<http://schema.org/articleBody>
" Stargate Universe (aka the much-trendier SGU) has earnt its place among the hearts of Stargate and sci-fi fans alike since its launch earlier this year. Now part-way through its first season, with impressive ratings both Stateside and in the UK, its future is looking pretty rosy too. Recently, we caught up with David Blue - the show&amp;#039;s resident joker, Eli Wallace - to discuss the doom and gloom on the horizon for the Universers as the midseason finale approaches. The series has had a great start in the ratings, in both the US and UK. Why do you think it&amp;#039;s been so successful? &amp;quot;Two fold: on the one hand it&amp;#039;s because of the old fans wanted to give us a chance and I give them credit for at least watching the first episode. And also, everyday folks who had never watched Stargate before were able to see that Universe was something a little more accessible to them. I don&amp;#039;t think people knew what to expect - they thought it was a reincarnation! It was new and different, but it had a certain familiarity.&amp;quot; The series premiere beat Fox&amp;#039;s Dollhouse. That must have felt pretty good! &amp;quot;Yeah! We all joked about what we expected from the ratings but we&amp;#039;re happy. Starting out, we asked ourselves, &amp;#039;Do we want to have success among the fans? Or do we want to have success in the ratings?&amp;#039; and I think we all said &amp;#039;both&amp;#039; - and we got that! That said, I&amp;#039;m a little bit worried about the hiatus. As a fan, I hate having to wait to watch a show! I&amp;#039;m concerned, but I think people will stick with it.&amp;quot; Have you finished filming the season? &amp;quot;Yeah we just finished like three weeks ago. I&amp;#039;m gutted that I can&amp;#039;t talk to you about episodes 11 to 20 because those are the ones that I really want to talk to you guys about!&amp;quot; Can you give us some teasers on what&amp;#039;s to come for Eli? &amp;quot;I love being the funny guy in the show, but at the same time, as you saw in the episode &amp;#039;Time&amp;#039;, they provided me with a nice ability other than just being funny. I think there&amp;#039;s a lot more of that - more seriousness as his relationships progress. There&amp;#039;ll be some more of that action that you&amp;#039;re after! At the same time, you&amp;#039;ll discover a lot about some of the characters you haven&amp;#039;t seen much of before. There&amp;#039;s a really heart-wrenching episode to come.&amp;quot; Will the team be meeting any enemies? &amp;quot;Maybe, maybe not! I&amp;#039;m such a spoiler-phobe. As a sci-fi fan, I go out there and Google something about Lost or Battlestar and I&amp;#039;ll read it but then regret it! There&amp;#039;s definitely something that we&amp;#039;re setting up that they have to deal with... I&amp;#039;ll leave it at that!&amp;quot; It&amp;#039;s been quite a gloomy journey so far. Is there any happiness on the horizon? &amp;quot;Yes and no. The way that I see it when you&amp;#039;re stuck in a situation like this, it&amp;#039;s a little bit more dark. But it&amp;#039;s realistic. So I view the light moments as just that - moments. You have to try to find lighter moments, but sometimes it&amp;#039;s about survival. If you think you&amp;#039;re gonna die, you&amp;#039;re not gonna be happy.&amp;quot; The way the series has been set up, would it be all over if the team manage to get off the ship? &amp;quot;I don&amp;#039;t know about that! In Prison Break, when they broke out of prison, it kept going. But I think it&amp;#039;s the characters in Universe that keep the show going as much as their situation. When it boils down, it&amp;#039;s an ensemble drama about the characters. The fans are gonna want to find out what the hell Rush is up to, what&amp;#039;s going on with Eli, and how Scott is going to grow to be a leader. Them being stuck on the ship provides a sense of urgency and a purpose. It&amp;#039;s the same as SG-1 - the reason people loved it is because of Carter, Jackson and so on. It&amp;#039;s the same thing here.&amp;quot; You hinted at a second season on your blog. Have you heard anything official? &amp;quot;No, but I really want to know! I&amp;#039;m just like the fans. I don&amp;#039;t want to spoil it, but the midseason finale will definitely keep you on the edge of your seat - you may even be angry! And also, where we leave things at the end of the season, I want to see how things get resolved. I&amp;#039;m hopeful, but I&amp;#039;ve been on series in the past where it seems like a second season is a go-ahead and then it gets cancelled. I won&amp;#039;t expect anything until it happens!&amp;quot; Finally, is there any chance of you reprising your role on Ugly Betty? &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;ve always felt from the beginning that I would love any opportunity to go back. I think Cliff is a really important character and he&amp;#039;s great fun to play. I love working with that cast too. Cliff and Mark&amp;#039;s relationship is a story that deserves to be told. There have been talks here and there about coming back, but it&amp;#039;s never quite worked out. I hope that at some point during my hiatus that we can work something out!&amp;quot; Stargate Universe continues Tuesday at 9pm on Sky1. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/interviews/a188272/david-blue-stargate-universe/>