Exclusive: Anna Silk - Bo is Perfectly Imperfect

Exclusive Interview with Anna Silk for Lost Girl
Interview by Jamie Ruby
Written by Jamie Ruby

Anna SilkAnna Silk stars as the succubus Bo in the popular series Lost Girl, which airs Mondays on Syfy. The actress recently sat down with Jamie Ruby of SciFi Vision for an exclusive interview.

The fourth season of Lost Girl starts out without its lead actress, because Bo is missing, but the timing couldn't have worked out better. "I was pregnant at the very end of season three, so I was really super-newly-pregnant in the finale. I told them about my pregnancy shortly after we wrapped, and it was just luck that they happened to make me disappear at the end of season three. Everyone went in separate directions at the end of season three but specifically for Bo, I went up in the black smoke and all that stuff, so that worked out really well for them in terms of reintroducing season four without me available.

Anna Silk"Seven weeks after I gave birth I was back on set, but they started two weeks before me. In the [first two] episodes they shot, everything you see of me, I shot later. And I thought they came up with a really clever way of dealing with the fact that I wasn't there and giving other characters the opportunity to take the lead. Ksenia [Solo] does it in the first episode and Kris [Holden-Ried] does it in the second one.

"And I like that it wasn't just "Where's Bo; where's Bo; where's Bo; where's Bo?" It was clever, I thought, the first episode where no one remembered me and no one remembered what was going on, and then at the end it's got this real energy. I really liked that, I thought they did a really good job with that.

"So they had a long time to plan that but Emily [Andras] and the writing team really came up with some good things, I thought."

The first episode of the season is about the other characters not remembering Bo, and when Bo wakes up on the train in episode two, she doesn't remember much of what happened either at first. Memory is a big part of the season. "[For interviews] for season four, I would go to the showrunner and the producers when I was doing press and ask, "OK, what am I saying here? What's going on? What can I talk about, what can't I talk about?" And they were like, "One of the main themes of season four is memory."

"So Bo wasn't necessarily specifically affected the way same the others were. She's been elsewhere, and where that elsewhere is, is a mystery at this point. And it's also a mystery for Bo.

"So a big chunk of the arc for this season is figuring out where she was, what that meant, what happened, and what it all means, I guess, and what it means for the group as well."

While Bo was absent, the other characters took the lead, but there were also some great guest stars, such as George Takei. Silk may not have gotten to be in the first episode, but she did get to meet him. "We had George Takei in the first episode, which is really cool. Of course I didn't get to work with him, sadly, but I did get to meet him, and he was really lovely, and I was really happy that he was so happy to be on our show."

Anna SilkThe actress also talked about the other guest stars this season. "Mia Kirshner is in several episodes and she was really interesting. I thought she brought a really nice touch to her character and had a really interesting take on the character, which I liked. Linda Hamilton is back this season, which is really cool...I finally got to work with her so I was really happy about that.

"Ali Liebert, from Bomb Girls, was great. I think she's in the first couple episodes. She's the waitress, Crystal.

"I always say that our guest stars are always so great, because everyone is excited to come on our show, because the guest star roles are usually so colorful and interesting that people come on, and they just bring it. Whether they're established names or not, they are really gung ho to be there, so that's really cool. We've had some really great people; you might not know their names, but they were really great this season as well.

"And Kyle Schmid as well, he was really fantastic...He doesn't come in until much later...I'm not sure which episode, I think it's like nine or something. It might be a little earlier, I can't remember, but it's not in the first six."

Silk teased a bit about how some things will change during this season. "One of the things I heard Emily, our showrunner, say, that I think is really true and really accurate for season four, is that the highs are high and the lows are low. So this season the Fae world that we've been living is not an easy world to live in, and it's a dangerous world. In season four we will see major consequences to that world."

With the changes in Fae hierarchy, something brand new to this season of Lost Girl is the ominous Una Mens. "The Una Mens, first of all, are pretty scary and Christine Horne, who plays the sort of lead Una Mens, she was really, really good. When I read the script initially with them, I automatically assumed The Keeper would be this giant dude; that's just where my mind went. But it's Christine Horne, who is this very petite woman who is really powerful. And I love that. She's really, really good in the role.

"They're scary, they're just creepy. And they're one of the big evils for season four, but they're only part of it."

Anna SilkAnother one of the big changes this year is that Bo, who has been known for so long as the unaligned succubus, is going to become Dark Fae. "At the end of episode four is when Bo learns that she's not unaligned anymore; which is a big shocker.

"...In terms of Bo going dark, I guess the way that I can talk about that, is we've always seen darkness in Bo. We've seen at the end of season two her eyes glowing blue, and then the dawning in season three. There's been this impending doom or impending darkness coming from her. But in terms of Bo going dark and choosing the dark, or realizing that she's now dark Fae, light or dark is different than darkness. They're different things; the fact that Bo is dark Fae is different than Bo going dark in season four."

Has a Fae ever switched sides? "You know what? I have no idea. (Laughs) I have no idea. I think that would be very hard. I think the number one rule is that you align yourself. That is what made Bo so unique, because she wouldn't. But I don't know. I guess you could be a Democrat and then a Republican. You could do that. It's a little harder in the Fae world, I think."

This different side of Bo is something the actress really enjoyed playing with. "Oh, I love it! I love that she keeps evolving, and I like that there's a dangerous side to her. It's kind of interesting that when the show started, she felt like such an outsider, and there was this danger because she would kill people. Then she learned to control those urges and learned what she was...I really think she's a key player in the Fae world. And I don't know what that means yet in the end; I don't know where that will end up, but I think it's pretty scary for Bo.

"So it's fun to play. Sometimes I just have to trust that what I'm doing is going to make sense in the end, because sometimes I don't know myself. The writers have a bigger plan, and sometimes I find myself behaving in an episode in a way that I'm like, "Wait, this is pretty heavy handed; this is pretty mean for Bo, so what's going on here?" I just have to trust that it's going to unfold in a way that makes sense."

The actress may sometimes be surprised by Bo's actions, but that's part of why she loves the character. "You know that you really love a character when you feel conflicted sometimes when you're playing her. There're times when I play Bo and I think, "She's being really selfish in this scene. Why is she being so selfish? This doesn't feel right." But I kind of like that, because she can be selfish sometimes, but at the end of the say she'll always be what she is at her core, which is that she has such a deep loyalty to her friends; she cares for them so much and she would die for them."

Silk wouldn't change anything about Bo, even if she could, "I could say "make her less selfish sometimes," but then she wouldn't be who she is. I really can't think of anything. Not that she's perfect, but I like that she's perfectly imperfect. She's really strong, and she has such a strong sense of just, and I like that."

Anna SilkBo has discovered a lot about herself over the past three seasons, and Silk's hope for her is that she will eventually understand it all. "Ultimately when Lost Girl comes to a close, whenever that is - and we'll all be shedding a tear, myself included – I think that I'd want to see her full potential in the Fae world realized, but I would never want her to forget her human side, what her human side means to her. And that is what I think would make her so unique as a key player in the Fae world, that she has that experience, and she has that sensibility, and that's important to her."

Another thing that has changed this season is the relationships. They may be really turned upside-down this season, but Silk believes that the love triangle between Bo and Dyson (Holden-Ried) and Lauren (Zoie Palmer) will always be a big part of the show. "That love triangle, I don't think it will ever [go away]; it changes all the time, but it doesn't go away, because those two relationships are so important to Bo.

"Dyson, she trusts him so much and he's just this really grounded being that she can go to, and they just have a deep affection for each other and a mutual respect, I think.

"And with Lauren, there's just so much heat between them; there's so much passion between them. But Lauren's got a lot of explaining to do. The end of season there was pretty dramatic. But there being such a chemistry, that doesn't really get shaken. Everything around it gets shaken so they have to constantly repair that, but they don't ever have to repair the chemistry."

One of the recent episodes that Silk talked about is the standalone of the season, though this time it wasn't a comedic one. "We definitely have [a standalone episode in] season four as well. I would say it's episode seven in a way ("La Fae Époque"). We do some interesting things and everyone got to really play something slightly different and do something slightly different. More of an alternate universe is the best way to say it. So it's really cool and there're some really great performances from our cast. So that is something interesting that I think the audience will be excited to see."

In that episode, Bo sees through Dyson's eyes. Silk talked about the idea of if Bo was a shifter rather than a succubus, and what she would want to change to. "I love the wolf; I think it's such a cool thing to be able to shift into. It would definitely be something like that, or maybe some sort of wildcat - a tiger, or a lion, or something like that. I think that would be really amazing, for me as well [as Bo]. Maybe I would be more of a housecat. (Laughs) I would love that! I love cats; I've had cats my whole life, and we have three cats. I love watching them; I love seeing cats on TV."

Lost GirlThe actress also talked about one of her favorite Fae abilities that have been on the series. "[This Fae] could make people speak the truth. She could click her fingernails. She was really great, that actress. She could click her fingernails and make you speak the truth. I just think that's kind of cool, because there is so much not said on our show between the characters, so it would be kind of cool to have one of those standalone episodes where all we do is say what we think and feel; we don't try to cover anything. That would be a very interesting episode."

She added that for Fae this season she "liked Mia's character a lot and George was really funny in the first episode as the big snake dude."

Silk also talked about some of the more lighthearted moments this season. In one scene she danced to the Spice Girls. "That's in [episode] four. Yes we did. I had that song in my head forever; it was the "Wannabe" song."

One of the comedic episodes is actually tonight with "Groundhog Fae," where the night keeps repeating. "We definitely have a more comedic episode this season. It's episode eight; it's closer to the holidays in Canada. That would be sort of our more comedic episode."

You can watch Anna Silk Mondays on Syfy.

Latest Articles