The Face of Project Castor Speaks Out! Orphan Black’s Ari Millen Warns “S--t Gets Real” in Season 3

The new male clones are bringing the drama on the BBC America hit when it returns on Saturday, April 18

By Sydney Bucksbaum Apr 17, 2015 4:08 PMTags
Orphan Black, Season 3 PremiereBBC

Don't lie—as obsessed as we all are with Tatiana Maslany and all her Project Leda clones (because she is the queen, duh), all of Clone Club is on pins and needles waiting to find out more about the mysterious Project Castor clones.

The Project Castor reveal at the end of Orphan Black's season two finale absolutely rocked fans to the core, opening our eyes to the fact that not only have there been male clones running around this whole time, but more than one of them have been right under our nose! The Proleathean runaway Mark (Ari Millen) is just one of the military-raised clones, and we're about to meet a whole group of them in season three.

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Millen promises that fans will learn more than they expect to about Castor during this season.

"The past of Project Castor really does feed into the whole question of who is Project Leda?" Millen tells E! News. "That question will be sought out in tandem. We will get some answers of why the military did what they did with Project Castor, why it was secret, what they want, and why they created them. Overall, why we're learning about Castor is to ultimately learn more about who Leda are."

And one of the biggest differences between Castor and Leda is that Castor was raised self-aware, knowing they are clones, whereas Leda had no idea they were clones until they found each other on their own.

"It was a military project, and they were looking to create a certain type of soldier," Millen says of why Castor was raised self-aware. "There are some revelations that, as the season goes on, we'll find out about who they are, their genetics, and s--t gets real."

And though they may seem dark and foreboding right now, Millen promises fans will come to love Castor as much as they love Leda as more facts come to light about them.

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"These guys are all fully developed, and you're going to begin to really care about them," Millen says. "They mean something to Leda and Leda means something to them. Season three is only going to grow and the fans are going to appreciate where this story is going."

So who are the Castor clones? We've already met Mark, the Prolethean who ran away and married Gracie (Zoe De Grand'Maison) in season two, and though it's pretty clear he was undercover as a spy since now we know he was raised in the military with his clone brothers, Millen reveals he truly loves Gracie.

At the end of the season two finale, we met Rudy, aka "Scarface," who Millen describes as "a little unhinged, a little crazy."

"Rudy is the smartest guy in the room," Millen says. "He enjoys figuring out what it is that is going to get you off your game, he's going to find it and he's going to push that button, and sit back and enjoy you being flustered. It's more of an act. There are more sides to him too. He's a trained soldier and follows the party line along with his brothers. But he's not to be taken lightly."

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There are two more clones we know of, Miller and Seth, although we know next to nothing about them. But does Millen have a favorite clone to play?

"For the most part, Mark has this shyness, this dark side to him I enjoy playing with," Millen says. "But Rudy, there's an extroverted side to him that isn't me in real life. Normally, being like that would be uncomfortable for me, but since it's Rudy doing it, that gives me license to do things I wouldn't normally feel okay with doing. And Miller has this drive I really appreciate. And then there's a few more I can't talk about yet, but one of them is totally goofy. I really enjoyed playing him."

As for those X's over Rudy's eyes, Millen says that true Clone Club members can figure out why those are there.

"I bet you some of the diehard fans probably already know why Rudy has those X's over his eyes," Millen says. "I think they'll know. But if they don't know, it's going to be exciting to find out. There is a reason for it."

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And while it took a while for all the Project Leda clones to team up, Millen promises you won't have to wait long to get those big, group male clone scenes.

"There are some great scenes between all the brothers where you see the camaraderie and the fraternity of these boys," Millen says. "And then you'll get to see them play with Project Leda too, which is going to be really fun."

If you want to catch up on Orphan Black before season three premieres, IFC is airing a 21-hour marathon of the BBC America show beginning at midnight on Friday, April 17. You can also find out where to watch it here.

Orphan Black season three premieres Saturday at 9 p.m. on BBC America.