

Anthony Lemke as Three in Dark Matter. Photo copyright of Prodigy Pictures/Syfy.

Back in 2000, Anthony Lemke was cast as Captain Marcus Grisham in the syndicated action/adventure series Queen of Swords. Set in 19th century Spanish California, the Grisham character was one of many out to get a masked female sword-wielding heroine who, upon returning home to Santa Helena from Madrid, was determined to rid her town of its cruel and corrupt governor. Lemke had no idea that his working in this project would one day lead to not one but two other TV jobs, including his current role as Three (a.k.a. Marcus Boone) in the new Sci-Fi drama Dark Matter.

“Jay Firestone, who was an executive producer on Queen of Swords, is now also one of the executive producers on Dark Matter,” notes Lemke, sitting down for a chat in Dark Matter’s Toronto production office. “When I read the character breakdown for Three, I thought, ‘This is Grisham, only 15 years later in terms of age and everything else.’

“So I decided to keep that in mind during my audition, figuring that if Jay and the other producers who worked on Queen of Swords responded to that 15 years ago, then hopefully they would again for Dark Matter. Grisham was a character that you were supposed to love as well as hate. He’s someone who probably could have been a hero had circumstances led him down a different path, but he ends up being sort of a bad guy. That’s really who Three is. This is a guy who speaks before he thinks, who appears on the outside to be quite cross and self-concerned, when, in fact, on the inside he’s a very different person. That’s quite similar to what Grisham was like on Queen of Swords.



Four (Alex Mallari, Jr.) and Three (Anthony Lemke) searching their ship in Dark Matter's opening episode. Photo copyright of Prodigy Pictures/Syfy.

“I also played a character [Ryan Lambert] not unlike that on Lost Girl [also executive produced by Jay Firestone and produced by his production company Prodigy Pictures], only he was far more intelligent and heroic, but he, too, spoke his mind and was supposed to be loved as well as hated by the Lost Girl fans. So when this audition opportunity came up for Dark Matter, I was fairly certain that I could deliver a version of Three that Jay and everyone else would respond to. Whether or not I got the job, however, depended on what they were thinking about for Three. I was just so psyched, though, about the audition and really crossing my fingers for this one. Happily, things turned out great.”

Based on the graphic novel of the same name by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie (series co-creators/executive producers), Dark Matter is set in deep space and onboard a derelict spaceship. When, in the series opener, a problem develops with the ship’s life support system, the crew automatically awakes from suspended animation to correct the malfunction. They manage to do just that, but with one hitch – none of them can remember who they are or why they are onboard. The six give themselves temporary designations in the order they awoke – One (Marc Bendavid), Two (Melissa O’Neil), Three (Lemke), Four (Alex Mallhari, Jr.), Five (Jodelle Ferland) and Six (Roger Cross) – and set about trying to unravel this mystery. For Lemke, stepping into Three’s boots and onto the Dark Matter set was very much a longtime dream come true.

“Growing up in the 70s and early 80s, I was a big fan of movies like Star Wars and TV shows like Space: 1999,” says the actor. “They were part of zeitgeist at the time, and not only TV shows set in space, but the actual space-shuttle launches as well, and, although it was a little before my time, the moon-landing. People were in the shadow of the space race and thinking about exploring outer space, so years later, it’s really exciting for me to almost relive my childhood. Someone had created this amazing world of Dark Matter for me that was the world of play from my youth. I had the chance to visit the set before we began shooting and it was amazing to see them building a spaceship. That’s when I realized, hey, this is where I’m going to get to play for the next little while, and for me, I don’t think that sense of fun has stopped. Other than an episode here or there of shows like Earth: Final Conflict, I’d never had a regular role on an actual spaceship show, so this is a big deal for me.



Three (Anthony Lemke) - ready for action! Photo copyright of Prodigy Pictures/Syfy.

“When it comes to my character of Three, the challenge is to walk that line between searching for the comedic and playing the drama or the reason that the viewer ‘hates’ you, because you’re supposed to be both. You’re not the straight-up villain/bad guy, but you’re also not the hero, either. Again, that was a challenge on Queen of Swords as well as Lost Girl, and it’s an ongoing challenge with Dark Matter, so much so that when a new director comes in, I explain to them, ‘I’m going to throw a lot of stuff at you and offer up lots of different things on the day of filming. I need you to police that line, because if I’m policing that line in my head, then I’m not going to be in the moment with my performance.’

“All the directors have been terrific with that and they’ve protected the character along with the character’s integrity. Obviously you can do that in the editing room, too, and I, of course, have a strong idea of where Three needs to be in the individual scenes. Sometimes, though, you have to walk on either side of that aforementioned line in order to find out what the appropriate line is, and that’s a collective effort more than anything else. That’s the wonderful thing about this industry – the fact that my performance isn’t just my performance. It’s a performance that’s shared amongst the writer who created the performance in the first place, as well as with me, who’s giving not only the performance, but versions of the performance that the director is helping me with, and, ultimately, the editor who puts it all together.”

In the latter half of Dark Matter’s opening episode, the crew is faced with a moral dilemma, the resolution of which not all are in agreement with. While they deal with that developing situation, the ship’s android (Zoie Palmer) succeeds in reconstructing some of the deleted computer files including those containing details of the ship’s crew. Three and the others are surprised to learn their real names as well as certain facts about their background. It is very much like opening a Pandora’s Box, where the characters as well as the audience will discover more and more eye-opening facts as this story continues to unfold.



Two (Melissa O'Neil) and Three (Anthony Lemke). Photo copyright of Prodigy Pictures/Syfy.

“Throughout Dark’s Matter’s first season, our characters sort of internally try to deal with this knowledge of, oh, my gosh, this is who we are,” explains Lemke. “Some of them embrace it, while others try to run from it as far as they possibly can, and what’s interesting about my character is that he embraces it. However, at some point in time, there’s this reversal where you learn something about Three that is totally incongruous with everything you’ve found out about him up until that point. The same is true for many of the other characters. There’s that one moment where the viewers will think, ‘Wait, this is not who I thought this character was.’

“So kudos to the writers, especially Joe Mallozzi and Paul Mullie, for that, and it’s that [story] element that first attracted me to the Three character and made me want to play him.”

At the time of this interview (late April), the Dark Matter cast and crew were hard at work on the 11th episode of the show’s 13-episode first season. Out of all the episodes he has worked on so far, does Lemke have a favorite or even a scene that he found especially challenging or memorable?

“I actually have a favorite episode and a favorite scene,” he says with a smile. “My favorite episode is the one with Three’s backstory, and I love it because of what the writers have juxtaposed my character’s backstory with, which is a beautiful, funny, touching and action-packed episode. My favorite scene is in that same episode – episode 107 – but it’s not one of mine. It’s one between the characters of Five and Six, who develop quite a neat relationship. I won’t go into the nature of that relationship because it would be a spoiler, but this particular scene is such a human moment. It’s one that encapsulates many of the things we as humans struggle to come to grips with, including when we’re talking about our childhoods and things that we wish might have been a little bit different. Some folks had worse childhoods than others, and that scene touches on so much of that, and Jodelle Ferland and Roger Cross performed it incredibly well. I can’t wait for people to see it.



Three (Anthony Lemke). Photo copyright of Prodigy Pictures/Syfy.

“This is a special series, plain and simple, and I really hope that audiences give these characters time to grow and allow moments like the one I just talked about to happen, because they don’t happen right away,” continues the actor. “You have to get to know these characters, and then suddenly halfway through season one, you have these amazing flips for these characters who you’ve come to love, hate or whatever. I don’t presume to know the audience, but this show is written in such a way that audiences will likely identify with certain characters, but the writers don’t let those audience choices be ‘safe’ ones, if you know what I mean. They don’t let you unequivocally fall on one side and decide, OK, this character is right and the others are wrong.

“My character, who frequently runs off at the mouth and is often wrong in most situations, is actually proven right in one situation, even though at the time, his advice sounded absolutely horrible to everyone, including the audience. He gave that advice for a reason, though. I really appreciate that the writers do things like that. They’re an amazing group of professionals, and I sincerely hope that, again, folks will give Dark Matter a try. I’m fairly confident that if people do tune in, we’ll be able to keep them tuning in. I would so enjoy inhabiting this character of Three for a while and seeing where Joe and Paul are planning to take him along with the other characters and these wonderfully nuanced stories.”

Prior to Dark Matter, Lemke portrayed Ryan Elliott in season one of the Hallmark Channel series The Good Witch, and is looking forward to reprising his role for its second season. “I have to say that I unabashedly love working on this show,” he enthuses. “My character is the antithesis of Three, and as for the show, I won’t say that it’s the antithesis of Dark Matter, because it isn’t, but it is a simple, feel good show that doesn’t rely on any of the old tentpoles of sex, drugs, violence, etc. There’s none of that on The Good Witch. So if 2.5 million people are tuning in every Saturday night at 8 o’clock, they’re doing so because it feels good to watch the show, and I think there’s a place for that on television. I hope that it’s a show that also has a long life and that I get to be a part of it for a long time as well.”

Steve Eramo

Dark Matter premieres Friday, June 12th @ 10:00 p.m. EST on Syfy (U.S.) and on Canada's SPACE Channel. The series is also premiering around the globe - check the local listings in your particular country. As noted above, all photos copyright of Prodigy Pictures and Syfy, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!