Madame X Will Be Back!

Former Deep Space Nine actress Nana Visitor (Kira Nerys) recently said she expects to return in her role as Madam X for the second season of the new Dark Angel TV series.

"Well, the last scene of the finale involves me, so I'm thinking that there [will] be some [more] Madam X," she told IGN SciFi. "In the finale, things become much more obvious [about] what's going on with her. I don't know everything myself or the whys or wherefores, but she's definitely a complicated chick."

The character of the Manticore boss drew on an influence familiar to Deep Space Nine fans, the character Visitor played in the mirror universe, The Intendant. "That was my original blueprint for the character [of Madam X], but she's gone away from that now, because The Intendant had the luxury of time and people and slaves to enjoy herself so much," the actress explained. "I found that Madam X has such an intent and such a purpose, that she doesn't have that luxury. She's a much more stripped down character. She does enjoy what she does, she does have that amoral streak in her. There's no guilt. There is noooooooo guilt. She is not worried about what she's doing. She does what she thinks is right to do, and everyone else can go to hell. But she's morphing on her own, she's taken on a life of her own, which hopefully characters do."

Connections between the Fox sci-fi show and DS9 don't just end with Visitor. Writer René Echevarria is a former producer and writer on Deep Space Nine. Aint it Cool News recently reported Echevarria has been promoted to executive producer for the show's second season, taking over from original showrunner Chick Eglee.

While DS9 fans remember the Intendant, or rather her skin-tight suit, fondly, Visitor doesn't have such happy memories of the costume. "It was a joke," she said. "Every single scene I had to loop, I had to add my voice afterwards, because the suit was made out of rubber, and the suit squeaked big-time. So I'd say, 'Oh, Dukat -squeak! Come here -squeak! Now -squeak!' You really had to try to ignore the pink elephant in the room, which was my costume! I mean, it was loud."

The actress is proud of her work as Kira on the Star Trek show, and believed the Bajoran colonel may have been an influence on other science fiction series. "I remember seeing a promo for Dark Angel when it first came out, and thinking, 'A-ha, that's great. Now that looks like an interesting show!' Very empowering and all of that," she said. "As soon as female characters are allowed to have flaws and weaknesses and all the rest, just like male heroes do, then the playing field gets a lot more interesting."

With DS9 off our screens for two years now, and Voyager about to end its seven year run, the actress has had time to reflect on Colonel Kira Nerys. She would like to put on the nose ridges and earring again, but remains realistic. "I don't know how - maybe sometime I'll just borrow her persona for another character. But it doesn't look very likely at this point, does it?" she said. "Let's put it this way: I hope I haven't worn the uniform for the last time."

The full interview with Nana Visitor, in which she talks more about her DS9 days, her experiences with a Kira action figure and much more about Dark Angel, can be found here at IGN Sci Fi. Thanks go out to Rob Rogers for the original link to this article!

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