The new Canadian sci-fi series CONTINUUM took a massive leap in its premiere episode by transporting its heroine and a handful of ruthless terrorists out of the future and into the present. As these future travelers squared off, bullets began to fly and bodies began piling up. But not everyone is yet aware of the time-travel fight brought to their doorstep and the war about to be unleashed around them. In an exclusive interview, star Richard Harmon shared what is going on for his unsuspecting character in CONTINUUM.
So who is Julian and how does he fit into the CONTINUUM world?
RICHARD: That’s an interesting story because there’s a lot to be said there but I don’t think I’m allowed to share too much at this time, ’cause he’s kind of got more going on with him at a later date. Right now, Julian is the step-brother of the lead character, Alec Sadler. We live on this farm together with my father and his mother who are now married, making Julian and Alec step-brothers. From what we’ve seen, it kind of feels like Julian does not really trust Alec. That kind of gets explained a little bit further in the next couple of episodes. I think that’s all I’m allowed to share about Julian: that he just doesn’t trust Alec one hundred percent at the moment — and you’ll find out why.
From the pilot episode, it appeared that Julian and his parents were involved in sort of organization. Can you talk at all about that?
RICHARD: Yes, I can. Julian’s father actually holds weekly meetings with a bunch of his farmer kind of buddies and others who are not the biggest fans of what corporations are doing to families in Canada and America — like shutting down their farms, running monopoly. All the food one can buy is being controlled by the big corporations. So they don’t like how the corporations are kind of taking over everything. So their meetings are to discuss what they feel is not right about that.
Do you feel like Julian and his family’s organization has the better intentions, or perhaps do they have a bit of a dark side themselves?
RICHARD: I think they have good intentions. So far, it’s just meeting about how they do not like what the corporations are doing. There’s nothing too crazy about it.
How far ahead have you filmed the series for CONTINUUM?
RICHARD: We’ve already filmed the entire first season. We’re done.
So you have a lot more knowledge about what’s to come than you can possibly share at this time.
RICHARD: [Laughs] Exactly! I know what’s going to happen throughout the season, but I think Simon Barry (our creator) would do terrible, terrible things to me if I told you more than I’m allowed to.
That’s okay. We’re happy to be teased. So with Julian’s step-brother Alec, does Julian have a sense that Alec has something going on in the barn, or is it just a general distrust of him?
RICHARD: It’s a little bit of both because I think none of them really know what Alec does his “workshop.” They don’t really know because he doesn’t let them in there. Julian doesn’t think Alec could be up to all that much. It’s just Julian is kind of evaluating the situation with Alec and trying to figure out if he is on their side because Alec’s really never been involved and he really hasn’t tried to be a part of this new family. He’s never around. He’s always in his workshop. And Julian is really family-oriented, so he wants to know with Alec, “Do you want to come and be a family, or just go off in your workshop and exclude yourself away from us?”
As the season develops, will we be seeing Julian get off the farm?
RICHARD: I think it’s safe for me to say that he gets off the farm once or twice.
Does he become aware that there has been some time-travel involved?
RICHARD: I don’t know exactly where the story is going, if we get a season two, but Julian at this current moment does not know what has happened with the time-travel storyline.
Since the show has taken off and has been well-received in Canada, and we are clamoring for it in the United States, there is a good chance CONTINUUM will get a second season. Would you like to see Julian do some time-jumping and playing around with the timeline a little bit?
RICHARD: Yeah, absolutely! I think the great thing about this show is that there is so many possibilities that you can do. Being a sci-fi related show, that just immediately opens up your world and so many other worlds. So I think it would be fun, definitely. Maybe time-jumping. Maybe getting a bit involved with that.
What about the gun-play? The show seems like it takes a “no holds barred” approach in portraying shoot-outs. They aren’t afraid to show gun-fights and a lot of action.
RICHARD: That’s another great thing about the show. They really don’t baby it down. We do show the gun-play. We do show people getting stabbed. There’s death on the show. Every time I got the script, I was so excited because I would think, “I hope I don’t die,” and I’d wonder, “I hope this character doesn’t die,” and that kind of thing. ‘Cause in this show, people can die off at the drop of a hat.
Fun teaser there!
RICHARD: Yeah, you’ve got to keep on your toes.
So generally what was your favorite experience working on the first season of CONTINUUM?
RICHARD: Just great people. It was such a pleasure working with everyone, from Simon Barry (our creator who also wrote a lot of the episodes), Pat Williams (one of our producers), everybody at Reunion Pictures (who is our production company), everyone at Shaw Media, and the cast. It is just a wonderful, wonderful cast. I would like to single out — ’cause I had the most of my scenes with him — Erik Knudsen. He is just such a delight to work with. He was such the consummate professional the whole time. So I’d like to single him out as being such a pleasure to work with.
To get the fans and audience excited about what is upcoming on CONTINUUM, what would you like to tease?
RICHARD: The thing that I’ve loved about watching it has been “eco terrorists.” They get really, really interesting in the next couple of episodes and they just continue to develop what they stand for and what they are willing to do. I think the audience is going to love where they are going with that storyline.
There seems to be so much violence in the show. Does it ever shy away from it or do they just go, “Let’s crank it up a notch!”?
RICHARD: They don’t shy away at all. I think they take the violence to even higher levels. [Laughs] But I think it’s okay because it’s not just violence for the sake of it. The more violent they got, the more they were trying to prove their point — and people were just not listening. One of the greatest things about this show is the massive amounts of gray areas. ‘Cause you really don’t know who to root for. You have the bad guys who are terrorists, but are they really bad? ‘Cause they are fighting for freedom. Since when is freedom really all that bad of a thing? But the thing with them is that their morals are just a little bit questionable. They will kill an innocent being at the drop of a hat. Then you have the protagonist, Kiera, with her great morals. She does all the right things. Yet at the same time, she’s trying to safeguard things for the corporations and I don’t think we want them to win. So that’s the thing. There are grey areas. You don’t really know who to root for.
It is a fun, twisty show. It makes you think a little bit.
RICHARD: It really does. It definitely makes you think.
Then talking about your other series THE KILLING, we are heading towards the final couple episodes of the 2nd season and they are finally going to tell us who killed Rosie Larsen.
RICHARD: I think we’re all dying to find out who did it.
Have you figured it out or found out who the killer is yet?
RICHARD: I haven’t figure it out. I have no idea who the killer is. They don’t tell me anything!
Will we be seeing another appearance of Jasper before the finale?
RICHARD: I don’t think you’ll be seeing me again before the end of the second season. Hopefully in the third season, I might come back. I never know, every time I leave the set of THE KILLING. They are so secretive. They keep everything so wonderfully close to the vest that I have no idea that every time I walk off set it might be the last time I play that character.
You play these characters with shades of gray and verge on the dark side and we are never quite sure. Is that fun for you?
RICHARD: It’s really fun for me. I didn’t quite understand it at first. I didn’t know why I was always cast as the bad guy who has a lot going on — the moral compass in all the characters I play tends to be a bit shaky. It doesn’t bother me any more. I just didn’t understand it and then one morning I woke up and looked in the mirror and then said, “Ah, that’s why! Yeah, okay. I look like I want to kill somebody all the time.” [Laughs]
You actually bring a certain layered depth to your performances that makes us believe that there’s more going on with these characters than just being a villain.
RICHARD: Thank you so much. That means a lot to me.
I’ve enjoyed your other work on other shows, like CAPRICA, where you played one of my favorite characters.
RICHARD: Oh, great. Then you know my girlfriend, Genevieve Buechner. She was in CAPRICA. She played Tamara Adama. I don’t know if my character was trying to save her or use her for his own purposes. We’ve been dating ever since.
We’d like to believe that there were very chivalrous intentions there. But I should say that the episode “There Is Another Sky” is my favorite episode and you two were great in it together. Your chemistry together clearly shone through.
RICHARD: It was good chemistry, obviously. [Laughs]
That was again one of those characters where he could have a really dark character with real evil intentions, but the more we got to know him, we went, “Oh, there’s more going on with this kid.”
RICHARD: Yeah, definitely. Thank you.
So when you go to your agent, what kind of roles are you kind of looking for? Do you specifically ask for roles with more layers?
RICHARD: The roles that I’m looking for are anything. [Laughs] Anything that allows me to do what I love for a living, which is just an unbelievable opportunity.
It certainly seems like you’ve been very busy and blessed with what you have been able to do.
RICHARD: Incredibly blessed. You put it precisely how it feels. I am very, very blessed and incredibly lucky in what I do.
Any final words for the CONTINUUM fans?
RICHARD: CONTINUUM is getting better and better and better as it goes on. And I promise Julian does more than just eat soup. I think they’ve introduced Julian just enough to get people’s interest without telling too much about what he does later on. Stay tuned. 
With that last bit of foreshadowing, be sure to tune in for an all new episode of CONTINUUM on Sunday nights at 9PM on Showcase in Canada. The future has come back to haunt us and hold us accountable for our sins.
Photo Credits: Kin Chan (First Two) and Karolina Turek (Third Photo)
Tiffany Vogt is the Senior West Coast Editor, contributing as a columnist and entertainment reporter to TheTVaddict.com. She has a great love for television and firmly believes that entertainment is a world of wondrous adventures that deserves to be shared and explored – she invites you to join her. Please feel free to contact Tiffany at Tiffany_Vogt_2000@yahoo.com or follow her at on Twitter (@TVWatchtower).