Claire Rankin, who portrayed Atlantis’s resident psychologist, joins Dial the Gate to share her experience on the show and discuss her career in this special LIVE episode!

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TRANSCRIPT
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David Read:
Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 319 of Dial the Gate: The Stargate Oral History Project. My name is David Read. I really appreciate you tuning in for this episode. Claire Rankin, who played Dr. Kate Heightmeyer on Stargate Atlantis, is joining us for this episode. This is a live chat, or a live stream rather, so if you are in the YouTube Chat, my moderators are there ready to take your questions for Claire. And it might help if I actually open that document up. Hello, Claire Rankin. Welcome to Dial the Gate. It is a pleasure to have you. How are you doing?

Claire Rankin:
To you again. It’s been a long time.

David Read:
It’s been a long time. Almost two decades.

Claire Rankin:
Don’t say it.

David Read:
No, no. Two decades.

Claire Rankin:
I think so, 2008 maybe?

David Read:
That sounds about right.

Claire Rankin:
Maybe. Is that right? That’s a long time to talk.

David Read:
Can you believe that this thing still has legs and that people are talking about the show even all these years later, Claire? Does that compute, or is it–

Claire Rankin:
I can. There’s something iconic about it, the show itself obviously it comes from good stock, from the original Stargate. But I just think that sci-fi fans are the best fans in the world, and when they find something they love, and when they find a world that they love, and people and aliens that inhabit it, they hold on. And I think there’s something really beautiful about the fact that these stories are so universal and they resonate from generation to generation. I like to think it’s something. Obviously, I mean, we still love Star Trek, original Star Trek is still incredible, and people are still finding it. So, I think that people hopefully will keep finding Atlantis.

David Read:
I think it’s a little spooky in a number of cases that a lot of this vintage sci-fi content is more relevant now than when it came out, as technology in particular becomes more and more integrated into our lives.

Claire Rankin:
That’s incredible.

David Read:
It’s amazing and scary, I think, in equal measure. If you’re really looking at it critically.

Claire Rankin:
I think that’s true. I think that’s what’s interesting is that things we could barely have comprehended even 20 years ago are coming at us so quickly, so fast, in our AI world and all of that stuff. But I also think it’s really interesting politically, that sometimes the warring factions in these alien worlds and stuff strangely can actually speak to what’s actually happening in the world right now too.

David Read:
On a political level–

Claire Rankin:
On a political level, yeah.

David Read:
On a number of different levels, I think it goes back to what you said “That they’re really getting at something underneath our human experience to continue to remain evergreen,” as Brad Wright’s agent always put it.

Claire Rankin:
Is that his…? I like that. That’s great, that’s good. It’s true.

David Read:
It’s something for all seasons and something for every generation.

Claire Rankin:
I think that’s really truthful. It’s interesting, I love it.

David Read:
When did you know that you wanted to pursue acting? How old were you when you got the bug? When you were like, “Oh my god, this is it. This is my thing.”

Claire Rankin:
There was a few different incarnations of things that I did. I knew I wanted to be on stage the first time I saw a show at the Charlottetown Festival, which was a big summer festival musical company that was in my hometown where I grew up. And my parents would take my sister and I to see shows. So, I knew the first time I saw this show called Les Feux Follets, which was this incredible… It was a very multicultural montage show of all of the settlers of Canada, all the different indigenous groups, and different people who came to make Canada what it is. And there was something really beautiful about that show, and I remember thinking that was something I wanted to be a part of. So, that was.. I was probably 9 or 10. But I was in the musical theater world for a bit in my teens, and then I moved into the Shakespearean world at the Stratford Festival at the end of my teens, so then I spent a number of years with the Stratford Shakespearean Company before I ever– So, I didn’t even get on screen until I was in my twenties, but yeah.

David Read:
What was it like negotiating that language that in so many cases is just as–

Claire Rankin:
I think it helps when you’re doing sci-fi.

David Read:
‘Cause it’s just as foreign in some cases…

Claire Rankin:
I think sci-fi is very Shakespearean.

David Read:
As the technobabble. The cadence, the–

Claire Rankin:
The Patrick Stewarts of the world would probably tell you so. I’m working with Malcolm McDowell these days on a television series, and he would tell you the same thing. I think what’s very interesting is that the language of Shakespeare, the heightened emotions, the quality of the language. I think there’s something about it that’s sci-fi is very Shakespearean in that way, and I think you probably see a lot of Shakespearean actors in sci-fi. I think we have actually along the way.

David Read:
For sure. You brought up Malcolm McDowell. I was gonna bring up Son of a Critch. Can you give us the elevator pitch for this show?

Claire Rankin:
Son of a Critch is Derry Girls meets The Wonder Years meets The Goldbergs meets Young Sheldon, perhaps. 1980s Newfoundland, coming-of-age story, teenage boy and his family, who wants to be a performer, and who’s surrounded by an insane cast of characters. That’s pretty much it. And it’s a… It has a feel of all of those shows sort of tied together. There’s the political element, like Derry Girls, where we really talk about what was happening in Newfoundland in the 1980s, the end of the cod fishery, different things that were happening there politically. And then it has that kind of beautiful nostalgic quality of a grown man looking back on his childhood and the family that he grew up with. And then all the trials and tribulations of being a teenager that everybody relates to. And so, that’s timeless in itself with… plus really big 1980s hair. I have really big hair sometimes. That’s it.

David Read:
All right. Another season’s been greenlit?

Claire Rankin:
It looks very promising, so I hope so. We’ll be going into Season Five. We’re just waiting to see when the final stats are. But it looks really good.

David Read:
When should you know?

Claire Rankin:
Any day now.

David Read:
All right. Best of luck to that. That’s terrific.

Claire Rankin:
Thank you.

David Read:
You guys film in Toronto.

Claire Rankin:
No, it films in Newfoundland.

David Read:
It does?

Claire Rankin:
Yeah. We all go to Newfoundland. So, Malcolm McDowell comes from California. Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, who is our young male lead, he comes from the UK. And then there are a number of us who come from Toronto, and then a ton of local actors, amazing actors, in Newfoundland ’cause that place is rich in comedy and music. And so, we try to use as many people there as we possibly can who will come and work with us.

David Read:
Absolutely. Anne Marie Loder Delois is the only one I can think of off the top of my head, but-

Claire Rankin:
True Newfoundlander?

David Read:
Yeah, I’m absolutely a lover.

Claire Rankin:
There’s all of the CODCO people. And there’s the Rick Mercers of the world. There’s This Hour and 22 Minutes with all of those kinds of people. There’s a huge history of comedy there. And also an unbelievable history of music. And so, we try to get as many music performances in there too as we can.

David Read:
Take me back to Atlantis. We are near the end of Season One of this series. When did Stargate come into your periphery and into focus for you? Does it have something to do with Rachel? What’s the story there?

Claire Rankin:
Yeah, it does. The funny thing about that show is I was with Rachel when she tested to play Teyla. So, Rachel and I are best friends, and have remained so for the last… God, we’ve been friends now for 30 years or something. It’s crazy. But we were roommates at the time in Los Angeles auditioning for all kinds of bits and pieces and things, and she got a test deal for that role. So, I went with her. We would go with each other to these big test situations if we could for moral support and just to have somebody there with you. So, I was sitting in the waiting room with her when she was going in for that final test for that show. So, the show was in my life from the very get-go when she got it, and it was… we were beyond thrilled. There was a lot of celebrating that night when she booked that show. We were just… couldn’t believe it. It was incredible. So, then, yeah.

David Read:
So, were you still rooming with her at the time?

Claire Rankin:
We were living together at the time, yeah.

David Read:
So, you were losing a roommate. She was heading back north.

Claire Rankin:
She was heading to Vancouver to do a show. And it was really something else. It was amazing. But yeah, it was so great and I was loving every minute of it, and I would just start… Then eventually guest stars were starting to come up, and so I’d hulk myself down to behind the audition office, and I’d be like, “Rachel, here I go again. I’m gonna try to audition for this part and see if anything comes of it. Here we go.”

David Read:
Oh, so Kate was not your first attempt?

Claire Rankin:
That’s a really good question. I’m not exactly sure whether it was my first attempt for that show or– It certainly wasn’t my first attempt for Stargate, ’cause I’d auditioned for Amanda’s role from way back.

David Read:
You had auditioned for Carter. OK.

Claire Rankin:
From way back. I know I’d had to audition a few different times for different things in the Stargate universe along the way. This probably was my first audition actually for the show ’cause it was pretty early on. It was in the season; they didn’t have a lot of female guest stars at that point. It was really building on the characters that they had. So, I think I was fairly early on, one of the first recurring characters in that way.

David Read:
I loved this character. There was… Martin Wood once said, had Torri Higginson not replaced Jessica Steen in the role of Elizabeth Weir, Jessica Steen would’ve presented probably a much softer Weir, more nurturing than Torri was.

Claire Rankin:
Yes, I get that.

David Read:
And this character provides that not only as a psychologist but as an ally and friend to a lot of the people who are going out there and doing this week in and week out, going through to other planets. Tell me about Kate Heightmeyer.

Claire Rankin:
That’s so interesting, and I love Jessica Steen too.

David Read:
I think she’s great. You guys are cut off from Earth. You’re the, you’re probably one of the only psychologists there. And yet you’re probably having to deal with your own isolation from, you know, from Earth and the Milky Way, while having to turn around and sit in, sit down in the chair and say, “But how are you doing?”

Claire Rankin:
How are you doing? I think it’s such a necessary role. We forget about the emotional toll. We’re concerned about medical doctors and people there to take care of injuries and all the other things that happen. But the emotional toll of the mental toll of what you’re going through, what you’re encountering on a day-to-day basis, as well as you say, being cut off from Earth, cut off from your friends and family, no idea of return. All of these things are so massive. And I loved the idea that I would be able to be someone that anyone on the ship could turn to in any department, in any way. And it was really special that the first storyline was with Teyla.

David Read:
With Rachel.

Claire Rankin:
Really, with Rachel. That was a double whammy of, “I can’t believe I got a role on this show.” That’s so compassionate, so humane, so… Which is also interesting ’cause it takes such strength to be any of the people who get to a place where they are on a mission like this. But it’s so wonderful to actually be… to embody the warmth, the softness, the compassion, the empathy, that there is something that is strangely maternal, I guess, in its own way, but they’re… It’s a safe place that somebody gets to provide a safe place for people. And for that to be with Rachel in the very beginning was brilliant. Everything about it made it an incredible job.

David Read:
We have seen so much of Rachel being a badass at this point over the majority of the season, and there were definitely signs of warmth and tenderness. But we really didn’t begin to get under her armor and start to figure her out really until this episode. There’s a revelation in this episode that she has Wraith DNA in her, which is why she’s experiencing what she’s experiencing. They’re getting close. And you got to tap into all that and access that. Was this the first time you had shared scenes together on screen?

Claire Rankin:
Is it the very first time? We did another job together. And it’s not actually the first time we played. We did another show together called Sleepwalkers. Now, I don’t know if you’re a member of this show. Naomi Watts was on it, Abraham Benrubi was in it. It was another sci-fi show, about being able to go inside someone’s dreams. And able to actually find the emotional trauma that they’re dealing with inside their dreams. And I played a woman who’d been institutionalized her whole life, and she really just spoke in gibberish. And I had stolen Rachel’s child. I was found in her house guarding this baby. And Rachel’s character was horrified that this woman was going to hurt her baby, but really, she was there to protect it. So, we had already played some really, really emotional scenes actually in these intense circumstances, which is strange actually. But now it was the reverse in really interesting ways, that I was the one who was the nurturer and she was the one going through all of the emotional trauma.

David Read:
Was this the first time you had played a psychologist or a therapist?

Claire Rankin:
That’s a good question too. I’ve played a few since then, so I’m trying to figure out which ones came first. Because I played the Antichrist’s therapist on Damien.

David Read:
There’s one you remember.

Claire Rankin:
That’s always a fun thing. You’re like, “You’re who?” I’m like, “Yeah, I’m the therapist of the Antichrist, you know.” “Oh, my God. I get to play this character.” You’re like, “Pretty cool part, really.”

David Read:
The actual one or does he just think he is?

Claire Rankin:
It’s pretty cool. You’re like, “OK.”

David Read:
“She’s not helping this one. He knows what his job is.”

Claire Rankin:
No, no. “He knows what he’s doing.” Really can’t take him off your thoughts. I think, actually, I think it was the first time I’d ever played a therapist. And I love those kinds of roles though. I feel they tap into one of the most interesting qualities about being an actor is being a good listener. And one of the most important. And I think there’s something really engaging to do that kind of work, to really spend that time listening, absorbing, paying attention, taking it all in. And I find it very rewarding to play those kinds of roles that allow other people to access things that are difficult and give them a safe space to find that.

David Read:
The Gift was directed by Peter DeLuise. One of my favorite humans on this earth. Star Trek in particular, I don’t know if… And I’ll speak about Voyager because one of the fan questions, it leans into Voyager. They were really known for, “If it’s not on the page, you don’t do it. You can’t change an apostrophe.” How much play were you given with discovering this character on the page and bringing her to life?

Claire Rankin:
That’s a really good question. I don’t remember needing to change much of anything that I said. I think what was written really was so rich and so well crafted that I really could lean into the scenes that I had. I feel I really brought… I wanted her to be very warm, professional… but I wanted the contrast to Rachel, to Tori, to bring something very different in my own personality and feel that would add another layer. It is one of those things where everybody, we get the brainiac and the jokester and they have action hero and… So, it felt like there was a really lovely void in a certain way for me to fill. If you were to make it one complete organism, I got to bring the empathy.

David Read:
For sure. No, absolutely.

Claire Rankin:
Those scenes were so easy to play ’cause most of them were Rachel and I just sitting face-to-face. Just face-to-face and really talking. And to get to do that with someone that you know so very well, and that you admire so much… I think she’s such an incredible actor. A crazy stunt person, she has skills beyond… God, she can do anything. She can absolutely do anything. And then she opens her mouth and sings like a bird.

David Read:
Absolutely, she has a beautiful voice.

Claire Rankin:
She’s crazy, crazy talented. So, it was such an easy job in that way to be present, to arrive prepared, and then to adjust as Peter had ideas.

David Read:
There’s a jump scare in this episode that you’re in, one of the… I think one of the first that Atlantis has. You lean forward, do you remember your line?

Claire Rankin:
No.

David Read:
“What’s it like to be a Wraith?” And then it’s–

Claire Rankin:
What’s that?

David Read:
“What’s it like being a Wraith?”

Claire Rankin:
Being a Wraith?

David Read:
And then it flips to Rachel. Were you there on set the day that she had her coverage for her shot when she was in the complete Wraith makeup? What did you think?

Claire Rankin:
That was intense. That was really intense for her too, ’cause it’s something else to actually go into all of those prosthetics. The amount of time and energy that it takes to do it, plus the skill, which is so amazing, but it also makes you feel like a different person. I know I did it for Voyager, and so I remember what an insane event it was…

David Read:
Your prosthetics were crazy for that briefing room scene.

Claire Rankin:
That was a… We’ll talk about that story too- ’cause That was a whole other event, for sure. But yeah, That was a no acting required situation to be there with Rachel with that because she was terrifying.

David Read:
Terrifying. Exactly.

Claire Rankin:
She was totally terrifying. I mean, Rachel can be terrifying. She’s very… whatever, but she’s tough as nails. I wouldn’t wanna cross her in a dark alley.

David Read:
You better clean that kitchen before she gets home. No.

Claire Rankin:
Pretty much.

David Read:
Clean up after yourself.

Claire Rankin:
Yeah, pretty much.

David Read:
Oh, man. Living with people, you get all the… You got the best and you get the worst, so…

Claire Rankin:
We know each other far too well.

David Read:
I’m looking down the episodes. There really is… Each one has a beat with someone specific. “Duet,” we moved on to next. This is a Rodney episode. And Rodney and he’s got someone in his head talking to him as well. What was it like negotiating that with David Hewlett who has to normally remember heaps of dialogue anyway, and now he’s dealing with a pretend person in his head when the character’s situation is real? Were you as Heightmeyer thinking, “Is this really going on, or is he just off? Is he finally off his rocker? Did he plug himself into too many…”

Claire Rankin:
Finally off his rocker?

David Read:
“…ancient machines and his brain’s just scrambled eggs?”

Claire Rankin:
David Hewlett. I have never seen anyone handle text the way David Hewlett can handle text. And I remember him saying to me at one point ‘Cause early on I was getting chunks of dialogue too, and I was like, “Oh my God.” At home I’m like, “David, I don’t know how you do this. And then he said to me, “Don’t get it right. I’m telling you. You get it right, they just give you more. They just give you more.” I was like, “Oh, good, good.” ‘Cause it was… “Ah, I see, he’s really smart here. Who barely speaks? Ah, yes, I get what’s happening.” But David Hewlett can take three pages of dialogue and just rattle it off like it’s no tomorrow. So, when you’re in a scene with him, you’re split in two places. One half of your brain is in the scene with this character, the other half is marveling at this human and their ability to actually do this kind of work. I loved working with David because his energy is so different than mine as well. It’s so heightened– Or it’s not… It’s different than mine as the character. As myself, I’m actually probably closer; I have a quicker energy and stuff. But as Kate, I’m very calm, very soothing quality, lower voice, everything’s a little more like that.

David Read:
A little like Alice, “Please specify, Tom.”

Claire Rankin:
So, a little more like that. I got that feel. So, I think what’s interesting is you’re right. Each episode, they gave her a really interesting dilemma. But the thing is, as a psychologist, I believe the character really had to take each of those patients at their word. It’s their truth. It’s always their truth. So, whether or not you think that’s actually happening, truthfully, or not, it is happening for them, and that is the only thing that you can work through, is what’s actually happening for them at that moment in time. What do they feel? What are their emotions? What is their reality at this moment, and how do you deal with that?

David Read:
I think Kate asks to speak with Laura Cadman at one point to get her voice. What do you remember from this?

Claire Rankin:
That’s right. Oh my God, she was there too. I think that was what was so great.

David Read:
The actress?

Claire Rankin:
We had the actress on set, and so they were playing each other’s cadences, which was really wonderful, and that was so helpful for everybody as well, to play that off of each other so that we were really getting that feeling… I just… It was a pretty magical set at times, I have to say.

David Read:
I think the magic really comes out in the next episode, which is Michael. I want your answers as Dr. Heightmeyer, and I would also like your answers as Claire. This is a big show. In some respects, I feel like the show has been building to this moment because, as far as I am concerned, the moral relevance of science fiction when you get right down to the meat and potatoes, the brass tacks– is the most important thing that the show can present. Not supposed to tell us what to think, but it is designed to force us to consider things outside of our own normal vision. You have a threat this big that is coming at you, they are gonna eat you, for all intents and purposes. What would you not do to stop them from doing that? What would cattle do to stop humans from continuing to absorb them if they had the ability? And we take this man, this Wraith… we turn him into a man. He has no idea who he is. You mentioned your truth. Dr. Heightmeyer was looking for their truth. His truth is the truth we gave to him. Tell me about that, what you can remember from that conundrum.

Claire Rankin:
That is fascinating. And he–

David Read:
Because you’re having to play this, “Are you doing OK? Are you doing OK? Settling into the life that we gave you and the personality that we gave you and the mind and the…?” She’s openly being part of this deception.

Claire Rankin:
Not only encouraging it but helping it to evolve. There’s something about that I guess… Whose point of view am I doing yet? From Kate’s point of view– she’s still a soldier. She’s still under orders. She’s on a mission, so sure, she is still in a situation to complete a job. She is an officer. She can voice her opinion about the situation’s ethics, morally, all of those things, but she’s still part of a bigger project and she still has her role to play. So, I think there’s a part of it that she has to be a part of. Also, I think once this decision has been made, her primary concern is to, in whatever way, make this easier for Michael. To help the adjustment, to make it something not just to withstand, but to, at some point–

David Read:
She’s not throwing him away. Now that he is the way that he is, she wants him to be happy.

Claire Rankin:
No, she wants to find a way to help him assimilate. She wants to help him find a way to reach a place of acceptance with where he is now. As Claire, I think that’s it’s a terrifying, dangerous, unbelievable slippery slope of how, who are we to decide? When you start deciding on everybody else’s morals, does that make you the good guy or the bad guy? That’s where I think the things are very interesting. We start to talk about politics and how when we’re talking about something like that, it all easily can be assimilated into how our world is going, and we know what we believe evil is and what we think good is. But then there’s all the gray in between. And it’s fascinating to be able to dig around in that in a fictitious world and really see what kind of a mess can we make or how much better can we make things, while giving people the opportunity to figure out where their own ethics and morals and sensibilities lie within those situations. That was a really interesting episode, and it was fraught with moral complications, for sure.

David Read:
You could dig into it for days. I’m thinking back once again on Voyager, Season Four, earlier in your season Jeri Ryan is brought in, the wolf child, it was called behind the scenes in production. When they are converting her from a Borg back into a human She has a wonderful scene with Kate Mulgrew as Janeway. I think Robert Picardo is there as well, interestingly enough. And she turns to Janeway as she’s falling apart, her machine parts are coming off of her. And she says to Janeway, “You should’ve let us die.” “You should’ve let me die.” And I think Michael crashed in a dart, if I’m not mistaken, and the other option would’ve been to kill him. Would that have been greater than transforming him into something that…

Claire Rankin:
Into something.

David Read:
How pernicious is what we did and how far are we willing to go? How willing are we to risk losing our humanity to convert these beings that our genetic ancestors created to begin with? What right do we have? We can’t let them kill us, but still.

Claire Rankin:
But when we’ve gone past just the point of survival– at what point do we get to decide, “This is the life you should be living, this is the way you should be living, this is how you should think, this is how you should…” It’s really fascinating when you’re not making the choice yourself to inhabit this particular world. We all decide to live by the rules that are applied to us in whatever particular world we find ourselves, or not.

David Read:
Asking the question is most important though. Asking those questions. Not necessarily getting the answers but having us pull them and think about it ourselves.

Claire Rankin:
No, and I don’t think we ever will. Those questions are so huge.

David Read:
I was getting ready to chew on Kate a little bit, to be perfectly honest.

Claire Rankin:
OK, go ahead.

David Read:
I was about to put in, I Googled, “Do psychologists take the Hippocratic Oath?” Which you may have asked yourself at that time no, they don’t. So, they do not necessarily agree to do no harm. Obviously, they don’t want to do harm to their patients. But I was thinking, wouldn’t you be bound by that specific oath? And she is not. Did that occur to you when you guys were filming?

Claire Rankin:
What’s interesting, though, is once again, that oath comes up to an interpretation as well, because it’s not as cut and dry as a medical procedure. It’s not as cut and dry. And first, do no harm, if in a certain medical procedure when someone decides, “Well, I can’t have children. Is a hysterectomy going to… is that doing harm because it saves my life?”

David Read:
So, you have to weigh harm, is what you’re saying.

Claire Rankin:
Is that allowing me to make the choice of all the things that go with it. I think…

David Read:
God, this is deep.

Claire Rankin:
I think there’s so many questions into what, who decides what the harm is. Does she feel that she’s doing Michael good because this is, ’cause she didn’t make Michael the way he is. This is where he is now.

David Read:
No. Carson did.

Claire Rankin:
Am I now part of the solution or part of the problem? And who decides what the problem and solution is? I think she thinks she’s being part of the solution, the best possible solution under these circumstances in this world where this person now is going to be a part of our lives, this ship, these people, all of this situation. How do we make it so it’s best for the majority of people in this situation? I think it’s really hard. It’s really hard to decide what that is. Would it be a different decision if it wasn’t made under those circumstances?

David Read:
I love Carl’s choice to make the episode from Michael’s perspective. On the flip side– Carl Binder is just brilliant. On the reverse of that, we miss the opportunity, we get some of it throughout the show once his nature is revealed. But we don’t get the boardroom scenes where they were deciding to do this, to be the Jurassic Park, you know, lunch scene as it were. You never stop to think if we should do this.

Claire Rankin:
You’re right.

David Read:
And I would think that Dr. Heightmeyer would be in it. Maybe she wasn’t, you know, maybe she would not have been in on that conversation. Maybe she, at that point, the soldier part, “Yes, I’m taking orders, I’m gonna proceed,” is when she’s brought in. “We’ve made the decision, this is your call.” But I really think at some point she would’ve had that conversation with Weir about her perspective?

Claire Rankin:
I think… I don’t disagree with you at all. I wouldn’t even be surprised; it might, in our own fictitious version of how we see how things are. That those boardroom discussions happened and everybody weighed in on what they felt was appropriate.

David Read:
Weir probably would’ve done it. She would’ve made the final call.

Claire Rankin:
It becomes more, I think, “Let the record state that I objected to X, Y, Z,” or this was, but, overruled, overruled, overruled.

David Read:
No, absolutely.

Claire Rankin:
Also, because I think at a certain point too, we are dealing with something that always becomes safety first. It becomes survival and safety of the people that you are in charge of. And that is always going to be Weir’s number one concern. Survival and safety of the people they are in charge of. And that’s all of us. So, you can see why she makes the choices that she makes.

David Read:
Absolutely. It’s definitely not an easy one, for sure. Thank you for exploring that with me. Do you remember anything about working with Connor?

Claire Rankin:
Other than the fact that they’re an amazing actor? Incredible actor who brought depth and level to that role that I think far exceeded the page. Great stuff on the page, but the intensity, the emotion, the pain. That was, I think, what was so interesting, was that you really could feel the devastation of this situation, and the helplessness of it. It was intense. It was really hard.

David Read:
I would be sitting across from that actor going, “I can’t, I can’t–” I would get sucked into the material. And I’m not sure how much you can do that on the day. Because you were talking about one half working with David and the other half of your brain is marveling at him. I would be afraid that I would marvel so much that I would miss his next cue, because you’re playing tennis with each other, and I would miss his serve. But with this situation, I would have been so sucked into it. Because I think part of me would have taken over as Kate for a moment there, saying to myself, “I can’t believe I’m doing this to another person.” Especially if Connor’s delivery is so good.

Claire Rankin:
And also, “How do I help you?” I think that is the part of it that’s… I remember feeling this tied thing of–

David Read:
How do I help my ears?

Claire Rankin:
“Oh, I want another scene.” You want another scene. It’s almost like Logan’s Run. You want another scene… “How can I run with this guy? How do we run?” “How do I take him somewhere safe?” And I do think that’s what’s beautiful about it, is that it allows the character to feel torn. To never know if they’re making… How can you know if you’re making the right decision? You make the best possible choice you can make at any given moment. When you know better, you do better, but that’s the best you can do under those circumstances. You’re trying to do right by people, but it’s so complicated.

David Read:
At the end of the day, you are, you are arriving at the solution that you dislike the least.

Claire Rankin:
The least.

David Read:
This is about survival, pure and simple.

Claire Rankin:
That’s a brilliant–

David Read:
And when you get down to it …

Claire Rankin:
That’s brilliant.

David Read:
… that’s where we’re at.

Claire Rankin:
Exactly. What is the least amount of damage I can do under the circumstances? Which sounds terrible, but sometimes that is what you’re left with.

David Read:
“Echoes,” which was Season Three. I believe that was another Teyla-focused episode from your perspective, if my memory is right. The whales are coming to us, telling us things. They’re warning us about a big solar flare coming. This was an episode that just went 90 degrees and, “I guess we’re… this is where we’re going.” And it was one of the ones where it was, “OK. I didn’t see that coming.” It’s like, “The whales are letting us know that the sun’s about to go blip at us.”

Claire Rankin:
I was gonna say, I feel like that one was… I feel like I was peripheral in that one. Buell had joined us maybe at that…? Had Buell joined us?

David Read:
That’s right.

Claire Rankin:
And I think we were really getting into that at that particular moment in time.

David Read:
No, she isn’t there yet. She’s in season–

Claire Rankin:
No, that’s why. OK.

David Read:
It’s at the end of the season, yeah.

Claire Rankin:
Yes. You’re right. I keep forgetting.

David Read:
But no, it’s–

Claire Rankin:
That one, I feel I was… I scooted in and scooted out of the–

David Read:
No, fair. Absolutely. The next one, though–

Claire Rankin:
I can’t even talk about it.

David Read:
I’m getting chills, Claire, just thinking about it. ‘Cause you were talking earlier about dreams and going into people’s dreams, speaking of. How was the news broken to you? Or was the script brought to your front door in the post and you read it and, “Well, OK then!” Is that how it was?

Claire Rankin:
Pretty much. I read the script. As I was reading the script and I was like, “Rodney’s dead? What do you mean Rodney’s dead? Rodney can’t possibly be dead. Of course he’s not dead.” And then I’m like, “I’m dead? What’s happening? Oh, we’re not dead. Nobody’s dead.” I was like, “Oh, no, Rodney’s not… Oh, I am dead. No.” I’m like, “Oh. Yeah, I guess I am. I’m dead.” And I was like, “Mm… How did… I got…”

David Read:
Bummer dunes.

Claire Rankin:
“In my sleep, huh? OK.” “OK. Wah, wah, wah.”

David Read:
We’ve all had the falling dream. And the… everything’s–

Claire Rankin:
And I don’t like heights either, so that was entertaining.

David Read:
Dr. Heightmeyer?

Claire Rankin:
Dr. Heightmeyer. My God, that’s so funny. Oh, do you know my name was originally supposed to be Jane Heightmeyer, but there’s a real actress named Jane Heightmeyer, so they changed it to Kate.

David Read:
They had to tweak it. Interesting. I always thought it was funny that Kate Heightmeyer was killed by heights. I did a–

Claire Rankin:
It was a sad state of affairs. I thought, “Wow.”

David Read:
I wrote a… I was on a meme kick late last fall, and I was doing a Stargate meme to social media every day, and I tried to find it and I couldn’t. But it was a conversation between Ronon and Sheppard taken from the scene in “Sunday” that they’re in later on in Season Three. Ronon says something like, “Dr. Heightmeyer thinks I have anger management issues,” says Ronon. And Sheppard says, “Do you think she could be right?” And he says, “Possibly. I hear she’s afraid of heights, though.” Like, he’s gonna dangle her over the balcony. As he’s sipping the beer, he’s saying that.

Claire Rankin:
I was like, “Oh, my God. OK. Yeah, let’s strap me to the balcony,” and then I was like, “What? What’s happening?” I was like, “Oh, no. How does Rodney make it through and I don’t?” “This is just wrong.”

David Read:
Did you feel you were placed on the sacrificial slab there? Call Cooper up and say, “You know, I know these are your dreams, but do you have to kill me?”

Claire Rankin:
I know. At least it’s fascinating. It is the best way to do it, is to off somebody that you don’t expect to off, though, also. It’s like, it, it–

David Read:
It’s true, it was emotional.

Claire Rankin:
You do get a much bigger bang for your buck.

David Read:
And someone that we really, who was warm, and someone nurturing, and someone who we really cared about, we see the terror in your face. And we feel that as audience… I’m still giving myself goosebumps, man. Maybe it’s too cold in here. We still feel that as audience members, that emotional impact, and I see that that’s why Rob chose that character. And I suppose if you’re going to have one episode left regardless would you rather have a conclusion to your role that sticks in people’s memories, or you exit stage left and go back to your office?

Claire Rankin:
I know, and we never saw her again. Did she just go back to Earth somehow and we don’t know?

David Read:
In a box.

Claire Rankin:
It’s true. That was a much more interesting way to die than to take a shot to the chest on a Tuesday, so…

David Read:
How did you feel when–

Claire Rankin:
I was really sad. I was really sad. I was–

David Read:
Did you call Rachel?

Claire Rankin:
I loved going out there to work. I loved the group of people. It was so fun. I could see that they needed a bang. They were exploring new characters and stuff as well, and this girl… when things start to turn…

David Read:
I appreciate… no.

Claire Rankin:
Me making excuses for them. Everyone else on-

David Read:
Don’t make excuses for them. Let’s get right down to it. No, did Rachel call you or did you call her first? Did she read the script and say, “Did you read it?” I’d be curious as to how that conversation went.

Claire Rankin:
Oh my God, I don’t remember.

David Read:
‘Cause you’re both in that scene.

Claire Rankin:
That’s a really good question.

David Read:
I love that she’s there.

Claire Rankin:
‘Cause he was in Vancouver and I was in Los Angeles. I don’t remember. That’s a really good question. I do remember my time up there. It was sad to leave everybody. It was.

David Read:
But what a way to go.

Claire Rankin:
But it was pretty fun.

David Read:
You’re with Rachel again.

Claire Rankin:
With Rachel again.

David Read:
So, there’s a certain symmetry to that.

Claire Rankin:
There is. We haven’t managed to find a way to work together since then, but we will somehow or other.

David Read:
Absolutely. I think Ridley’s gonna get her own production job and bring you guys all in on some of… That girl is going places. Holy crap.

Claire Rankin:
She sure is. That runs in the family.

David Read:
It does indeed. For sure. Anything else that you take away from your experience in Atlantis? Production quality? Things that, the quality of the work that you were doing, the people were doing around you, compared to some of the other stuff that you may have done? Anything that sticks out?

Claire Rankin:
I think that the dedication to the story and the world was so strong. And I know that they had great legs to be coming off of the original Stargate. And also crossing over was really brilliant when Amanda came as well to the cast and stuff too, I think, brought a gravitas to it as well that was really amazing. But I also love the fact that you go back that many years, and people were at the beginning of their careers, and they’ve gone on to such interesting different things. Rainbow was there that very first season and has gone on to such interesting things. Jason Momoa was like a baby.

David Read:
He’s doing something now, I’m not sure what though.

Claire Rankin:
He’s doing all right. It was… All the interesting guest stars and the people that came through that show. I think that was really fascinating for me, and wonderful to be able to look back on and say, “I met that person. I got to work with this person. And this person was such a huge icon in the sci-fi world.” And these people are coming in to guest star and play around, and they’re still excited to do it. There’s so much that it becomes a universe that you’re always a part of, that we can have this conversation almost 20 years later. And that you still feel a piece of something. You still feel like, “I will always be a part of that world …”

David Read:
It still vibrates with you.

Claire Rankin:
“… that universe.” There’s something really special about that. Not all of us get to go through our careers and be a part of a world that continually exists, find new fans, keep people engaged, that come back time and time again. And I feel really lucky that I got to be a part of that world.

David Read:
Stuff that continually touches people. This is not a soap opera episode, one and done… It’s evergreen.

Claire Rankin:
There’s something really amazing about that. I feel very lucky.

David Read:
I have some fan questions for you.

Claire Rankin:
OK. Let’s see what happens.

David Read:
Let’s explore some of the outer edges. Lockwatcher–

Claire Rankin:
God, let’s hope I can answer them.

David Read:
I’m sure everything’s fine. You did another, we touched on Alice a little bit in Star Trek: Voyager, one of my favorite episodes. Robbie McNeill heavy.

Claire Rankin:
I loved doing that.

David Read:
What a sexy voice, and what a role. You’re like, if drugs could talk. Really might…

Claire Rankin:
Why, thank you.

David Read:
Jeez. The first line out of B’Elanna is, “That’s some voice.” Were they really looking for someone who had a vocal presence as well as a physical one, vocal first?

Claire Rankin:
Honestly, I don’t remember that being in the breakdown. I remember feeling I knew exactly who she was. I remember what I wore to the audition. I remember what I looked like. I remember the feeling going in.

David Read:
Were you in leather?

Claire Rankin:
I loved that character. I was very excited when I got that one. It felt a little dangerous. The manipulation of it, the power of it was… And it was incredibly fun to shoot. I’m very fond of that handful of days that I got to spend on that set. ‘Cause if you’re gonna do one, that was a really good one to do.

David Read:
No, for sure. For the fraction of you who have not seen Voyager and are trying to figure out what the heck we’re talking about, Claire played the AI of an entity which inhabited the frame of a personal shuttle or craft.

Claire Rankin:
A little vintage ship. It’s like Christine.

David Read:
A cute little thing.

Claire Rankin:
But like Christine. It’s almost like–

David Read:
Very much so.

Claire Rankin:
Except that she’s possessed.

David Read:
That’s a great comparison. But if there is anything to her, if you had to boil it down into one word, it would be seduction. She’s–

Claire Rankin:
She presents herself as whatever the most appealing thing would be to you at that moment in time.

David Read:
She does.

Claire Rankin:
To Robbie, she presents herself as the girl from the Starfleet Academy that he always wanted but never had– And later on, as an alien character, I’m seen–

David Read:
John Fleck.

Claire Rankin:
I’m seen as that female version of that for him. She’s whatever “I’ll do whatever I need to do to get what I want.”

David Read:
She wants to ride on the back of–

Claire Rankin:
But it’s wonderful.

David Read:
Of Paris’s motorcycle. That’s like that kind of energy: Let’s go for a ride together. And she ultimately has a destination in mind, but what a role, man. It is definitely one of my favorite– Star Trek did addiction well. In a lot of fun, interesting, eye-opening ways. You’ve got this character who is just seduced by things that go fast and can fly anyway. These two fit each other like a glove. Wild stuff.

Claire Rankin:
It was a great experience. It really was.

David Read:
William Aaron says, “McKay once tried to cover up that he was seeing Dr. Heightmeyer clinically when he told Teyla that he was dating her.” “Was there ever a possibility in your mind that Dr. Heightmeyer could have had a relationship with McKay?” There’s no way she would have possibly thought that. He was probably in there once a week. There’s no way.

Claire Rankin:
He was at least in there once a week. At least. A lot of time.

David Read:
McKay.

Claire Rankin:
So, much time.

David Read:
What have I got on today’s schedule?…

Claire Rankin:
She was dating Chuck. That’s who she was dating, for sure.

David Read:
She was dating Chuck. That’s right.

Claire Rankin:
She was dating Chuck.

David Read:
“What do you do? You push buttons? OK, you’re…”

Claire Rankin:
Love it.

David Read:
…gonna be the most…

Claire Rankin:
No emotional issues whatsoever.

David Read:
…the fewest problems, I’m…

Claire Rankin:
You’re very much, “Let’s not talk about anything.”

David Read:
… claiming you now.”

Claire Rankin:
Exactly.

David Read:
I believe that. I totally believe that.

Claire Rankin:
Heightmeyer’s dating Chuck.

David Read:
What was the other one?

Claire Rankin:
Actually, Chuck and I did Romeo and Juliet together…

David Read:
With Chuck Campbell?

Claire Rankin:
years before. Chuck Campbell.

David Read:
He was Romeo?

Claire Rankin:
He was Benvolio and I was Juliet in a production many, many years ago, and I did not even know he was working on the show when I landed there. And I was like, “Oh my God.” And they were like, “You know him?” I was like, “Know him? Dude.” I’m like, “This guy’s been a fabulous Shakespearean actor.” I’m like, “We did R & J together. He’s incredible.” So, I was really happy to see his character grow over the seasons.

David Read:
I’d love to have him on, but he was one of the few who, uh, whose agents I communicated with a couple, three years ago and he was a very nice guy, but he just shut me down right away. He said, “Chuck doesn’t do interviews, I’m sorry. This is not…” “I’m not even gonna try.” And it’s like…

Claire Rankin:
He’s just out of the biz altogether.

David Read:
“Damn it.” Or it’s just not his cup of tea. I totally get it, but there are some people who only look. “I did that already. I’m looking forward.” But thank you for hanging out with me.

Claire Rankin:
I could never do that.

David Read:
Thank you.

Claire Rankin:
I’m too nostalgic for that, I think. I just feel like all of these things along the way were such big influences in how I became who I am. So, all the people I worked with under these different circumstances is that they’ve all helped me grow and change and become bigger and better and more interesting and whatever, and each one of those things have led me to the next job. I would never… I wouldn’t be where I am now without that.

David Read:
That’s a true point. The only thing I could see if you didn’t enjoy the job and you didn’t wanna talk about it. I could even see…

Claire Rankin:
That’s true.

David Read:
if you didn’t enjoy the job but you were willing to because enough water had passed under the bridge. There are a couple–

Claire Rankin:
I think there’s very few… We’ve all had a bad experience or two along the way. It’s really funny. I did do a job, one of my very first jobs, which I won’t mention, but It does tie into Stargate in a really interesting way. I had done this job early on, and it was just a terrible. Everything about it was a very unpleasant experience for me, and I was kind of whipping girl on set, and There was a camera operator who worked on this show. I’d never been on a set before and– I was getting yelled at about everything. This camera operator was the nicest man, and a couple times he said to me, “Don’t worry, just you find the camera and I’ll find you, and it’ll be good, and blah, blah.” He was so nice– Years and years and years went by, and I went out to do Stargate. That very first episode, he was the camera operator–

David Read:
On the guest?

Claire Rankin:
On that Stargate show. I walked up to him and I said, “You don’t, by any chance, remember me, do you?” And he said, “Oh, honey, I never would’ve forgotten you.” I said, “I cannot tell you how much it meant to… how kind you were to me on that very first job and have never forgotten it.” “I can’t…” It was the most amazing… I had not seen his face in, I don’t know, it was a decade or something more. And it was… The instant I saw him, I thought, “Wow, that’s the guy who helped me out so much in my very first job.” And it was wonderful that he was like, “Oh, yeah. I remember that.” It is such a small world and these things come around, and I’m like, “Maybe I got that job just so I’d have the moment to be able to say thank you to that person– who made my life so much better in this bad job that I had when I was a kid.”

David Read:
We, as audience members, take so for granted the repartee between cast and crew, the good and the bad days, but also, the behind-the-scenes people who are there to make you guys look your best. A lot of them grow on you. It’s not an empty brain that’s pointing a camera at your face. You wanna feel–

Claire Rankin:
My god, these people are your team.

David Read:
for this person as much as they feel for you and catch you at your best. And say, “Oh, this might… I don’t want her to go… I don’t wanna start rolling with that happening… Let’s fix a little of that,” or whatever. If you catch something that someone else doesn’t.

Claire Rankin:
These people are your team. You cannot make this show, any show, without every department from top to bottom. We all play whatever role it is that we’re supposed to play, but we can’t do it. There’s nothing better than feeling that you’re with an incredible team of people that are all there for the same reason.

David Read:
They’ve got your back.

Claire Rankin:
We’re not… It’s not pediatric heart surgery. We’re making a TV show. But we all wanna make the best one we can. We’re all working as hard as we can to do the best job we can at what it is that we do. Hopefully you have a group of people that all are looking to put something meaningful out there so that when we get to the place where we’re at now, people are still watching and they still care, and they hopefully feel that we put that kind of work into it.

David Read:
Even if you’re making a story about pediatric heart surgery.

Claire Rankin:
This is true, too.

David Read:
I realized the time has run away from me, Claire. Can I have you for another five minutes?

Claire Rankin:
OK, I’ll let it stop. Why, you can.

David Read:
Can I have another five minutes with you?

Claire Rankin:
Of course, you can. You can have whatever you want.

David Read:
I didn’t wanna cut you off.

Claire Rankin:
No, no, I’m sorry.

David Read:
No, I’m good. I don’t wanna take your time up.

Claire Rankin:
I’m a babbler, sorry.

David Read:
No, this is great. Do you have any idea how rare it is that I lose track of the time? I always remember the time that I start with–

Claire Rankin:
So, good.

David Read:
that I agree to end at, so thank you.

Claire Rankin:
No, I’m good.

David Read:
You’re… Something’s working. All right. I’ve got four more from fans here.

Claire Rankin:
OK. You do it. Do it.

David Read:
OK. Gabby Federer. We kind of touched on this a little bit, but I’m always wondering, ’cause therapists often have therapists. Not every therapist has a therapist, but many of them do.

Claire Rankin:
They should.

David Read:
Do you ever think that Kate needed therapy? Did you ever feel that way?

Claire Rankin:
Absolutely.

David Read:
She was dealing with the basic situations, the rest of the expedition team, remember, she has no one else to turn to. She’s just keeping this all bottled in.

Claire Rankin:
I think actually Kate would have a mentor for sure. Especially handling all of these things. If there’s a satellite call being made once a week, it’s to her therapist, to her mentor, because of what they’re dealing with. I can’t imagine anyone being asked to take on all of the issues and problems that would be an entire ship full of people, if you can imagine– and not have some place to put that herself. I think a good therapist always has, if not their own mentor and therapist, a team of colleagues to work with.

David Read:
A sounding board.

Claire Rankin:
A sounding board.

David Read:
Absolutely. For those who are listening or watching, that… If you want an existential dread sci-fi epic, I cannot recommend enough Aniara, which is a Swedish-Danish science fiction film about a ship that goes off course because of a meteor shower and supposed to go to Mars, and the only thing that everyone has on board is this AI that’s basically a psychologist/escape. It’s taking care of all of them, and because they’re stuck on this ship, the AI gets overloaded and commits AI suicide and dies.

Claire Rankin:
Oh my God. No.

David Read:
Because it can’t take them anymore–

Claire Rankin:
I did not know about this.

David Read:
The AI kills itself–

Claire Rankin:
‘Cause it can’t take it.

David Read:
and the film gets darker from there.

Claire Rankin:
Very dark.

David Read:
So, if you wanna go to the bottom, Aniara, folks, just turn on subtitles. On that note, The Cinema Ghost, “Do you have any memories that stand out from shooting John Q?” I’ve not seen this one.

Claire Rankin:
John Q. I think it was really… What was interesting with John Q was a cast of stars everywhere. I mean, there were so many people. My moment when… And it’s a behind-the-scenes moment, it’s not an actual moment, because I had so little to do in John Q. I literally was there for a day or two. But it was this huge courtroom scene where I played Denzel’s lawyer and… But Robert Duvall was in the movie. And he was the loveliest human. I was so chuffed that I got to meet him. I had my three little lines, or whatever it was, and I sat down on a little a chair, and he came over towards me and I thought, “Oh, Mr. Duvall, I’m so sorry. Am I sitting in your chair?” And we were just folding chairs. “Oh, no, no.” And he sat down beside me, and he leaned over and gave me a little pat on the knee and he just said, “Good work.” And I was– “Oh my God. Robert Duvall said I did good work.” I was like, “I can carry this ‘til the end of time.”

David Read:
Those are the things you hold on to.

Claire Rankin:
I do. But many years later I was living in Los Angeles, and I was at the Shutters Hotel on New Year’s Day. And he was there with his wife, I saw them across the room, and it’d been a, I don’t, a decade, 15 years or something, and I thought, “God, do I have the nerve to go over there?” And I thought, “I’m gonna do it. God, might be my only chance ever.” So, I walked on over. “Mr. Duvall, I’m sure you don’t remember me.” “Name’s Claire Rankin, I was in John Q.” And, anyway, he’s like, “Oh dear, how are you?” And I said, “I just have to tell you, it was very overwhelming to be on that set with those people, and I was young, very young, and you were so kind to me.” And he was so lovely. He was like, “Are you here now? How is it going? Things good?” “Yeah, they are, they’re pretty good.” But once again, these tiny moments of someone… a small kindness that carries you, and then you get a chance to say thank you somewhere along the way, sometimes the universe rewards you in the most interesting ways.

David Read:
When life gives you an opportunity to say thank you or to give back…

Claire Rankin:
I think you should. Do it.

David Read:
I think you really should do it. As best as you can. Unless they’re eating.

Claire Rankin:
But it’s the chance to say thank you. I think so often we don’t. Those teachers that we had, someone who along the way gave you that bit of encouragement that you hold onto, that at some point you bring forward again and again for yourself, and it is a gift to be able to say thank you because you hope that at some point you’ll be that person for someone as well.

David Read:
For sure. And Duvall’s still with us. He turned 94 in January, so he’s still kicking.

Claire Rankin:
Amazing.

David Read:
Raj, “Did you do episode by episode with no awareness of coming back?” When Stargate calls, you’ll come–

Claire Rankin:
Yes.

David Read:
OK.

Claire Rankin:
That’s exactly how it was. They had billed the character as possible recurring, I think, when I auditioned for it.

David Read:
Which they do with all of them.

Claire Rankin:
They didn’t really know what they were doing. No. I had no idea. It was literally… I think they would write and hope I was available, or they would check and see if I was gonna be available in the next few weeks or something. So, that’s… basically it was… I never knew what was coming.

David Read:
I knew a lot of stories-

Claire Rankin:
It’s thick and spicy.

David Read:
For sure. I knew a number of stories of the satellite actors having big performances coming up or whatnot, and production would sometimes configure stuff so that people could continue to do what they were doing. Not a lot of productions do that. They just rewrite ’em.

Claire Rankin:
And I think that was probably easier too if you were based in Vancouver. I was based in Los Angeles, so it was a little bit, I think, harder to do that if you were trying to juggle a couple of different shows or anything. But I don’t remember. I’m trying to think if they’d ever had to write me out of an episode because I was working on something else. It may have happened once or twice.

David Read:
Stargate specifically.

Claire Rankin:
By the time they called to say– that it was like, “Oh no, I’m actually shooting something or other.” And it was easier to do a quick rewrite or– Which might have been what happened with Echoes. I might have landed, being only available for a couple of days-

David Read:
I see.

Claire Rankin:
Or something like that. I have a feeling that may have happened once or twice, but it’s so long ago it’s hard to remember.

David Read:
I’ll say this, Kate, I’m assuming you didn’t watch the rest of the series. Especially with doctors, they were getting knocked off all the time. They would replace the doctors. You were never replaced.

Claire Rankin:
What’s that?

David Read:
You were never replaced.

Claire Rankin:
I was never replaced. I know.

David Read:
Of course, in Atlantis you were replaced, but it was never a relevant appearance. I think that says something that– Those stories, in a way, were cut off at that point. If they wanted to, they would have.

Claire Rankin:
I think it’s too bad. I was like, “Really?” “Did you…” I know, I feel like, “Oh no, couldn’t she have had a twin sister? Couldn’t they have sent her a long way?”

David Read:
Or an Atlantis AI maybe.

Claire Rankin:
I could…

David Read:
Exactly. Because no one’s ever really dead in sci-fi.

Claire Rankin:
I know. I thought, “Oh, do you… Really?” And nobody’s really dead, exactly. You’re like, “Isn’t this how we can always resurrect you somehow or other?”

David Read:
Have you–

Claire Rankin:
Anyway.

David Read:
Lockwatcher — we’re gonna wrap up with him – “Have you had any recent theater work, and…”

Claire Rankin:
Me?

David Read:
Yeah. Do you find yourself yearning to go back to it at all?

Claire Rankin:
That’s really funny that this question has come up.

David Read:
Here we go.

Claire Rankin:
I actually did Before COVID, I did the original Canadian production of Dear Evan Hansen, which is a Broadway musical.

David Read:
Yes, it is.

Claire Rankin:
Directed by Michael Greif, who was the original director of Rent. And then I joined the first US national tour of the show, and we got shut down for COVID, but then I went back again between seasons of Critch for another eight months. And we toured the United States. I did the show 432 times.

David Read:
Is that all? Eight months.

Claire Rankin:
That’s the most I’ve ever done of anything. I did it… I think about 40, 50, 60 cities all over the US and some in Canada. It was incredible. I’m really glad I did it. I hadn’t been on stage in 20 years. I hadn’t sung on stage in probably at least that long.

David Read:
How do you not lose your voice?

Claire Rankin:
It was really wonderful, and I got to do a big… It’s Pasek and Paul, it’s the guys who did Greatest Showman, they’ve done Only Murders in the Building, they did all that stuff. I got to work with some incredible people. And I did a big Broadway musical for a couple of years between my comedy TV series, which is also way off. Another unusual job for me. I was like, I don’t do a load of comedy, but I seem to these days.

David Read:
Looks right up your alley, I think.

Claire Rankin:
I got on stage again. What’s that?

David Read:
I think it’s right up your alley.

Claire Rankin:
It’s been a really good time. Wasn’t it… How funny to ask that question. It was the first time I’d been on stage in 20 years.

David Read:
Anything you want us to keep an eye out for in the near future?

Claire Rankin:
Season Five’s coming up. Hopefully we’re on Netflix Canada. We were on The CW. I’m hoping, I don’t know where we stand there at the moment. Take a look. I’m very proud of the show. It’s very charming. Malcolm McDowell is hilarious and poignant. He’s so brilliant on the show and such an absolute joy to work with. If anybody wonders what he’s like, he is absolutely the most game, kind, generous performer.

David Read:
He’s the real deal.

Claire Rankin:
He is the real deal. And Benjamin is an unbelievably talented young man. He just kills the show. And it’s very charming, it’s family friendly, but it’ll make you laugh, it’ll make you cry. Take a look if you can find it.

David Read:
There’s a little something for everybody, you indicated, for it?

Claire Rankin:
It is. My God, we do a Star Trek dream sequence in one of the seasons. Go look it up. Look it up. All these…

David Read:
Who do you play?

Claire Rankin:
Uhura. I’m not in it, unfortunately. It’s all the kids full on. Benjamin does a Shatner impression. The set is… My God, it–

David Read:
It really is The Wonder Years.

Claire Rankin:
It looks exactly like the bridge. They did a crazy job. We even have these fabulous dream sequence references. I’ll try and find it and send it to you, Dave. You’ll love it.

David Read:
No, absolutely. I can’t wait. I remember The Wonder Years doing the exact same thing for an episode. But that’s really cool.

Claire Rankin:
That’s exactly… We do some really fun takeoffs of old movies, really interesting, really great moments– in these dream sequences. I think that’s really enjoyable too.

David Read:
I think that there’s something to be said for Chicken Soup programming that just makes you feel good. Stargate was great about that on many levels.

Claire Rankin:
It’s not… There’s nothing wrong with feeling the world might be OK at the end of the day. There’s enough going on.

David Read:
Claire, this has been fantastic. Thank you for being so giving with your time.

Claire Rankin:
My god, of course.

David Read:
I appreciate having the opportunity to reconnect with you after all this time…

Claire Rankin:
Me too.

David Read:
…and a huge thanks to Rachel.

Claire Rankin:
Of course, exactly.

David Read:
She was the one who connected us.

Claire Rankin:
For tying us back together, she’s the best.

David Read:
Absolutely.

Claire Rankin:
Thank you. Thank you so much for your interest. Thank you so much for bringing all of these great memories back for me and stuff too. It’s really wonderful. I don’t get a chance to talk about it a lot. It’s been ages since I’ve been to a convention or anything.

David Read:
They’re few and far between these days. There’s occasionally, but I’m hopeful that when MGM and Amazon decide to finally move in that direction, there’s gonna be some reinvigoration for the old folks as well.

Claire Rankin:
Yes.

David Read:
I’m gonna really push for it.

Claire Rankin:
That would be wonderful. I’d love to meet some fans again.

David Read:
Absolutely. You’ve been a blessing. I’m gonna go ahead and wrap up the show on this end.

Claire Rankin:
All right. I’ll let you go.

David Read:
Thank you so much for everything.

Claire Rankin:
You bet. Thank you.

David Read:
Be well. Bye-bye. That was Claire Rankin, Dr. Kate Heightmeyer in Stargate: Atlantis. I interviewed her on GateWorld years ago and had such a great time. And when we got over to Dial the Gate, I was really trying to make the connection work. But we finally got her. So, I am thrilled to have her as a part of the oral history project here. If you enjoy Stargate and you wanna see more content like this on YouTube, click subscribe. Excuse me, also do that, but click the like button, it really does make a difference with the show and helps us grow our audience. Please also consider sharing this video with a Stargate friend. And if you wanna get notified about future episodes, then subscribe. Giving the bell icon a click will notify you the moment a new video drops and you’ll get my notifications of any last-minute guest changes. And clips from this livestream will be released over the course of the next few weeks on both the Dial the Gate and gateworld.net YouTube channels. My tremendous thanks to my production team who helps me pull this off several times a week when we’re doing the show. I have to give a huge thank you to my producers, Antony Rawling, Kevin Weaver and Linda “GateGabber” Furey. My moderating team, pulling this off today, my team, Antony, Jeremy, Kevin, Lockwatcher, Marcia, Raj, Sommer, and Tracy. You guys are the best. And Frederick Marcoux over at Conceptsweb, he keeps dialthegates.com up and running. Complete list of shows over at dialthegate.com heading your way in the next few weeks here. We’re keeping it pretty busy. So, if you like Stargate content, this is the place to be. My name is David Read for Dial the Gate. I appreciate you tuning in and I will see you on the other side. Claire, thank you. You’re not gonna see me now, but if that’s all right. But thank you so much. Absolutely.