“The women on this show are the ones who usually save the day,” Mallozzi shared with me in his office when I visited their Toronto-based set a few weeks ago. “And we’re thirteen for thirteen on episodes that pass the Bechdel Test.” He proceeded to show me clips from four or five different episodes spread over the course of the upcoming season, the details of which I won’t share, because, spoilers!; but all of which were stand-out scenes for the show’s three leading female characters, cleverness, butt-kicking, humor, and emotion included. Oh, and none of their official character descriptions include the words “beautiful,” “sexy,” or any reference to their appearance at all, actually, which Mallozzi told me was intentional because they didn’t approach the casting of any character with a specific ethnicity or gender in mind.
It makes sense, then, that the women on Dark Matter certainly don’t fall prey to the traditional lady tropes in sci-fi. Named for the order in which they were awakened, there’s Two (aka Boss Lady), played by stage actress Melissa O’Neil, the ship’s leader and a fighter who isn’t without compassion. Then there’s Jodelle Ferland (Twilight) as Five (aka Kid), the ship’s young tech guru. Finally, we’ve got Lost Girl‘s Zoie Palmer as The Android, a supremely intelligent, but socially awkward, robot who will not be dressing as Seven of Nine, thank you very much.
“They’re totally kick-ass in totally different ways,” said Mallozzi of the show’s ladies. “Two is our de facto leader; she can out-fight anyone on the show. Five has all the secrets, and everyone takes her for granted, but she’s super capable as well. And The Android has total control of the ship, so basically she’s a super badass.”
- The Mary Sue Interview: Syfy’s Dark Matter Brings The Badass Ladies In Force
