[Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for Orphan Black: Echoes.]

The Big Picture

The spin-off ‘Orphan Black: Echoes’ explores a new clone saga with unique characters and connections to the original series.
Krysten Ritter’s role as lead and EP involved shaping the series, casting, and production decisions.
Conceptually, the series blends sci-fi and fantasy elements, pushing boundaries with 3D-printed clones.

The 10-episode AMC sci-fi thriller spin-off series Orphan Black: Echoes follows Lucy (Krysten Ritter), a woman with no memory of who she is when she crosses paths with Jules (Amanda Fix), a 16-year-old that she feels a deep connection with. When Lucy realizes Dr. Kira Manning (Keeley Hawes), the now adult scientist daughter of Sarah Manning (played by Tatiana Maslany in the original series), experimented with printing human beings, she begins to unravel a world with very dangerous consequences.

During this one-on-one interview with Collider, Ritter discussed the importance of not remaking the original series, Easter eggs and connections, how involved she was as an executive producer, how she feels about the series concept, being weighted down to get into the vat of pink goo, the Lucy and Kira dynamic, the relationship with Charlie (Zariella Langford), and finding the physicality specific to each of her characters.

Orphan Black: Echoes Orphan Black: Echoes delves into a new chapter of the Orphan Black universe, exploring the lives of a fresh set of clones. Set in a near-future society, the series follows a group of women who discover they are part of a vast and complex cloning experiment. As they uncover their origins and grapple with their identities, they must navigate dangerous conspiracies and powerful enemies determined to control their fates.Release Date June 23, 2024 Seasons 1 Creator(s) Anna Fishko Network AMC Showrunner Anna Fishko Expand

While ‘Orphan Black: Echoes’ Is a Spin-Off Series, It’s Also Very Much Its Own Thing

Collider: This seems like one of those projects that would definitely come with some hesitation. The original series led to the Clone Club and an Emmy Award for Tatiana Maslany, so it feels like it would only be natural to be concerned about doing something within that world. What ultimately made you want to fully jump in as the lead and as an executive producer on this?

KRYSTEN RITTER: The fact that it was completely separate and completely different from the original. Of course, we have the Kira connection and some Easter eggs in there, but I appreciated that this was a completely different thing. It’s a different structure. I’m not playing eight characters. For me, if it were the same thing, you’re right, that would have been terrifying, but it felt like it was its own thing, and that felt good. It’s hard to launch a show in the TV landscape today. There are so many shows and so many different platforms that having a built-in audience and having name recognition helps. It seemed smart, on both sides, having its own show with its own voice and own characters, but being set in a cool world that is familiar to a rabid fan base. It checked both boxes. We’re not remaking the original.

Being an EP on this means that you do have more of a voice in the series than you would have without that title. Was there anything that you specifically wanted for this character or with this season that you thought would just be really cool to get to explore?

RITTER: Sure. You’re weighing in on the casting, you’re watching dailies, you’re looking at the lighting, and all those things. I’m somebody that’s been doing this a long time. I’ve been on set a lot and have just had a natural progression to the other side of the camera, as well. I’ve been directing, I’ve been producing for years, and I’m just one of those people who approaches things at the macro and not just my lines. I love being a part of the team and being able to have those big conversations and ideas, so it’s a little bit of everything.

Related ‘Orphan Black: Echoes’: Release Window, Cast, Trailer, and Everything We Know So Far Krysten Ritter is joining the Clone Club.

Human clones feel like a bit of a fantasy because the science aspect of it feels a little bit like a foreign language. But we all have technology in our lives in some way, so 3D-printed clones seem not that impossible. How do you feel about the basic concept of the series? Does it terrify you? Can you see how someone might end up down a path that could actually lead them to do something like this?

RITTER: I hope not in my lifetime. I really hope not. But then, the fun part of it is like, “Oh, I’m actually very busy. It might be nice to have another version of me to go off and do stuff.” But that’s obviously just for fun. I like the genre. I like sci-fi, I like fantasy, I like elevated, I like heightened and how it allows a little bit of escapism and wish fulfillment. And being set in the future, everything is touched and thought about to make it elevated. All of that is always really exciting to me about the filmmaking process because you get to be so creative and have free rein.

Krysten Ritter Had To Be Weighted Down to Get Into the ‘Orphan Black: Echoes’ Vat of Pink Goo
Image via AMC

We see glimpses into the process of what it was like for Lucy to wake up in the tank in the pink liquid. What was it like to shoot those scenes? How was it to figure out what those early moments would be for someone who really wakes up as a blank slate?

RITTER: It’s nuts. The logistics of it are fun, too. This is what we get to do when we go to work, get into a vat of pink goo. The technical side of it was just bananas. The goo itself was all glucose, so we were floating. There’s no gravity in there, so they had to make a 70-pound belt to hold my hips down, and even then, your feet are floating up and your head’s floating up. It was challenging but fun. Creating that kind of art to get that beautiful photographic image, a lot goes into it. That’s always so fun and so ridiculous. You get to play forever. This job is so wild. I was like, “Well, that’s what I’m doing today, and this is my office.” It was crazy. I have a lot of behind-the-scenes footage and photos.

Kira plays an important role in this story. How do you view the relationship between Lucy and Kira?

RITTER: Lucy spends the first half of the season with a lot of disdain and anger for Kira. She’s an experiment gone wrong. It’s completely irresponsible. It’s not fair to print somebody and just unleash them into the world with thoughts and emotions and feelings, but not the memories. It’s not until episode five when she gets the full backstory and understands why Kira did what she did. We’re always exploring the theme of nature vs. nurture and love, how deep that goes, and how that will make you do crazy things.

Related Tatiana Maslany’s Best Clones on ‘Orphan Black’ The best clones and acting from Tatiana Maslany in Orphan Black.

They have almost a parent-child dynamic at times. There are so many interesting layers happening between them.

RITTER: Yeah, I agree. When I took the role, I really liked where that relationship was gonna go and how confusing it was gonna be. Lucy has a connection to Kira that she doesn’t really understand and can’t put her finger on what the feelings are. Is it a mother? Does she love her? How does she feel about this person? Is it in her to love her? That was an interesting thing to play. Keeley Hawes is such a fabulous actress and wonderful to work opposite.

There was apparently some thought and discussion about getting Tatiana Maslany for a cameo, but that ultimately didn’t work out. Do you hope that she’ll be able to make an appearance, at some point? Would you like to see that happen?

RITTER: We’ll have to see. Right now, we’re so excited to be launching these 10 episodes, after all this time. We’ll see what happens.

The most important relationship in Lucy’s life, that’s really driving her throughout the season, is the one she has with Charlie. Jack is there too, but Charlie’s safety and protection seems to be particularly important to Lucy. What was that relationship like to find and explore? What stands out the most to you about that aspect of the story?

RITTER: When I was originally looking at this part, that was a relationship that really stuck out to me as being very appealing. I’m a mother, so that’s something that I understand and haven’t actually played since becoming a mother. It was very easy for me to love that child and want to fiercely protect her and look after her and connect with her. That’s something that came very naturally between these two characters, and between myself and Zariella [Langford] out of the scenes, as well. I love her. This is her first acting job and she did such a great job. I’m so proud of her. It’s just a beautiful performance.

Related Krysten Ritter Toasts to a Complicated Family in ‘Orphan Black: Echoes’ Sneak Peek [Exclusive] The show airs on AMC this Sunday.

There’s a classic moment toward the end of the season where Lucy and Jules and Eleanor are singing in the car together. Did you get any say in the song that you’d be singing together?

RITTER: That was (showrunner) Anna Fishko’s choice. I think at one point it might have been something else, but I don’t remember because it’s been a while since we filmed it. It may have been Anna’s choice from the beginning. I’m a big music person. I’m very musically driven and I always make playlists for shows that I’m doing and share them with everybody for vibe and tone and a connective headspace to be in. But that was a song I didn’t know, so I had to listen to it, over and over. I had to have a little cheat sheet in my pocked to learn it all day before we shot it. I also didn’t know that David Bowie song that I had to learn for the pilot. I was like, “What is this?! I have never heard this song before. How is that possible?” Anna Fishko is also a big music person and she picked a lot of great stuff, like Neko Case.

Krysten Ritter Finds Physicality To Be an Important Aspect to Each of Her Characters
Image via AMC

Watching this series actually made me think about Jessica Jones because she’s a character that looks human but is more than that, and Lucy is a character that looks human but is more than that. The big difference between them really seems like their physicality and how they use their physicality. How did you want to embody Lucy’s physicality? Is that something that’s always important to you, in finding a character, or does it really depend on the character?

RITTER: Physicality is typically one of the first things that I do. Not always, but usually that’s the first thing. When I get a part or I’m taking on a role, I’ll start walking around my house the way the character feels in my body, with my script in hand. Thank you for noticing that. I had a friend over, and I was about to start a movie, so I was walking around as the character and they were like, “What are you doing right now?” I was like, “Oh, this is how my new character is gonna walk. Do you wanna see all of them?” So, I did a little runway show of Jessica Jones and Chloe (from Don’t Trust the B in Apt. 23) and Sherry in Love & Death and Natacha in Nightbooks. They’re all very different. Not many people would notice, but I notice, so I appreciate that you asked that. Thank you. Typically, it starts in the body for me, with how they carry their body and how they’re walking and, or whatever sticks out first. Sometimes it’s a speech cadence or a rhythm that’ll stick out first, and I’ll hone in on that. It’s whatever pops out first, and then you just start building from there.

By the end of the season, we have some answers about what’s going on, but it also opens up a whole new world of questions and possibilities. Have you already had conversations about what Season 2 could and would look like? Being an EP on this, do you have a sense of where you’re headed with major story points?

RITTER: Right now, we’re just so excited to launch these 10 episodes. That’s what we’re focused on right now.

Orphan Black: Echoes airs on AMC and is available to stream on AMC+. Check out the trailer:

Watch on AMC