Out.com Interviews Sasha Roiz

Out: You shot the pilot episode of Caprica. Was Sam pegged to be a regular character from the very beginning?
Sasha Roiz: If the show got picked up, they said he had potential to become a recurring character, and when the show did get picked u,p they offered me a regular role. I always felt there was a lot of potential with this character.

Will Larry, your husband, play a larger role in upcoming episodes?
I can't promise that there will be a lot of me and Larry. Homosexuality on Caprica is such a nonissue, it would require a specific focus. Clearly, if a character in my position or in my line of work on another show were gay, it would cause a great deal of controversy, but here it's not really an issue, so there's no need to really explore the background. We touched upon it and displayed that it's a healthy and normal environment, and you're going to see Larry as more of a support for Sam. There's going to be a storyline where Sam questions his loyalties to his relationships all around him, including Larry.

Sam's profession would have to be straining for Larry --
Well, yeah, he's married to a mobster.

How did the producers tell you that Sam was going to be a gay character? Did they tell you during the pilot or later?
I sat down with Jane Espenson, our initial show runner, and this was after the show had been picked up, and she told me at lunch, "'By the way, Sam's gay." Which kind of threw me off because it was never mentioned before, and my impression of who this character was, the nature of his work, I couldnt really envision it, but when we spoke about it, it made more sense -- it added this great element to his character, the storyline, and to the world. So it's definitely something that I was excited about and welcomed.

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