Tricia Helfer is set to make her return to Syfy in Ascension , a six-hour event, beginning Monday December 15.

Similarities and Distinctions from BSG

“ As opposed to Battlestar being literally on a Battlestar in a war with Cylons, this is much more -- it starts out with a murder.

The basic premie for the series is that in 1963 - fearing an impending nuclear war - the U.S. government launched a covert space mission sending hundreds of men, women and children on a century-long voyage aboard the starship Ascension to populate a new world. Nearly 50 years into the journey, as they approach the point of no return, a mysterious murder of a young woman causes the ship’s population to question the true nature of their mission.Helfer - known by many as Number Six on Battlestar Galactica - plays Viondra Denniger, a beautiful, manipulative and dangerous power broker on the Ascension.We had the opportunity to speak with the actress about the role and what we can expect from the space-set thriller.

"The script intrigued me," Helfer reflected of her decision to return to the network. "It's a very different story from Battlestar -- although there are some parallels in the large ensemble cast; yes, they're on a ship and humanity's in peril. It really is a character drama, at the end of the day, as Battlestar was -- that's really where it ends. As opposed to Battlestar being literally on a Battlestar in a war with Cylons, this is much more -- it starts out with a murder. It's a much more tranquil-type thing. Battlestar started out very fast-paced. The first episode back on the miniseries was 33, where every 33 minutes they're jumping -- high energy, fast-paced. This starts out a lot slower. You're setting up this world. This ship was not sent out to get into fights or to protect; this ship was sent out as a traveling cruise ship, essentially -- or the Ark -- and to propagate a new planet. So it's more about what starts happening within the ship and how that society starts unraveling. So the tension starts to amp up, and it's sort of midway through the miniseries -- episode four, five, six -- that it gets much more fast-paced with a lot going on. But the world that they're in is being set up in the first three."

Lady MacBeth in Space?

Helfer's character is described as a woman at the top of the political ladder, one who is determined to stay there. The society on the ship is very informed by the culture of the 1960s, as that's when they left earth, and so is she.

"She is very put-together," Helfer said of Denniger. "In the beginning, you think she's a very manipulative, self-serving character. Then you find out that she's also very, very intelligent. She does have the best interest of the ship at heart. She really does believe in the mission and wants to see them reach Proxima [their destination]. She's in a position where she thinks she and the captain [her husband] know best. It's a little self-serving in that they want to stay in a position of power, but it's also because she does think that they can make the ship best. Studying, getting into it, it was definitely harder for me to play the character, because I usually do play very strong characters that can be outwardly strong. It was harder to reserve myself. You don't really start to see what makes her tick until later in the episodes. So that was hard for me in the beginning -- but it also works for the character, because she's holding so much in."

Murder in Close Quarters

“ You can't disappear.

Rebellion in Space

“ Viondra definitely believes in following through on the mission.

What Would YOU do?

"There's more accountability when you will get caught," the actress reflected. "As opposed to thinking, 'I'm going to get away with this, because then I'm just going to disappear.' You can't disappear. You can't go anywhere to disappear. You can maybe hide for a little while, but they will eventually find you. You know, when I grew up, people didn't lock their doors, because people just trusted that you're not going to do something to your neighbor-type thing. You all know each other. You all grew up together; you maybe dated. So there is more belief in an idyllic world. So that's why this first murder does shock everybody. Also, the captain's trying to keep it under wraps and not let people know there's been a murder. They let out that she's dead, but they make it look almost like an accident, until they know 100 percent that it's a murder, because then you're going to have everyone looking over their shoulder. 'Was it my neighbor? Was it this person?' You're going to start to have panic."The murder starts unraveling," the actress explained. "But what they're realizing is that there's also a guerilla movement of people that start doing terrorist activities -- a small bombing here or there -- not enough to ruin the ship, but enough to cause a lot of problems. Their goal is to get more people to pay attention to them. They're called Earthers. They're the ones that want to go back, like, 'If we can get enough people behind us that want to turn around, we can force the ones in power to turn around.'"As to her character's position on the matter, Helfer says, "Viondra definitely believes in following through on the mission.""She believes in the mission," the actress continued. "They set out -- granted, she was born on the ship -- but they set out to do this mission. She also started on the lower decks and had a mother -- we don't see this in six hours, but it's backstory that I know of from Philip. If we end up going further, we may delve into that. But she had a very difficult childhood with a mother that took the negative approach and the approach of, 'I don't want to be here. We're lower-deckers. We'll never make it to the upper decks. We can't choose our destiny' -- that kind of thing -- and grew up around that and always wanted out from that. So I think growing up around a very negative mother, it made her strive to raise up and see this mission through. Her mother was always, 'We're never going to get to Proxima.' So Viondra definitely wants to get to Proxima."Helfer feels that this is a series that could engage the audience by having them ask themselves, 'What would I do if I were in this situation?" Certainly, that's a big part of the appeal of many high-concept shows.

"I think one of the things with Battlestar was it was putting people under extreme circumstances and watching what they would do and kind of placing yourself in that position," Helfer said. "'What would I do?' I think, again, even though this show is completely different, there's that element as well of, 'What would I do if I was on that ship, if I was born on that ship and had no choice?' Like, 'The small town life didn't suit me, but I can't leave. I can't go to the big city. I don't even know that it exists. I also can't become a mountain climber if I want to, because there are no mountains.' Also, that blind faith that something's out there, that planet is out there. The only hope you really have is to continue to have faith that it is out there, because you have no other choice. Yes, I hope people get hooked into that."

Could This Limited Series Continue?

Right now, there are only six episodes of Ascention set to air, but according to the creators, there's plenty more story to mine from."If you talk to Philip Levens, he definitely has a lot up in his mind about possibilities," the actress said when asked if the series might continue on beyond the initial six episodes. "There's a big reveal in the first two episodes that will change the dynamic and things, but there are also reveals towards the end. So there is a lot of opportunity to explore both those reveals and the layers of the onion, so to speak."Ascension premieres on Syfy on December 15 at 9/8c.

Roth Cornet is an Entertainment Editor for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @RothCornet and IGN at Roth-IGN