The Seeker’s Omnibus

Legend of the Seeker’s Bridget Regan Admits She Channels Her Inner Child

Legend of the Seeker actress Bridget Regan discusses her character Kahlan — a woman with the power to make men confess their sins — and becoming a fantasy convert.

Q: Did you ever doubt Legend would be renewed for a second season?

A: I guess I thought it would be either really successful, or just totally flop. But that was mostly because I was quite naïve to the genre: I’d never read any of those sorts of books; I hadn’t seen any of the Lord of the Rings movies or anything. Now I can’t get enough of them.

Q: Was it intimidating to enter the fantasy genre?

A: In the beginning it was a bit, because I was like, “How are we going to make everyone believe in all this magic and mythology?” But then I realized there’s so much freedom in it, you can say anything is possible because of magic. And anything can happen, which I think is really terrific for a series. We can go anywhere.

Q: The show is a lot darker than its predecessors, like Hercules and Xena. Do you ever have a chance to introduce humor to it?

A: Right before the show premiered, I got to sit down with all the writers and I told them the first episodes were so serious, so when’s Kahlan gonna have a laugh? The episodes have started to branch out. We actually just shot an episode that was borderline slapstick comedy: Two thieves get this amulet that makes them able to look exactly like Richard and Kahlan. So Craig [Horner] and I had to play these thieves who were really crass and rude, smacking each other, insulting each other, but were also really hot for each other. It was so refreshing and fun. The show keeps finding different tones, each episode strays from the last.

Q: Each episode of Legend is fairly standalone. How do you like that?

A: I actually found that quite frustrating in the beginning because there is a beautiful story arc in the book, where we’re on this long journey that is going to ultimately end with us getting face-to-face with the villain, Darken Rahl. At first, I wanted it to mirror the book, but now it’s really cool because it’s like we keep getting interrupted on our way, and things keep popping up that we have to take care of. The writers have been quite clever about that.

Q: Do you see an overarching story?

A: I know where we’re going to end up at the end of 22 episodes. Certain things came up way before I thought they would. In an upcoming episode called “Conversion,” Kahlan and Richard actually meet Rahl, and I didn’t think we would until the very end. I was thrilled, mostly because I’ve been a really big fan of Craig Parker’s work and he’s always on another unit — we never get to see him. He’s actually a really popular New Zealand actor, so it was like a celebrity sighting.

Q: What’s the hardest part about playing Kahlan?

A: Sometimes I struggle to find parallels in my life. “When’s the last time I encountered a 6′10″ monster trying to kill me?” That’s what I’m doing at work on Monday — I have to hop on this monster’s back and try and kill him. I sometimes struggle relating that to my own life, so I’ve had to throw that out the window certain days and just go, “You’re not Bridget. You’re Kahlan,” and just believe in it like a little kid playing in the back yard — you run around and you scream like hell.

Q: In the book, Kahlan is the last Confessor of her kind — in the show she is not.

A: Every time there was a change from the book I was quite defensive and protective of the character I fell in love with. So I didn’t like [the change] at first — I worried whether it would make the stakes seem not as high — but then it provided all these cool opportunities, like having my sister come back.

Q: If you had the power of a Confessor, who would you use it on?

A: It would have to be somebody really bad. A few months ago I would have said George Bush, but who cares now?

Source: blogs.amctv.com