Xenia citizen

Love is in the air whenever Xev is around. Ever since her startling debut in LEXX's second season episode, Lyekka, the indomitable half-cluster lizard, half-love slave has captured the hearts of practically every male she's encountered - be he humanoid, mechanoid or insectoid. And in a real coup for the cult SF show, the character has proven equally beguiling to the show's viewers, who have happily accepted German actress Xenia Seeberg as LEXX's new leading lady.

Now that Seeberg is firmly entrenched in the Dark Zone, the only things that are changing in LEXX's third season are the show s format and tone. The new 13-part series, which is currently receiving its world premiere an the UK's Sci-Fi Channel, eschews stand-alone episodic adventures in favour of a dramatic ongoing storyline set on two mysterious planets known as Fire and Water. It's a radical revamp of the series' concept, but one that Seeberg believes has paid dividends.

"For my taste, it was nice to have this ongoing story," she explains. "When you're dealing with one whole story in every episode, it's very difficult. You have to cut it very short a lot of the time. But with series three, I really liked the idea that you can carry on with things and build up the storyline. There's a lot more time for people to ask themselves what it's all about and where it's actually leading to. And there will be a big surprise at the end of the season that most people might not expect.

"I also like the way that the show is more serious this year. There are comedy elements, but it's not like a total crazy funny story like the first ones [in Season Two]. It's totally changed, which I think is great. "I'm very interested to see how viewers respond to series three," admits Seeberg. "The audience will be the ultimate judge of the series. But I think we did a good job, and we definitely had a good experience making it. I hope they like it. The look of love

Season Three's revamped format is heralded by Xev's stunning new look. After spending 4,000 years in cryogenic stasis, the character inexplicably reawakens without her distinctive red hair, and now bears much more of a resemblance to her blonde counterpart, Xenia Seeberg. The idea for this particular change actually came from Seeberg herself

"I created Xev's look for both this season and the last series," she reveals. "When I joined the show, I wanted to have the red wig to get away from the typical blonde image. I didn't just want to be another cute blonde girl out in Space. I knew that not everyone would like that slightly 'weirdo' look, but I thought that if people liked my performance, they would accept me.

"After that season, when it was decided that so many things would change in series three, we felt that because it was 4,000 years later, Xev's look might as well have changed again. So I said, 'I'd like this look now.' It's my real hair in Season Three, plus added pieces and dreadlocks. I think it's nice for the character."

One of the first characters to be won over by Xev's new look is Prince, the mysterious ruler of Fire. "Prince is a very ambivalent character," says Seeberg of Xev's love interest-turned-enemy. "I think he carries both sides [of good and evil] somehow within his personality.

"When Xev first meets Prince, she cannot make up her mind about him. Her intuition is confused by what he's about. But she'll figure it out later. And I think that's another question viewers will have fun thinking about."

As always, Xev finds herself pursued by shipmate Stanley Tweedle throughout Series Three. When quizzed about rumours that the characters will finally enjoy their first conventional romantic encounter this season, Seeberg bursts into laughter.

"I'm not sure if I would call it that way, she explains. "It's not conventional. We never do anything conventionally on LEXX! "Xev had a love scene with Stanley last year [in Love Grows], when unfortunately our sex organs were mixed up. That's probably as conventional as things will ever get between them." Hot and cold

LEXX's third season began filming on 19 July 1999 at Salter Street Films' Electropolis Studios in Halifax, Canada. Like on most SF small screen productions, the shooting schedule was hectic and the $1 6 million budget extremely tight. But Seeberg is pleased to report that the series' cast and crewmembers thoroughly enjoyed their latest tour of the Dark Zone.

"Towards the end of the second season, we all felt pretty much like a big family," she says. "So it was great to see everyone and work together again. "This year, it actually felt like we worked together even better because the communication was much easier. And maybe I wasn't quite as afraid of them as I was last year. In my first year, I was new to all the circumstances - shooting in English and all that. But this year, I made more suggestions and wasn't as shy!"

After four months' of shooting in Halifax, Lexx headed for Berlin. Germany, and then the visually-striking sand dunes of Namibia, Africa, where filming finally wrapped in mid-December.

"Shooting in Namibia was a great experience," enthuses Seeberg. "I didn't mind the heat. Like Xev, I could deal with the heat better than certain people - like Brian Downey! Brian, like Stanley Tweedle, really didn't like the heat.

"I actually found it a lot harder when we were shooting in Berlin, because it freezing cold there and our costumes were not really made for minus 10 degrees. It even started snowing, and you imagine how I felt with my belly button-showing costume! That wasn't fun in particular.

Xenia Seeberg's long flight into the Dark Zone originally began towards the end of 1997, when LEXX creator/Executive Producer Paul Donovan was forced to recast the role of Zev Bellringer following Eva Habermann's departure from the series. Despite stiff competition from over 500 other actresses (including future-Lyekka, Louise Wischermann), Seeberg won the role after her agent sent Donovan a rough cut of her most recent movie, the offbeat indie comedy Hilda Humphrey.

"I was filming in the Canary Islands for my German series [the Soap Opera Beloved Nurses] when the original audition came up, so I couldn't do it," she recalls. "After watching my movie, Paul Donovan called me just before Christmas '97, and we agreed to meet in early January in the airport at New York.

"Paul sent me two tapes - the first and third LEXX movies - to look at, I told him my opinion about them when we met. What I liked about them was the sense of humour, which reminded me of Monty Python. But I felt they could pick up the pace a little bit and could be a little more twisted. I also told Paul how I would like to change the character. And he actually agreed with most things I said. So that was my audition and after half an hour, he just went, 'Okay Xenia Seeberg - I want you to play this character.'

"The German producers were not so convinced at first," admits Seeberg. "I had to convince them in a final audition where they had invited three other girls.

FROM ZEV TO XEV

From her very first day of filming back in April 1998, Seeberg was well aware that she risked alienating LEXX's regular audience by replacing the series' original Season One leading lady. Fortunately, she managed to overcome all the potential pitfalls by making the newly-christened Xev an extremely different character from Habermann's Zev.

"When you take a part that someone else has been doing, you should never copy what happened before," she explains. "I wanted to play things very differently, and everyone agreed on that. So I made sure that Xev didn't look anything like Eva. I also wanted to give her a larger range of emotions, and tried to get more humour out of the character. "

It's a testament to Seeberg's work in LEXX that the show's recent American premiere commenced with a series of specially selected Xev-showcases. Reviewing her 30 hours of LEXX, Seeberg points to a pair of second season instalments as obvious highlights. "I think the musical [Brigadoom] is still my very favourite, Maybe that's just because I love singing, but for me that was the most special one. The other one I really liked was Love Grows, when I was a male. That was interesting.

"It's difficult to Choose any of the new season, because they all carry on together and I haven't seen them all yet. But those episodes were a lot of fun. " In between shooting the second and third seasons of LEXX, Seeberg expanded her list of Sci-Fi credits by guest-starring in a late first season episode of Total Recall 2070 entitled Assessment. As befits the show's title, her time on the series proved extremely memorable.

"I enjoyed working on Total Recall a lot," she explains. "That was great. It was a very, very expensive production. 'You could feel that when you were shooting. It was really great to work with those actors; were all very professional, and they were they very serious. Their whole way of working was very different from LEXX. We have a lot of fun on LEXX. We take our work seriously, but the atmosphere on set is very light.

By the time the Sci-Fi Channel completes its run of LEXX's third season in May, Salter Street Films is expected to have announced the future of its fledgling SF franchise. If the series has been a big enough ratings-winner an both sides of the Atlantic (and all the early signs are good), then Paul Donovan will begin work on a forth and probably final season of Lexx. While Seeberg refuses to speculate on whether a fourth season will be produced, she is happy to confirm her commitment to continuing the role of Xev. "I certainly wouldn't mind doing a fourth season," she states. "For me, it's only a third season anyway, and all good things come in three, right?

"I do know what the LEXX makers have in mind for a fourth season. And it makes total sense to me; I like those ideas. If it does happen, I would actually love to start working on the creative side as well, perhaps adding something to the writing or at least giving some ideas." With or without a fourth season, nothing will diminish Xenia Seeberg's gratitude or fond memories for her time aboard the LEXX. Working on the series has not only been an enjoyable and rewarding experience, but also seems destined to result in further international TV and even film projects for the former soap star and pop singer. "I think the best thing about LEXX is that it's so very different from anything I've done before," she declares. "It's given me a wonderful opportunity to learn, and such a wide range of emotions and situations to play. Xev is certainly not as one-dimensional as most characters you play on TV series and regular movies! She's totally unique, and she's always been very challenging to play. I really love having that opportunity."



David Bassom