in the original. What sort of things have you done to make her your own?

“Well, I have a memory of the original from when I was little and watched it, but I don’t really remember everything she did. This character is very different. I remember the character of Diana being very, very evil. And I think that, in order to do the show well in today’s world, we have to be a little more subtle. I think it’s a lot creepier when there is more manipulation, and a subtly to it that you can’t quite figure out why you don’t trust this person. So that’s more what I’m going for. I want people to be drawn to her and to follow her in spite of themselves, but have this intuition that something is terribly wrong.”

I don’t know if you’ve been on the web this morning, but there are a bunch of stories about V paralleling the Obama campaign…the show talks about hope and change and universal health care, and it premiered on November 2nd. What do you think about all that?

“I don’t know. I think it’s great that people are talking about it. But I think people have opinions about everything, and we have this compulsion, I think, in our culture, to put everything in a box and say that’s what it is, because then we can understand it. And it certainly does echo that a little bit. It echos the Obama campaign. But I think that would be so rude to say that Obama is an alien or is Anna. [laughs] I mean, the man is the President of our country. I think that there’s a sense of irony in our show…a realistic irony, that it takes aliens to give us health care. It is so difficult to get anything passed. To get this whole health care thing figured out. I think it’s kind of funny and it speaks of our culture, and the fact that we are looking for somebody to rescue us, and pull us out of this hole we got ourselves into. And it might as well be an alien. [laughs]”

When I mentioned that I was doing this interview, one of the main things I was asked to ask you was your decision to cut your hair. You also got no less than seven marriage proposals.

[laughs]

Do you think it’s strange that people are so focused on a haircut?

“Yeah, it’s a little weird for me. I’m obviously inside myself so I can’t tell what people are seeing, but I do think it’s a little odd. I mean, it’s very complimentary, and if people don’t like it, oh well. What can I do? And it’s a little odd that again, we kind of obsess in this culture about labeling people, and, ‘Ooh, what does that mean?’ or ‘What does that represent?’ I think it’s very appropriate for this character. I had my hair cut short before for another film role I did, and I just happened to keep it because I thought it was unique and I felt very comfortable in it. And when this all came about I thought, wow, this is perfect for this role because it’s different. And a lot of people are afraid to do this to themselves, to give themselves such a drastic haircut, because they’re afraid of what people are going to think. And I thought it would be really amazing to have a leader with this haircut. I think it’s a really fun addition to the character. And you know, if people want to talk about my hair, great! [laughs] Let’s talk about it!”

Most of the comments were positive, by the way. I just thought it was interesting that there were so many of them!

“Yeah! It was like that with Jennifer Aniston for a while. Everyone wanted the Jennifer Aniston haircut.”

Maybe you’ll start a trend. It might be interesting to see on the show…everyone emulating Anna’s haircut.

I know, right? That would be really funny. Although it would take a lot of people cutting their hair.

Your face is on billboards everywhere and all over TV. How has this experience been different from the one you had with ‘Firefly’?

“It’s been unique. It’s been very different to be recognized on the street and have everybody looking at me, going, ‘Oh my god, it’s that girl!’ Yesterday was my first experience with that. Yesterday after the show aired. And it’s very exciting, but it’s a little weird, I have to admit. [laughs] I kind of feel like I have to prepare myself, but I don’t know exactly what to prepare myself for. It’s really, really unbelievably exciting and I’m thrilled to be a part of it. I’m really glad that people are watching the show. I’m having a really great time doing it.”

I know they are showing the series in ‘pods’ and there have been some reports of production issues. How much have you filmed and when do you start shooting again?

“We filmed four episodes and they’re all in November, and we go back into production in January… we have a little break right now.”

Have you seen the scripts? Do you know if they feel different?

“I haven’t seen the new scripts. I don’t know if they’ve been written yet. There have been changes and things going on and to be honest, I’m a little out of the loop. As actors we just basically get the script and we shoot what we’re given. It’s been fun. I mean, there’s all this talk of stuff happening. There’s been some changes made. We haven’t felt major…we haven’t gotten like, ‘Oh my god we can’t shoot this scene!’ They’ve been taking care of it and it’s all been…with a show like this, it’s so high profile and there are so many things about the show that they are really careful with every detail. I just think everybody is being extra careful and really attentive, which is a wonderful thing, because we want to but the best product out there.”

Joss Whedon fans and ‘Firefly’/'Serenity’ fans can be rather vocal. Is there a line that people yell out at you on the street?

“The ‘Firefly’ fans that I’ve encountered are super shy, really sweet, and they kind of look at me and decide whether or not they’re going to say something. You can see the whole process happening. [laughs] And then they go, ‘I really loved ‘Firefly’ and I’m really sorry that it didn’t continue.’ I mean, that’s the big line. ‘Why couldn’t it have gone on and is there going to be more?’ That’s the biggest question I get.”

Are you tired of being asked if there will be a ‘Serenity 2′?

“No, it’s a huge compliment. But I also feel bad because I wish I could say yes. But at this point, it’s been a few years now. Maybe we should put it to rest.”

[laughs] We’re all sad about that.

“It was a great show!”

It certainly was! You know, I just read that your ‘Firefly’ costar Nathan Fillion asked you to do a ‘Castle’ guest spot. I know you couldn’t do it, but would you do one in the future?

“I don’t know. We’ve been texting each other and I know he’s really excited about the prospect. It’s an ABC show and I don’t know how ABC would feel about that, so we’d have to run it by them. It’s just a conversation that he and I have been having. I don’t know if anything is actually being considered. But it would be fun and I would love to.”

He did a little nod to ‘Firefly’ in the Halloween episode…

“Yeah! I heard about it but I didn’t see it.”

Since Joss Whedon likes to cast people he’s worked with before, I have to ask this. Would you want to do a role in the ‘Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog’ sequel?

“Oh my god! I would love to! I’m not joking when I say, if Joss Whedon called me up and said, ‘Do you want to come over and read a script for me?’ I would be like, yes! I would do anything that man says.”

So you’d be comfortable singing?

“No. But we’d figure that out. [laughs] I have a terrible voice. But I’m sure he could create me a character that would have a terrible voice.”

Finally, why do you think the series strikes a chord in people?

“I think the idea of an alien invasion is something that we will forever be fascinated by. It’s very vulnerable and it’s something that plays at all of our vulnerabilities and fears as humans. So I think that in itself is an amazing subject matter. And the way the show is made, I think, is so intriguing. The original was obviously relevant at the time. In the eighties. And it was a social commentary at that time. And ours definitely taps into the fear we have now, that we can’t trust our neighbors. So I think that the show becomes very relevant and hits close to home, and people worry, and gravitate towards that.”

Rising Star: Morena Baccarin

LOS ANGELES, Calif. –
In the weeks since ABC starting churning out the promos for the buzz-worthy reboot of the 1980s sci-fi mini-series “V,” Morena Baccarin’s angelic face has been everywhere. But the Brazilian-born, U.S.-bred beauty – AccessHollywood.com’s newest Rising Star – who plays Anna, the breathtaking and mysterious leader of the Visitors, hasn’t yet had a chance to enjoy the spoils of being television’s newest “it” girl.
“I’m in Vancouver, so I’m kind of in a bubble here. There aren’t a lot of ‘V’ posters,” she laughed with AccessHollywood.com during a break from filming the special-event series drama, which premieres November 3 at 8 PM on ABC. “I was out to dinner here last night and a waiter recognized me. He was like, ‘I’m so excited for the show.’ That was the first time. I’m sort of like, bracing myself. I don’t know what’s going to happen when I get back to LA.”

Sci-fi fans are already aware of the newly 30-year-old actress who starred as Inara Serra alongside “Castle’s” Nathan Fillion and former “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” actress Summer Glau in the 2002 cult Joss Whedon drama, “Firefly,” and later in the TV series’ leap to the big screen — 2005’s “Serenity.”

However, playing the bewitching alien Anna on “V” has Morena poised to break out to the masses. As the so-far polite-and-alluring-in-public and politely-pushy-in-private Visitor leader, Morena has already won heaps of praise from critics, even if she wasn’t a shoe-in for the part.

“I was unaware of the other people they were seeing,” she said of the casting process, which reportedly initially had the actress placed into the “no” pile. “I knew they were seeing a lot of people for the role, but I had heard of the original and I had seen it when I was little in Brazil and I thought it was really exciting that they were remaking it. When I read the pilot, I immediately thought I knew what I wanted to do with the role. When I went into the audition, it felt really right.”

Also right was the boyish (yet delicate) haircut Morena already had, a look which has suited just a handful of celebrity faces over time – Audrey Hepburn, a young Mia Farrow, Halle Berry and Jean Seberg, whose picture Morena took to the hairdressers.

“It was really scary,” she said of chopping off her dark, lengthy locks. “I really didn’t think I would be able to do it and I thought I would look like a boy. I had all this fear and anxiety about it… but I just decided to go with it and it turned out to be great.”

When asked if she feels like the sexy crop is her “Rachel from ‘Friends’” ‘do, Morena laughed.

“I guess,” she giggled. “There are some people who like it and some people who don’t like it. People will always have an opinion on your look.”

And it seems the haircut may end up the most defining characteristic of Morena’s turn as Anna, a part she’s working to keep mysterious.

“I’m always thinking about [Anna being alien] and embodying it and knowing that she’s different, that she’s not human,” she said. “I don’t want people to look at her and go, ‘Oh, well she does this, this and this.’ I just want her to be sort of like, ‘I can’t put my finger on it, but there’s something really odd,’ you know?”

ABC will air “V” in two parts – four episodes before the holidays – and the remainder following the Olympics in 2010. But those captivated by the Rising Star will have other places to see Morena in the near future, including the big screen drama “Stolen Lives,” alongside “Sweet Home Alabama’s” Josh Lucas and “Mad Men’s” John Hamm.