Syfy Hit “Warehouse 13” Returns

Much like the secrecy that surrounds their fictional title location, producers of Syfy‘s megahit series Warehouse 13 (the most successful show in the network’s history) are keeping tight wraps on what will transpire in the show’s upcoming second season. Even the cast is kept in the dark in some cases.

“They don’t want us to really talk about what’s going on in the show,” laughs Joanne Kelly, who plays Secret-Service-agent-turned-Warehouse-guardian Myka Bering. “They don’t tell me. I’m not privy. I get the scripts like a week before [we shoot].”

Nonetheless, Kelly is excited for Season 2, and fans should be as well, based on some of the info that has come out and what Kelly is able to talk about. Guest stars this season are set to include Firefly alums Jewel Staite and Sean Maher; Tia Carrere and Paula Garces (as potential love interests for Eddie McClintock’s character, Pete); and the Bionic Woman herself, Lindsay Wagner. Wrestler Cody Rhodes has also been confirmed in a guest-starring role as Myka’s unrequited high-school love interest.

And, as if that’s not enough — “Roger’s back, yay!” Kelly exclaims, referring to Roger Rees, who plays the sinister MacPherson, who seemingly blew Artie (Saul Rubinek) to smithereens in the Season 1 cliffhanger finale. “MacPherson is a part of Season 2 … [and] there are new villains introduced. Our new villain is quite the actor, and we’re having so much fun.”

On the potential for a developing romantic relationship between Pete and Myka, Kelly offers, “There’s always tension, and I think there always will be tension. I think what both Eddie and I and the writers are concerned with at this point is just developing a relationship. Before anything like that happens, I think you want to see these two people really, really get to know each other. So we’re really fleshing that out.”

Kelly also confirms that there will be a crossover episode with Syfy sister show Eureka, though she is not personally involved with that one. “[This season] is going to blow everyone’s mind, I think. … [W]e found our legs last year, found out through trial and error what worked and what didn’t.”

Some of the mind-blowing elements are likely to come from revelations about the Warehouse, which “is almost a character in itself” according to Kelly, and its previous 12 incarnations, which date back to Alexander the Great. “We’re really fleshing out the idea of the earlier Warehouses. … [And] there’s always cool new artifacts. There’s some really cool stuff that happens.”

For Kelly, stepping onto the Warehouse set as an actor is almost as impressive as how it looks to viewers onscreen.

“It is super-cool,” she says. “It’s not infinite like onscreen, but it’s pretty neat. The thing about our show, the whole ‘steampunk’ idea, it’s just so cool, it really is. It’s like being a kid, like everything you see you want to play with. And our show designer is just a genius as far as I’m concerned. I walk in to different sets and my mouth is down to my knees. I’m just blown away by what he does. He constantly and consistently outdoes himself.”

When asked what artifact she would love to encounter on the series if she had creative control, Kelly says, “My favorite artifact that has not been explored that I would like would be Shakespeare’s quill. I’m a bit of a Shakespeare nut, and if I could meet one person I think it would be Shakespeare. That’s how I started; I’ve done like seven or eight [plays] now. I love it. It’s beautiful.”

Kelly is pleased with the incredible fan reaction to Warehouse 13, and met some of her followers at a few fan conventions last year.

“It was really great to have that one-on-one time with the fans,” she says, “and meet people that really, truly care about the show. It was really interesting to talk to people who almost knew the show as well as I did. It was really funny. I met so many nice people. That world is a very interesting world. I had a lot of fun. There was this one lady who kept saying over and over that I sounded exactly like I did on TV. And I explained that it was me talking on television. Everybody has their thing that they get really excited about, so I try to remember that. I’m a super fan of Brett Favre, so if I saw him I’d do the same thing! So everyone kind of has their deal.”

Filming the series in Canada is sort of a Catch-22 for Kelly. She has a lot of friends there, but “I’m so busy I don’t really get to see anyone, to tell you the truth. Everybody in my life is sad when the show is filming. They probably won’t hear from me for six months until it’s done.”

Those folks, and everyone else, can see the results of that hard work when Season 2 of Warehouse 13 airs Tuesdays on Syfy beginning July 6.