Sanctuary season 2
The second season of the Canadian science fiction–fantasy television series Sanctuary premiered on Space in Canada and on Syfy in the United States on October 9, 2009, and concluded on the same channel on January 15, 2010 after 13 episodes. It continues to follow the actions of a secret organization known as the Sanctuary Network, who track down a series of creatures known as abnormals and then bring them to the Sanctuary base for refuge. Amanda Tapping, Robin Dunne, Emilie Ullerup, Ryan Robbins, Agam Darshi and Christopher Heyerdahl are billed in the opening credits as the main cast.
The season starts six weeks after the conclusion of the first season, where the protagonists work to defeat the antagonistic Cabal from destroying the Sanctuary Network, but in the process Ashley Magnus, daughter of Sanctuary leader Helen Magnus, dies. Later episodes involve a story arc on Big Bertha, the most dangerous abnormal on Earth.
The second season included a writing team, where as in the first there were only two writers; series creator Damian Kindler, and Sam Egan; however Egan left the series after the end of the first season. The producers wanted to expand on the Sanctuary Network by including episodes where the team visit some of their international sites as opposed to only mentioning them. The season was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia from late March to July 2009, with some scenes of the finale filmed on location in Tokyo, Japan. Anthem Visual Effects continues to produce the series' visual effects. Anthem found an exponential growth in their work, with some episodes including as many as 500 visual effects shots.
The first ten episodes were seen by an average of 1.55 million viewers in the United States, increasing to 2.2 million when time-shifted viewings were taken into account. It received generally positive reviews from critics; however, some reviewers criticized the abrupt end to the Cabal arc within the first few episodes. The introduction of the new character Kate Freelander was also met with mixed reactions, while there was an outpouring of fans against Ashley's demise. Season two won seven Leo Awards after its release. The season was released on a four-disc set on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on June 9, 2010 in Region 4, June 15 in Region 1, and October 4 in Region 2.
Episodes
Cast
Regular cast
The second season began with the original cast from the first season. Amanda Tapping returns as series protagonist Helen Magnus, a 158-year-old English scientist who runs the Sanctuary Network. The producers intended for Magnus to be more angry and vulnerable following Ashley's death after the first three episodes. Robin Dunne returns as Will Zimmerman, a former forensic psychiatrist who has been Magnus' protégé since the pilot. After the first season, the producers made Will more confrontational towards Magnus after feeling more comfortable working with her. Christopher Heyerdahl portrays two characters: Bigfoot, an abnormal who works in the Sanctuary, and John Druitt, Magnus' former fiancé and father to Ashley. Ryan Robbins returns as Henry Foss. A recurring actor in the first season, Robbins was upgraded to a series regular in the second.Emilie Ullerup returns as Ashley, Magnus' daughter who was written out of the series after "Eulogy". The decision to kill off the character came from an agreement between series creator Damian Kindler and the commissioning networks, as they felt this development would "have the deepest, most dramatic impact on the series and the characters." Director Martin Wood also believed that her death would add a sense of jeopardy on the show. When Ullerup first heard Ashley would be killed off, she was under the impression that her character was not well received by the fans. After the second season aired however, Ullerup noticed an outpouring from fans against Ashley's death. Following her death, the producers were willing to develop an Ashley story for the third season.
Agam Darshi joined the cast as Kate Freelander, described by Syfy as "a swindler, con artist and thief who finds herself in an uneasy alliance with Dr. Magnus after her business relationship with the Cabal goes sour." The producers intended for Kate to be an unlikeable character at first, but by the end of the season have "99 percent of the people who don't like Kate, like Kate." The producers also noted that Kate would begin to prove herself by the third episode "Eulogy", and the ninth episode "Penance" would become important to Kate's evolution from "first class bitch" to a more open character when her father's death is revisited.
Recurring cast and guest appearances
Jonathon Young returns as half-vampire Nikola Tesla. In the tenth episode, the character was "de-vamped". Kindler felt this development was a bold choice, but also believed his vampirism was the least interesting character trait against being a genius and having electricity-based powers. The producers wanted to make Tesla somewhat heroic by sacrificing that part of him. Like the first season, there were instances where Young was unavailable to shoot some of his scenes due to theatre commitments, so he was replaced by a body double. Christine Chatelain returns as Will's girlfriend Clara Griffin. Clara was killed off in the second episode; Tapping viewed the death as an "important casualty" that has resonance to the main characters. Robert Lawrenson made a recurring appearance as Declan McRae, the head of the London Sanctuary following the death of James Watson in the season one finale. The character was originally going to be introduced in "Hero", but Kindler decided it would be better for the character to be introduced earlier in the season.The season also introduced numerous guest appearances. Babz Chula appeared as a Cabal scientist in the season premiere, a character that was originally a German male; Chula accepted Tapping's offer to appear on the show after they met at an awards ceremony. Christopher Gauthier appears as Walter and his alter-ego, "the Adjuster", in "Hero". Gauthier modeled the Adjuster's voice from Christian Bale's Batman. The scenes where Walter was worn out from the suit that is killing him mirrored Gauthier's performance because of the suit he had to wear constantly, which consisted of two sets of jogging outfits, cotton padding, and a wetsuit. Because the producers were impressed with Walter, they wanted him to return in the next season. Mandy May, the wife of director Steven A. Adelson, appears in full prosthetics as the abnormal Jack in "Fragments"; May previously appeared on the series as the face of Sally the mermaid. In the same episode, Colin Cunningham played the antagonist Gerald. Cunningham was offered a role because he was long-time friends with some of the crew members, as is the same case when it came to casting Anne Marie Loder, wife of director Peter DeLuise, as Rachel. Eureka actress Erica Cerra makes a guest appearance as the telepath Emma in "Veritas". Cerra's casting by the producers was "really easy" as it was based on her work in other science fiction productions, especially Eureka.
Tapping's former Stargate SG-1 co-star Michael Shanks guest starred as Jimmy in "Penance". Shanks had an interest in playing Jimmy because of the edginess of the character. Shanks also suggested Aleks Paunovic, actor and part-time boxer, for the part as the Diukon Duke; being a boxer fit into the character's violent nature. Paul McGillion returns as Wexford in the season finale. McGillion first appeared as Wexford in the original webisodes, and since then the producers wanted him to return. Tapping believed that placing him in the finale was "the perfect place for him." Callum Blue was cast as the finale's antagonist, Edward Forsythe, as the producers believed Blue could portray somebody who is both charming and evil. In the same episode, Sahar Biniaz was cast as Kali; Biniaz was chosen as the producers believed her physical appearance was goddess-like. Balinder Johal played a cult member; she was the first person to audition for the part, and the producers cast her as she was spiritual, calm, and soft in her appearance. Johal taught the cast how to speak Hindi in parts of the dialogue. The producers were hoping to cast David Hewlett, another Stargate alum, in a guest spot; however, this was met by scheduling issues, as he was shooting a film at the time. Despite this the producers were confident they would cast Hewlett "eventually."
Production
Development
Syfy officially announced the commissioning of a second season of Sanctuary in November 2008 due to the ratings success of the pilot episode, which totalled over three million viewers. Writer and executive producer Sam Egan left the series after the first season. Andrea Gorfolova, Carrie Mudd and Keith Beedie join creator Damian Kindler, director Martin Wood, and actress Amanda Tapping as the show's executive producers.Writing
The second season saw the introduction of a writing team; Sara Cooper, Alan McCullough and James Thorpe were hired as additional writers to Kindler. Because of the writing team, it allowed Kindler and the team to hold meetings, whereas in the first season it was just him discussing with Egan. One of the goals in writing the second season is to further explore the global Sanctuary Network, because in the Sanctuary universe abnormals can be found all around the world. Some international Sanctuary bases were mentioned in the first season, but in the second season, the producers wished to visit some of those bases. Introducing new Sanctuaries and its characters would widen the breadth of the show. They also wished to start introducing abnormals that cannot walk, including an oil-like abnormal in "End of Nights" and the fire elemental "Penance". Kindler wrote both parts of "End of Nights", "Pavor Nocturnus", "Next Tuesday", "Haunted" and the second part of "Kali". McCullough wrote "Hero", "Veritas", "Penance" and the first part of "Kali". Cooper wrote "Eulogy" and "Fragments", while Thorpe wrote "Sleepers", and co-wrote "Pavor Nocturnus" and "Haunted" with Kindler.Following the cliffhanger of the first-season finale, Kindler worked to figure out how to conclude the story and managed to write the outlines of the first two episodes in two days. He also consulted with the writing team to look at all the problems on how to conclude the story. "Eulogy" was conceived as an important episode in the lives of the main characters following the aftermath of "End of Nights", as well as dealing with the loss of Ashley. Kindler said of the episode "it's one thing to end on a terrible tragic cliffhanger, it's another in a satisfactory manner lay all things to rest appropriately." In writing the episode Cooper was knowledgeable on "medical jargon," as she once wrote for the medical drama series House. In writing his first script "Hero", McCullough was initially concerned that it would be met by resistance from the producers because of the special effects that would be involved, but was "floored" to find out it was entirely possible because of Anthem Visual Effects. The producers were originally hesitant in including "Hero" as the fourth episode, as it was considered lighter in tone as Magnus was trying to get over Ashley's death from "Eulogy". "Pavor Nocturnus" came early in the development of the season, as Kindler wanted to show an episode about Magnus' work going "horribly wrong," and explore the opportunity to have the heroes warned that their work has consequences. Described as the "darkest, scariest, creepiest episode ever" by Tapping, it also featured scenes Kindler was never comfortable with, and did not want to show again, including the assault of naked women, and child killings.
"Fragments" was written to be in real time format. Kindler described the episode as a "nice procedural, with heart," that follows the same style as episodes of the medical drama ER, where "stuff goes down and you have to kind of follow the team in different aspects and see how they're handling the situation." The idea behind "Next Tuesday" came when Kindler and Wood noticed a rescue helicopter that was available for rent, prompting the two to come up with a "helicopter story." The episode also introduces a next level in Will and Magnus' friendship; arguments, which would create a "far more realistic thread of tension" between the two characters who "obviously love each other," and "obviously get along," which Kindler felt made a "cool character layer." This was also based on the producers themselves, who despite being good friends, often argue while producing the series.
"Sleepers" was developed because the producers wanted to do a Tesla-centric episode, as they view him as one of their favorite characters. "Haunted" rounds Druitt to "something unexpected." The producers were aware that Druitt became more insane the more he teleports, and they wanted to find an explanation why, hence the creation of the energy creature. "Kali" was designed as a somewhat "faith versus science" episode, with faith as the winning party, because any host to the macri would need a spiritual understanding to it; the cult of Kali are religious, so they would make suitable hosts, but Edward Forsythe is a believer of science, and would not make a suitable host as he does not share the cult's understanding. In the original draft, Magnus would fall ill, but that later changed to Will before the episode was filmed. Some episodes in the season originally followed a different order. "Pavor Nocturnus" was originally going to be the fourth episode, while "Hero" would become the tenth. "Sleepers" would also be in an earlier slot. However, the order changed, partially due to availability issues with Jonathon Young for "Sleepers". The writers were also working on a Bigfoot-centric episode, where he returns to his home. However, before it could be written, the networks were unhappy with the idea.