The DC TV Universe expanded in a major way last year with the arrival of SYFY’s Krypton, telling the story of the Man of Steel’s grandfather Seg-El (Cameron Cuffe) and the larger mythology of Superman’s homeworld. Set 200 years before the Man of Tomorrow’s existence, Krypton takes fans into a world that has barely been explored in previous Superman media. One of Krypton’s core aspects is the time travel element that the DC character Adam Strange (Shaun Sipos) brings in as he was set on one of the largest missions of all time: saving Superman.
Throughout the first season, Adam helped Seg in trying to stop the villainous Brainiac (Blake Ritson) while also facing several other obstacles. As Krypton Season 1 ended with massive bangs, Season 2 takes things to the next level and without revealing too much, Adam’s journey to becoming a hero is one of the key plots. DC TV Podcasts recently had the pleasure of chatting with Adam Strange himself as Sipos teases what fans can expect this season of Krypton.
DC TV Podcasts’ Andy Behbakht: I’ve seen the first half of the season. It looks amazing. Congrats on what looks to be another great season of Krypton. Just to start, take me through the first couple of days getting back to the show. Were you prepared for what the writers had prepared you guys for the second season?
Shaun Sipos: I think we were prepared as we could be. You know, you’re left wondering, which is a good place to be in, when you’re in capable hands, such as we were. So, I think we’ve prepared physically and prepared mentally for the journey they were taking us on. But then, at that point, you’re flying by the seat of your pants.
Andy: It only gets higher and higher for me each episode. One thing I’ve loved so far in the second half is Adam’s friendship with Seg, which is a delight to watch. Their reunion was just genuinely sweet. How deeper does it go this season? Now that they spent a whole season – a whole year – getting to know each other and getting to know what they’re facing. What can you tease about it in Season 2?
Shaun: You know, we go deeper into the relationship with Adam and Seg. Their bond strengthens and we really get to see that they are real partners and they operate better together. They seem to be kind of a yin and yang for one another. To be honest, as an actor, every day I look forward to doing scenes with Cam [Cameron Cuffe]. We just play so well off one another and what the writers have given Seg and Adam is brilliant. It’s fun. There is comedy in there. There are heartfelt situations. There’s drama. I just think it’s fantastic television.
Photo Credit: Steffan Hill/SYFYAndy: Absolutely. You guys definitely have great chemistry and it’s something we dealt with in the first season. Do you think Adam is at a point where he probably has to be a little more open now with Seg because the future has changed? Will Seg learn more about where Adam is from?
Shaun: The audience learns more, later in the season. Yes, Seg gets snippets from Adam, but they have massive problems in front of them. They have Zod, Doomsday, and then they have Lobo [Emmett J. Scanlan]. So, they have these huge, HUGE obstacles in front of them in order to save Krypton and to set things right. I don’t know about journeying into Adam’s past if they have time for that. But, Adam does get into it later in the season, so we do learn a little bit more about his past later in the season. Just like we don’t really go into Seg’s past either because we’re dealing with such great obstacles in front of us that we don’t have time to look in the rearview.
Andy: That’s a fair point. On the subject of Lobo (played by Emmett J. Scanlan), who I cannot imagine what that is like filming with him for those episodes, tell me a little bit about working with him and what he brings into the role of Lobo?
Shaun: You know, Emmett is a wild son of a bitch. Can I say that?
Andy: That’s fine by me.
Shaun: He’s a terrific actor. Also, he fits into the cast so well. He’s incredibly giving. He’s spontaneous and keeps you on your toes. And, the way that they’ve written Lobo is such a wild card as well. Himself and Lobo kind of fit one another in such a way that it creates for compelling scenes. Compelling characters. It’s just a hell of a lot of fun working with him.
Photo Credit: Steffan Hill/SYFY)Andy: I can’t wait to see what he brings to the rest of the season. Something that I’ve been in love with when it comes to the show is the way you guys tell time travel and the fact that you guys have really – and I mean this in a positive way – you’ve really wrecked the DC Universe with the limbo which is now Superman. Let’s just assume there will be a way to restore whatever timeline there was, but is it fair to say that even though the timeline will maybe be saved, that there will be some consequences that will still change the present DC universe that Adam is from?
Shaun: Yes, I think so. I think that’s a fair statement. Things will change. That’s a beautiful thing because it leads the audience not knowing. They can’t pick up a comic book and go ‘this is what happens here.’ They’re going to have to go ‘I wonder what the hell is coming.’ Here’s the great thing – they know the characters, but they don’t know the situations that are to come because we’ve branched off and because of the time travel, we’ve created a whole new timeline. So nothing is for certain. Superman could never come back, which would be terrible. You know, Earth could be completely destroyed, and Adam could be the last son of Earth. We’ll find out.
Andy: I agree with what you’re saying on the fact that these characters have existed for however long they’ve existed, the fact that you guys are taking those steps of telling your own story, not adapting from anything that’s come before. As a viewer, I really appreciate that. I know that at WonderCon and San Diego Comic-Con last year, I bugged you with this question and I’m going to do it again because I hope that it’s coming. Are we closer to seeing Adam in his classic suit?
Shaun: We are. We do get closer. That’s all I can tell you. We’re getting closer.
Andy: So, is it beyond concept art stage or do you have an idea of where it would go in this version?
Shaun: Yeah, I think that by the end of this season, you’ll be happy. It’s kind of like Iron Man in a sense of, you know, you couldn’t just put Robert Downey Jr. in the Iron Man suit. You had to see how it came to be. So, in that sense, that’s what’s happening with Adam. You’re going to get to see how this is coming to its birth.
Photo Credit: DCAndy: It’s kind of a journey of having to earn it.
Shaun: Journey. Yes. If we just gave that, then it’s not earned. It’s good to want a little bit. You can’t always give something. We get to go on that journey and see the conception of his suit and jetpack. That’s where we get to go. We get to see the conception and the birth of him becoming a hero because he becomes a hero. He becomes a massive hero. We’re getting to see him. The first season we got to see his insecurities and shortcomings and everything else. Season 2 we’re getting to see some of that but coming and stepping into becoming this hero. And, God-willing, in Season 3 we’re going to get further into that where he’s really starting to fill these hero boots and ripping around the with a jet-pack and getting his ray gun and traveling around. That would be pretty cool as well and I think people would be excited about it.
And, it just expands the show and universe even more. So, we’re getting to see – that’s the whole exciting thing is that we know the legend of Superman. We know who Adam Strange is, but what we don’t know is where they came from. We don’t know how they became who they became. With Superman, we get to see the seed/tree he came from, which is Seg. So we see the growth of Seg and you go ‘Oh that’s why he’s like that.’ The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. In a lot of respect, I think that Seg is stronger than Superman because he doesn’t have super strength yet. I put yet in parenthesis. Superman has his strength and Seg does. That takes a lot more will and power within and belief to do the things that he’s doing without the backup of his outward strength.
Andy: I think that’s why people love the show so much because what it means to be an El without the cape.
Shaun: That’s right. That’s right. But, I also think – and I’m putting it out there because I think it’d be pretty rad – if Seg and Adam traveled somewhere there was a yellow sun. Just going to put that out there. That would be pretty awesome and I think people would be pretty excited.
Andy: Seeing Cameron Cuffe flying around and using heat vision, I think people would be up for that. I know I would.
Shaun: Yeah, he’s a heck of a person to watch. You know, decent on the eyes.
Photo Credit: Steffan Hill/SYFY)Andy: Since you talked about Adam’s hero journey for the season: as we’re getting deeper into his personal mythology because you talked about Rann, we got teases of Alanna last season. Might we see more of them? More of them in the flesh, like a location? Actual Rann.
Shaun: What can I say to that? I don’t know if I can say anything regards to that.
Andy: Let me rephrase the question: is it more than what we got last year?
Shaun: Yeah. Yes. It’s more than last year. Definitely.
Andy: I know you guys wrapped a long time ago. So, without giving too much away, what is the one episode that not just fans of the show, but of Adam Strange should be looking out for that was a personal favorite for you?
Shaun: I’m going to say episode 7 to 10. It’s such a generalization because any season, really, culminates and that’s the climax of the season. So, for all intent purposes, it should be the most exciting part of the show, right? You watch, for example, Game of Thrones and you go ‘oh my God, episode 5 is unbelievable’ and it wraps up in episode 6. So for ours, and with Adam’s journey, let me just say, something very dramatic happens and as with things that are, very dramatic and hard, is through great hardship that is the birthplace – how do I put this? The necessity is the mother of all creations and this show takes us to a place of destruction where the only option out is extreme creativity. So, that’s where the birth of many of the greatest things for Adam and for Seg takes place. That’s where you learn who they are.
Andy: That is a lot. I’m excited about that. Last season, you got to interact mostly with Seg but this season, you got to interact with more of the cast members. Can you tell us more about that as we go into Season 2?
Shaun: I don’t think it’s a surprise that Nyssa (Wallis Day) is now on our side – the good guy side. That’s interesting. Still, she’s still struggling with her old habits and she has a child now. I think any mother can agree that the child is the most important thing to a mother. So, that will influence her decisions greatly. Lyta (Georgina Campbell) is on her own path seemingly into the dark side. That now is a conflict. I don’t know if Adam and Lyta have really gotten along. And, Adam and Nyssa kind of know each other but you know. I think the main storylines are Adam and Seg and Lobo and Brainiac and try to defeat Zod (Colin Salmon). Not that Lobo and Brainiac are trying to defeat Zod. Then you have Nyssa and Val (Ian McElhinney) and Kem (Rasmus Hardiker) and Dev (Aaron Pierre) and Jayna (Ann Ogbomo) on their journey, also trying to defeat Zod. And, at a point in the season, as it should be, it all intersects. It culminates.
“KRYPTON Season 2 Synopsis: What if Superman never existed? Set two generations before the destruction of Superman’s home planet, “Krypton” follows Seg-El (Cameron Cuffe), the legendary Man of Steel’s grandfather, as a young man who fights to save his home planet from destruction. Season 2 brings us back to a changed Kandor, locked in a battle over its freedom and its future. General Dru-Zod (Colin Salmon) is now in control. He’s on a ruthless mission to rebuild Krypton according to his ideals and to secure its future by conquering the universe. Faced with a bleak outlook, our hero, Seg-El, attempts to unite a dispersed group of resisters in an effort to defeat Zod and restore hope to their beloved planet. Their chance at redemption is threatened however, by their opposing tactics, shifting alliances and conflicting moral boundaries – forcing each of them to individually determine how far they’re willing to go in pursuit of a better tomorrow.”
Krypton Season 2 debuts this Wednesday, June 12, at 10/9c on SYFY. Be sure to check out Krypton Podcast with Michele and Lacy every week by subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, Google Play, and iHeartRadio as well as follow the Krypton Podcast on Facebook and Twitter!