Ronald D. Moore Interview
By: Adam B. Vary
Date: March 23rd, 2007
Source: Entertainment Weekly.com
Note: This is a snippet of an interview with RONALD D. MOORE where he mentions AARON DOUGLAS / CHIEF TYROL. To read the full interview, click HERE.
When did you break it to the actors that they were going to be Cylons?
Pretty late in the game. Not literally when we shot it, but pretty late in the season.
I’m thinking especially of Michael Hogan, who plays Colonel Tigh – he was, for me, the most surprising choice, and certainly the most ironic.
Michael’s very low-key. Michael went [nonchalantly] ”Wow. Okay. Very shocking. Shocking stuff.” [Chuckles] He talked about it a little bit, wanted to understand it, but he liked it from the get-go and was very, very supportive of it. They all were pretty intrigued by it. I think Aaron [Douglas, who plays Chief Galen Tyrol] was the most hesitant. ”Are you sure? I want to make sure we’re not losing something.” I had to talk with Aaron a little bit longer than the others.
It’s interesting that Aaron was the one who was the most hesitant, because his character has spent the most time on the series wrestling with the idea that he actually is a Cylon.
His chief objection — no pun intended — was that he’s the common man in a lot of ways, the blue-collar guy, the salt-of-the-Earth character. And he was concerned that we would turn him into a master villain or something. I said, ”No, no, no, you are still going to be Tyrol.” He doesn’t even know why he’s a Cylon, or what it means. It’s a process of discovery for him, and trying to figure out what it means for him as a character. As it is for all four of them.