Joshua Jackson returns to Fringe very soon, and the return of his character, Peter, is bound to shake things up a bit for the show.
While on our Vancouver press trip, we spoke to Anna Torv (Olivia/”Bolivia”) about the change in dynamic, and what it means for the rest of Fringe Season 4.
Beware of spoilers!
“You see a man come back to a life of people that he knew, but they don’t know him, essentially,” Torv teases. “He’s a stranger to everyone – except he knows a lot of stuff,” she says. And what does this mean for any romance between Olivia and Peter? “I don’t know what they’re going to do with that, but certainly in this timeline, Olivia doesn’t know who he is and in Peter’s timeline, it took a long time for them to get together, so I don’t know,” she exclaims.
With there seeming to have never been a Peter, that would mean that the child born last year… wasn’t. Is this a story that Torv would like to revisit? “Only because I really love kids,” she laughs. “And working with a cute, little kid would be quite a lovely distraction. But yeah, it’s not possible, if they’ve never met. It ain’t possible! Unless we end up going back to the other timeline, which may not happen. I’m not sure. Yeah, little Henry is no more.”
The multiple-world nature of Fringe allows Torv to play two very distinctive characters – Olivia and “Bolivia.” Does Torv have a preference? “It’s funny, because I guess it depends on what the story is that we’re telling in that particular episode,” she says. [We should point out that she’s decked out as “Bolivia” when doing this interview] “You’re always more engaged when you’re doing stuff that’s connected to stuff you’ve set up or connected to relationships with people that you’ve been working with. But of course, I love Olivia,” she says.
For Torv, playing “Bolivia” is still kind of fresh because she does not get to play the role very often. “It’s just like a lovely break and a change of pace,” she says. “I was saying to the others just before too, in the alternate universe, Lincoln is in charge of the Fringe team, and so he kind of carries the weight of the stuff that Olivia has to carry on this side, which is very serious, very straight, very responsible and that’s tiring. Whereas in the alternate universe, because it’s Lincoln, I can just kind of come in and do my thing, so it’s easier.
And speaking of Lincoln, is there a chance for a romance between Olivia and Lincoln, in any universe? “I’m not sure,” she says. “They’re just teasing that at the moment, so I’m not sure. I think that’s fun though, to play. And I think if we get to see more of the other two too, I think that would be like a fun, little kind of foursome as well. But Bolivia’s got a boyfriend. I think that was referenced in episode two, when she was like, ‘I’m glad Frank likes the red,’ so she’s still got a boyfriend.”
As for other Olivia interactions, Torv tells us there is a “lovely” episode coming up that involves her with John Noble’s Walter. “I’s lovely, because I don’t ever really get to do that much with John. We have a couple of really lovely scenes between this Walter and this Olivia,” she teases.
Fringe airs Fridays at 9PM on FOX with a new episode airing tonight! See a gallery of images from the episode!
Disclaimer: Travel accommodations for our Fringe set visit were provided by Warner Bros. Television.
