SDCC 2014: 'Orphan Black'

Maya Zach ’17 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
Orphan Black follows the story of Sarah Manning (Tatiana Maslany) as she discovers that she is a clone. She is introduced to other women with the exact same features and genetic makeup as herself (all played by Maslany) and begins to uncover the conspiracy that lies behind Project Leda, the cloning operation. In the final moments of the second season, it is revealed that the women are not the only clones, the military created a male equivalent. Ari Millen is the face of the male clones of Project Castor; who we have seen as Mark Rollins, one of the Proletheans.
Originally the creators had no intention to promote Millen to clone-status. In fact, they planned to kill Mark off in the sixth episode of season two. Millen was only told of this new development ten days before they filmed the finale, which didn’t give him much time to process the huge change in his role in the show.
Though Project Castor was introduced, Orphan Black is still very much Sarah’s story. The show has always been about Sarah discovering who she is and trying to understand her place in the world and the Dyad conspiracy. The creators Graeme Manson and John Fawcett guaranteed that the introduction of the male clones will not change the perspective of the story, it will just add more depth to the series.
Felix (Jordan Gavaris) has had a lot more opportunity to grow as a character throughout the second season. During the first season he was just Sarah’s accessory, someone she clung to for love and support. Realizing this, Felix decides that he can’t take it anymore, he needs to become his own person and might not always be there to back her up. He also had the opportunity to question himself and his desires when confronted with Tony, a transexual clone who is incredibly reminiscent of a male Sarah.
It wouldn’t be Comic-Con if there wasn’t a big announcement about comics! BBC America and IDW Publishing have teamed up to release an Orphan Black comic book series. They plan to use the comics to expand the world and give a deeper look into some of the characters in the television show. They are not trying to recreate what has already been seen on the television series, rather showing what happens while the characters are off screen.
The second season of Orphan Black is now available on Blu-ray and DVD. The show will return to the small screen for its third season in 2015. And the series will make its comic book debut early in 2015.