Interview with “Dollhouse” creator Joss Whedon

With the second season premier of FOX's Dollhouse last week (airing Fridays at 9:00 p.m. EST) we got a chance to sit down with the series' creator Joss Whedon. Best known as the creator and head writer of the well-known television programs Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly, we caught up with Joss to discuss the new season of Dollhouse and his thoughts on how the series is progressing.

Gamesville:  There were a lot of people who were worried that you might be cancelled after your first season. What do you think it was that convinced FOX to sign you on for another season?

Joss: I think it’s the nature of the business and the nature of the fan base. The nature of the fan base is they’re in it for the long haul, and they’re nurturing, and they’re intense about it and they will see it through. They will stick with it and that means years after it’s cancelled. Firefly still sells, Buffy still sells, and that’s also a business thing for the studio. They’re in it for the long haul because they know the long haul is how my work pays off. I don’t make hit shows. I make shows that stick around, that people come to long after they would have stopped generating revenue in the old system.

With the advent of DVD and the eventual monetization of Online, there’s a market there that exists beyond your Nielsen numbers, and the fans showing up and DVRing, and buying a DVD, and proving on all my other projects that they don’t do these things lightly, that it runs deep in them, means that the base doesn’t have to be as broad for the studio to think it’s worth it to try and eke out another season.

Could you talk about how you approached the idea of new viewers following the show?

We try and make the premise clear enough so that if you haven’t been watching it, you don’t have to do a huge amount of math, especially in the first episode of the season. There’s a lot of exposition in the first pilot and in the first episode of this season to help that. But at the end of the day, you do have to go, 'Well, if they don’t get the premise,' and we’ve even rejiggered the opening credits to make it clearer, than they’ll either become involved in these peoples’ stories or they won’t. You have to move slow enough so people can grab a hold and jump on with you, but you have to keep moving.

[Dollhouse star] Eliza Dushku had a hand in developing her character for this role. How has she helped shape who Echo has become and will become?

Eliza has specific things she’s interested in, specific things she feels comfortable with. Sometimes I like to go to that place because I know that she can knock it out of the park and sometimes I like to go in the opposite direction to take her out of her comfort zone because that’s the best thing you can do with an actor.

The fact is she shapes it because she is very specific as a person. She’s very specific in the way she presents and even though there are many different aspects to that, the people don’t usually get to see how funny she can be, how elegant. It was a conversation about all of the different things she was supposed to be, or had been, or was trying to be, or trying to get away from that led to the creation of the show.

How will Echo come in to her own this season?

Basically, through force of will. She had all those personalities dumped into her at once and as we pick up we’re going to find out that that’s starting to affect her. Rather than be at sea in between engagements, she’s much more directed and driven, and even in her doll state is growing, learning and starting to try to access these personalities to see what they can help her with. She has a mission that she understands now, which is to get back to her personality and get everybody back to theirs.

Summer Glau is joining the cast this season. What was that casting decision like and what’s in store for her character?

The casting of Summer was based on the knowledge that Summer existed and the character was created with the hopes that she would play it, which she is right on stage right now doing. She’s playing the programmer of another Dollhouse. It’s a somewhat eccentric part but hopefully different than what we’ve seen her do before. The most useful part of that is that the writers work twice as hard to make sure that the character really pops and pays off because they know that it’s going to be played by somebody extraordinary.

Can you talk a little bit about the relationships that are coming up this season – what it’s going to be like with Echo and Paul, and even among the dolls this year?

Victor and Sierra just can’t keep their hands off each other, and they’re like monkeys and it’s something that we’re going to be treating, they’re going to be seeing through for a while. It makes some people very uncomfortable and sometimes it’s just extremely sweet. Sometimes it’s just funny.

But Echo is very much building herself and she sees it as an indication that they’re ready to be pushed to a level like hers. She’s looking for allies and Paul is the first person she’s going to turn to for that. But then a lot of the season is going to be her attempt to put together some kind of team, even though she has trouble articulating it at first. She’s looking for the sense of family that I think the audience was looking for last season. So we’re going to be seeing who’s on her side and who, not so much.

Dollhouse airs Fridays, at 9:00 p.m. Eastern/Pacific Time on FOX.