The Safe House - Expositions

Cast members of ABC's returning SF spy series Alias told SCI FI Wire to expect an explosive confrontation between heroine Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) and her newly rediscovered mother, played by veteran actress Lena Olin. "Not only does [Olin] eerily look like Jennifer—like they actually could be mother and daughter—but she's a wonderful actress," said Kevin Weisman (Marshall) in an interview at the ABC Primetime Preview Weekend at Disney's California Adventure theme park. "There is a confrontation between Jennifer and Lena in the ... season premiere that is ... pretty shocking, I will say. It's pretty shocking, pretty incredible."

Neither Weisman nor the other members of the hit series' cast would reveal details of the upcoming second season, which kicks off Sept. 29. But Victor Garber, who plays Sydney's father, Jack Bristow, said that the appearance of Olin's character will profoundly change the show's dynamic. "It's thrown Jack for a loop, and he's not used to being out of control," Garber said in an interview. "And I think he's much more fragile and vulnerable this season than we've seen him be, and so it's very complicated what's going on for him." In particular, Olin's appearance affects Jack's budding relationship with his estranged daughter. "It's causing a great deal of tension, and there's a sort of sense [of], I guess the word is competition, of trying to ... keep her, protect [her] and continue building up the trust that he has established," Garber said. "I have had my first scene with Lena Olin, and it was amazing. It's our first confrontation after 20 years. It's very short and incredibly powerful. That would be ... either the second or the third episode of the season, I can't remember."

Ron Rifkin, who plays Sydney's villainous boss and surrogate father, Arvin Sloane, said to expect a revelation about his ailing wife, played last season by Amy Irving. "I don't think they've decided quite what to do with that, except the first episode will reveal something to you, but even that might not be finite," Rifkin said in an interview. Sloane will also be shaken by Olin's presence. "Obviously I have a strong connection to Sydney's mother," he said. "[Sydney's] dad and I are old friends. I may or may not have raised [Sydney] when her father was away. ... And I have a very loving feeling towards her, which is clear. It creeps some people out, I don't know why. So I don't know, there's any number of places we could go. But right now, the writers are so fantastically fecund in their creativity, ... anything can happen. ... I think that the character of the mother is a very complicated one, and her relationship with her daughter and her ex-husband is enormously complicated. And it's so exciting. It's so rich. And Lena Olin is so brilliant. She's really brilliant." Alias will air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

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