Last week, I had the pleasure of touring the set of Syfy's new series Helix. The upside was that it was a pretty awesome experience. The downside is that series creator Ronald D. Moore wasn't there. He's had his hands full lately, what with Helix for Syfy and Outlander for Starz, the latter of which just went into production over in Scotland. But Syfy passed along this video, which features Moore talking about the premise for Helix.
As Moore explains in the video, Helix centers on a team of CDC scientists who travel to a lab in the Arctic to investigate a potential virus outbreak. And that's just the beginning of this mystery, as the team soon discovers that things aren't entirely as they seem. I had the chance to travel to Montreal last week, where the series is in production, and one thing seemed evident throughout the duration of this tour. There's a mystery brewing here, and a big part of the series will involve the scientists trying to unravel it There were numerous times when co-executive producer Cameron Porsandeh and director/executive producer Brad Turner hinted as much, including when they showed us these props. Arm pieces and a skeleton in a body bag.
I asked about the person in the body bag and was told that he or she was a scientist, and that figuring out what happened to him or her was one of the things these doctors are working on.
Helix stars Billy Campbell as Dr. Alan Farragut, one of the scientists who visits the facility when the distress call is made. The facility actually belongs to Dr. Hiroshi Hatake (Hiroyuki Sanada), and while we saw some pretty cool locations on this set, Hatake's office was probably my favorite. It seemed like a mix of office, laboratory and sanctuary, with a green screen behind his window, indicating that he's got his own view… and it's probably a snowy one.
Here's a look at one of the labs…
And a peek at the living quarters...
And then, of course, there's this guy. The monkey was among the props, and given pretty much any virus-related movie I've seen that involved a monkey, not to mention the look on his face, I'm going to guess that this guy isn't on the series for comic relief.
These are just a few photos from my visit to the Helix set. Read the full report, including comments from the cast and Porsandeh about the series, over at Giant Freakin Robot and keep an eye out for Helix, which is expected to premiere on Syfy next year.
