

Eric Stoltz wasn’t surprised when he learned that Syfy was not picking up a second season of “Caprica.” In fact, he along with the other actors knew months before.

But what hurt the “Battlestar Galactica” spinoff may have been a faulty premise from the start.

“I don’t think it was what the majority of ‘Battlestar’ fans wanted for the most part,” Stoltz recently told Den of Geek‘s Simon Brew. “It probably would’ve served us all better to have not even been connected to it.”

The “fear of cancellation was always hanging over us like the sword of Damacles,” said Stoltz, who played Cylon patriarch Daniel Graystone in the series. “We’d gotten used to it. In a way, it sort of fueled us on.”

The actors were able to learn a lot about what would’ve happened in the second season, much of which ended up in a five-minute “Shape of Things To Come” ending that came with the series finale when it aired this past week on Syfy.

But it wasn’t all bad for Stoltz. He told Brew that while various levels of the show’s characters were included in the script, the episode director had a lot of control on how the character ended up from the page.

“A little bit more malice here, a little more loving there,” he said. “That begin said, there were certain relationships, like Graystone and his wife, that seemed to take on a life of their own, even beyond Paula Malcomson and myself. And that was wonderful to be a part of.”

Did Syfy give “Caprica” enough of a chance? Probably not.

“It’s rare for a show to find itself in the first season,” Stoltz said. “There are exceptions, of course, but a lot of shows take two or three years to find the right ingredients. I’m sure we were off balance at times, and I’m sure I would change a few things if I had that power, but I’ve moved on.”

That moving on includes a lot of directing, something Stoltz did a little of during the only season of “Caprica.” That has included episodes of “Glee” on Fox, “Private Practice” on ABC, and the upcoming ABC medical drama “Off the Map.” But he’s not ready to turn is back on the genre quite yet.

“As to science-fiction television, if the stories were challenging and original, I’d be up for it,” Stoltz said.

“Caprica” Season 1.5 is now available on DVD. Syfy is continuing the universe “Caprica” was set in, with casting set to begin of “Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome” later this month.