Exclusive: Paul Amos on Vex - From Loyalties to Relationships

Exclusive Interview with Paul Amos of Lost Girl
Interview by Jamie Ruby
Written by Jamie Ruby

Paul AmosLost Girl follows the story of Bo (played by Anna Silk), an unaligned succubus, who refuses to choose sides, but helps both Fae kind and humans when she can, all while trying to understand who and what she really is.

Paul Amos plays the character of Vex. He's a Mesmer that has the ability to control people's actions with his mind. He is Dark Fae, but also helps out the Light Fae at times, so no one is sure where his loyalties lie, other than to himself.

One thing is for certain, however: Vex has a kickass wardrobe. The costumes, however, are often quite tight. "The thing about the costumes with Vex - I'm kind of a bit committed to this character; this is as far as my commitment goes - is that I have to generally Nair for those costumes. I generally have to Nair for those costumes so that tells you everything you need to know.

Paul Amos"And I think Vex probably would, because I think he's one of those smooth type of people. And they're so tight, generally the leather trousers are so tight, and we're often filming in the summer, so yeah, there's a lot of shaving goes on (laughs) to let you know about the costumes. But they're awesome and they do such an amazing job; they have from day one and they continue to.

"I'm also looking forward to Vex's costumes in season four, because I think he's coming back, hopefully stronger, you know, with his powers, so I'd like some of his costumes, his free choices, to reflect that too. I think that would be fun. And we tried to do that, and you can't really see so much in the finale, but he's got some new bling kicking around. I think there's a lot of power coming back through costumes and that's going to be fun. Although his costumes are always great, but I think four is going to be fun."

At the beginning of season three, when Vex returns, he has lost his powers, which he doesn't get back until the end of the season. He ends up staying with Bo and her best friend and roommate, Kenzi, (Ksenia Solo) and it seems like possibly his outlook on things have changed, but we never really know what's going on with Vex.

"At the beginning of that season I think Vex was, you know, in probably the worst possible place you can ever be. He had sort of lost all of his powers; he was living with two women. Even though I think he admires them both, and I think he's admired Bo from the very beginning in terms of the fact that she doesn't choose a side, and in many ways I don't think Vex belongs to any specific clan. I just think he pays lip service just so that, you know, he can do what he wants to do.

"So I think in 1.08 when he first sees her, I think he really admires what she's doing and is interested. Because I think if he really wanted to have killed her there, he could have. But he didn't and he doesn't and continues to do that. And I think with Kenzi, he just sees a survivor. And I don't know if we would ever go into the back story, but I think in many ways that Vex is a survivor too. I think he has an affinity to the girls which is why stays on there and he keeps living there. And then all of a sudden he gets called back in by his clan and, you know, needs to go away to work things out, to see what he's really about. And whether he comes back evil or good, I don't know."

The actor enjoyed getting to work closely with Ksenia Solo in those scenes. He's aware of some of the fan response that is for a relationship between the two. "Working with her was amazing. And I think she did a wonderful job in those episodes. And I am sort of aware that people realize that there was some kind of relationship between the two people. I just think it's very much like brother and sister, I'd hate to kill that ship but who knows, it may go there, maybe he does. But it's such a beautiful little relationship they have and seemingly so from a guy who killed babies (laughs), you know, if you go right back to 1.08."

Bo and Kenzi are probably connected to the changes in Vex. "I think that's a lot to do with it, I think he was learning things about himself through being with these two girls and learning more about humanity. I don't think he's ever been around a human being before for any length of time. And maybe he has before but he certainly doesn't want to be anymore. And I think she was the first human that he's either let or let back into his life. And for that very reason I think that brings out more humanity in his character, which is what we find in [season] three and what I was trying to do. I was trying to in one episode do almost an entire season arc. Somebody who all of a sudden finds humanity in himself as a Fae and is being asked to come back from that, and you know, the struggle of and the fact that he hasn't, even by killing the pigs, the little piggly wigglies in that episode, I still think he's undecided, because I think he realizes that his power and everything is attached to what he does. And who knows? Maybe sadly with Vex his power may be attached to him living off of being in control of people in a negative way.

Paul Amos"So there are deeper aspects to the character that you hope come across, but we do think of these characters in this way, certainly I do. And you try to give them the world around so they're not two dimensional but live in all three. And I think we got to a place in 3.03 where Vex started to get more three dimensional. And I think that's the most interesting place for all the characters to be. And some of them move in and out of it, but it would be good if in [season] four and five they all started to progress in a very, very three dimensional role. And I think we've got to a place with a lot of the characters where we can really do that now."

Amos talked more about the possibility of a Kenzi/Vex ship that some of the fans follow, but doesn't know that it would happen. "Yeah, it would be cool. I mean she's awesome but I don't know. As much as I can never really see Vex with somebody, or maybe he has been in the past, or I don't know, but it's hard to see him with anybody right now. It would take a lot of work for him to be with someone.

"And I also feel the same way about Kenzi. You know there's those people that have been hurt or let down in so many way that it's hard for them to get into that. You know those people who use their humor to deflect a lot of the time, and use that as a defense mechanism? I think they both do that. I think they're hard to get to, to penetrate. And there's always a defense system. What that is born out of, I don't know, but hopefully it's out of past relationships or what has happened to them in the past.

[quote]Filming that finale scene with Emmanuelle, was hot, sweaty, and painful, and a bit of a workout in those tight trousers and polyester shirt![/quote]
"So that's why I think they have a certain affinity with each other all the time, I think they've been through similar things even though she's human and he's Fae. There's a lot of admiration between the two, but whether the two of them could ever be in any relationship would be a question mark. And I think that's what's interesting from the fans' perspective. Everyone kind of wants Kenzi to hook up with somebody, but does she have it in her?"

In the same episode mentioned above, "Confaegion," while Vex is dealing with his loss of his power, Bo, Dyson (Kris Holden-Ried), and Tamsin (Rachel Skarsten) have been turned into self-obsessed teenagers from a parasite sent to them by the Morrigan (Emmanuelle Vaugier) unknowingly via Vex. Amos knows that if Vex had been infected, he would have been partying and playing Spin the Bottle right along with those three. "Two hot women getting off with each other, yeah I'm sure Vex would have been there, and you know, Dyson was there too. I think he has like a man crush on Dyson too; that's why he teases him so much, and, you know, I'm sure Vex swings both ways so I think he certainly would have been part of that."

At the end of the episode Vex leaves, possibly to find himself. Amos doesn't know if where Vex went will ever be revealed, but he has his own version. "I don't think he was going to where he said he was going to go. I don't think it was all about "eat, pray, mesmer" to the party climes of the world. I don't know, I think he actually went searching for something in a very specific place. Whether that comes out in season four, I don't know."

Vex also showed up in the season finale of Lost Girl, which aired tonight for the first time on Syfy. Amos had quite an interesting scene with the Morrigan. "Filming that finale scene with Emmanuelle was hot, sweaty, and painful, and a bit of a workout in those tight trousers and polyester shirt!...We had this scene, you know, where she was gagged and I was controlling her and jumping on the bed and all sorts of stuff and, yeah, it was quite fun to say the least...That's all I can say about that scene."

Amos knows Vex has plans for her, but he can't reveal much yet. "I think he definitely has plans for her. You know, have they reached the end of the road in their friendship, or [will] they always continue in this game? I think their relationship now has changed, and how that transpires and moves along now into season four will be really interesting. And I think it would be fun if we explored that, and we might, possibly. But yeah, it would be great if we could find out maybe where they came from. We know where they've just come from, but maybe a bit prior to that, and where they are and where they might go, so there might be an interesting story there.

Paul Amos"I certainly think that if we're to move those characters on, the storyline needs to move into a three-dimensional sense with them. For it to still remain fun but to have a little bit more depth so we understand the two of them a bit better. Because at the moment, I know they play games and everybody knows that, but, you know, it's season four now so I don't think we can continue to do that. So that might be fun if we explore that. These are all maybes, because obviously they're writing furiously at the moment to get everything up and running for [next season]."

Even though Vex may be helping the Ash by attacking the Morrigan, that could just be to his own ends. "Yes because he gets his powers back and that will hopefully come up in season four with regards to how that happened. And I'm sure how that happened will play a big part in determining why he's doing what he's doing."

Regardless what happens in the future to Vex, Amos jokingly has some advice for him, "Don't kill kids. Don't kill children – don't drown children, Vex, it's not good. Maybe that's what I'd advise him. Yeah, we'll go with that: don't drown children. That's a good one."

Lost Girl may be over until next season, but you can still get more of Paul Amos, as well as some of the other actors in the series elsewhere. He recently worked on the film Sex After Kids, written and directed by Jeremy LaLonde, which also starred Lost Girl's Kris Holden-Ried and Zoie Palmer. "[Working] with Kris and Zoie is great; I'm very good friends with Kris, and now as a result actually, with Zoie too. Kris from doing the pilot [of Lost Girl] initially, which was way back in what, 2009? So I've known Kris really since then quite well, and we hang out, and actually our families hang out together. My daughter and his son, they hang out when we're there, and we have dinner and we do a lot of stuff together. And Zoie, she recommended me actually for Sex After Kids and we had a great time working together. I really admire Zoie as a human being and an actor. She's an amazing professional, very talented, very fun, incredible sense of humor."

They hopefully will get to work again together in the future as well. "Actually we're working on another project right now that might get [Zoie and I] both on the stage, so people can actually see us on stage in a play together, with some other TV/film people.

"We're actually in the middle of doing that so maybe sometime next year people might have the chance to see some of us in a show, which would be I think really amazing. And it's something we've talked about a lot. I think it's a shame sometimes that, particularly in Toronto, that we don't get to see a lot of the TV and film actors do stage. So no one gets the chance to see them do their work in live theater which is an amazing place to go and see. It happens in London and New York so it would be great if it could happen in Toronto. And then you know fans from wherever and wherever could catch us doing some really different work.

"...We're all keen about it. It's obviously at a tentative stage at the moment, the beginning, but I think we can make this happen. So yeah, working with Zoie, that's another project, because we get on well and we believe in the same sort of stuff.

"And Kris is also on board with this as some people from some other shows are, so yeah, we might have a really cool thing going next year, which will be fun for Lost Girl fans."

Paul AmosThe actor also has an animated project planned with Holden-Ried. "I'm working with Kris on an animation series called Captain Canuck. So we're kind of in, we're putting that together. It's going to be a web series to begin with. He's playing Captain Canuck and I play the villain. And it's an old 1975, a bit of a cult classic. It's like Captain America but it's Captain Canuck, and there's this whole comic world of it. And we're going into making like a really, really super cool animation series leading to a film animation version and then a series. So we're kind of working on that at the moment.

"We'll do voice work but we'll also have some character stuff, because we're piecing all this together from the ground up so the stories and what we do maybe with some of the characters and stuff. So yeah, we're right at the beginning.

"But some of the art stuff, you'll see if you go to the Facebook page, and there's the website with the teaser, you'll see and the artwork is fantastic. I mean we've got like top, top people on board like the animation director and the artist who has redesigned the whole thing. And then we got Smiley Guy Studio, who are like the main animation studio in Toronto, and we've got top people on it. We're doing an indiegogo campaign at the moment just to raise some extra cash. There is funding for it, but just to try and connect with the fans."

Meanwhile, stay tuned for more Vex in Lost Girl in season four, who Amos describes in three words as "All. Night. Party."

Latest Articles