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Museum of Television & Radio

March 3, 2004

The 21st Annual William S. Paley Television Festival

Creating Characters: J.J. Abrams and "Sydney Bristow" & "Felicity Porter"

SPOILERS!

Thanks to Terri from L.A. for the following recap!

Hello, I just spent two hours listening to JJ Abrams and Jennifer Garner speak about Alias's character development at the William S. Paley Festival. JJ spoke about Alias's various challenges and how the show came to be. When given the opportunity to ask questions, I asked JJ this: "JJ, I am a big Alias fan and have watched all episodes many times. Season 1 and Season 2 had a very specific pacing, timing and character arcs. Season 3 has had a different pace and substantially different character arcs. We all know that you have a vision as to where Alias is going, can you share with us what your thoughts were as you created the Season 3 plot lines and characters arcs?"

JJ stopped and thought for a moment and said this, "Season 3 is very similar to a big ship, it is very difficult to turn it and go a different direction once it is headed in a certain way. The relationship between Sydney and Michael was good and nice at the end of Season 2 there needed to be some conflict, so they inserted Melissa George. She was destined to be "evil" from the beginning. How could she be anything else? Vaughn is at the lowest point that he has ever been. We have some very big things planned for Vaughn as to where we are going to take him. Does anyone think it is unusual that Vaughn is in exactly the same position that Jack was in with Irina? I know some people may not like what we are doing or have done but we have plans for Vaughn and we hope everyone will like it."

When he answered my question with the above answer, Jennifer Garner turned and smiled because as she said, "She does not know what is going to happen and did not know about the plans. Also Jennifer Garner said that she was currently working on episode 18 and as of this time she was still not sure if she was Sloane's daughter or not. So that plot line has not been resolved through episode 18. JJ also said that he is continuing to hope and work toward getting Lena Olin to return because her part in the series is so crucial.


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