SDCC10: Exec Prod of ‘Caprica’ Drinks Tequila and Talks About Season 2

You might have noticed that we’re big fans of Battelstar Galactica here at The Flickcast, so we were thrilled at the chance to sit down and discuss the reimagined world that he has brought to life with fellow producer, Ron Moore. At a roundtable at this year’s Comic-Con, Eick discussed the future of Caprica over a bottle of Don Julio and when fans can expect another season to be announced and ready to go.

“I think we just finished what we’re calling Season 1.5. You will hear about the next season by August 15 or before. We’re still working out contracts, among other things.”

Since there are wildly divergent opinions between fans of Eick’s last creation, Battlestar Galactica, and fans of his current endeavor Caprica, we were curious to get his take on this on-going schism and if there was a way to keep both camps happy, or if it was something that they were even worried about.

“We knew to expect a greater mix with this, because we knew we were not going to develop it or market it as a spin off of Battlestar. We knew those fans might have expected it would be much more intensely easter eggy in terms of well, here’s how Laura Roslin got her name and all that kind of stuff, but we just knew we weren’t going to do a show like that.  We very consciously tried not to market it or complicate it like that. We just believed that the audience would discover the show, let the show find its way, finds its legs, tighten its focus and get better, which it does.

“By the way, Battlestar was initially just as divided but for completely different reasons. So, I think we had this whole contingency of fans of the original show who are boycotting it, so it doesn’t feel any different to me. The very first Comic-Con for Battlestar was like George W. Bush going up at an ACLU rally. We felt like pariahs the first time.”

In regards to building the world of Caprica, we asked Eick if he could tell us how they went about creating a world that was very different from Battlestar but

“This one is more challenging because we don’t have the ongoing ticking clock of ‘action stations! The cylons are attacking!’ In a lot of ways, it’s a more sophisticated style of storytelling.”

When asked about the easter eggs that were brought up earlier in the conversation, Eick revealed that they did not intend to put them into future episodes, but that sometimes they are inevitable. For instance, fans might have noticed Luciana Carro (who played Kat on Battlestar), but her presence wasn’t the wink that fans might have anticipated.

“She’s a phenomenal actress and there’s only so many actresses who can do and understand what we require them to do, so the pool can be rather small, Eick explained. “But, we loved working with her again”

One last note that Eick discussed were the major influences for Caprica. Interestingly enough, they were Blade Runner and Dallas. Why? Blade Runner analyzed religion, ethics and the dark side of society, while Dallas was a good family drama. Go figure!

Season 1.5 of Caprica will begin airing on Syfy in January 2011.