‘Orphan Black’ Spin-Off? Tatiana Maslany Shares Her Thoughts

As Orphan Black is poised to debut its final season, the show’s star, Tatiana Maslany, prepares to attend the Emmys as a nominee for best actress. The nomination comes for the second straight year and is an honor which Orphan Black fans feel Tatiana should have been bestowed many times over. As Maslany prepares to attend the event and (hopefully) walk away with that well-deserved win, she opens up about playing multiple characters in a single series and where she would like to see the Orphan Black story go from its series finale.

Tatiana Maslany Is Exhausted And Excited

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Tatiana Maslany reveals that she feels exhausted from attending so many events surrounding this year’s Emmy awards, coming fresh from one of those events, the BAFTA Tea Party. The Orphan Black star says this year’s Emmys feels much busier than last year’s awards ceremony and related events. Maslany admits she may have been more numb to the event last year, because it was all still new to her, and she also suggests that she and boyfriend Tom Cullen were still jet-lagged at the time of the Vanity Fair interview.

In a very short time span, Maslany and Cullen had traveled from Prague, where Tom had been working on a film, to Toronto for that film festival, before hopping another jet to arrive in Los Angeles in time for the 2016 Emmy awards.

Now in a frame of mind to speak about Orphan Black, Tatiana opened up about what it has been like to spend the past four seasons developing so many characters. While Orphan Black fans can easily forget that Sarah, Alison, Cosima, Helena, and Krystal are all played by the same actress, something which Maslany takes as the greatest of compliments, the actress admits it has been great fun in switching roles.

“When I’m playing those characters, it’s really fun to explore different impulses and discover new ways to respond and new ways to be in the world and to move and all of that,” Maslany says. “It’s the most natural enjoyable playground to be in.”

Orphan Black May Be Ending, But Tatiana Has Already Given Thought To A Spin-Off

Tatiana reveals that her Orphan Black clones are as real to her as they are to the millions of Orphan Black fans waiting to see how the story will end, and in speaking with Too Fab, Maslany says Helena is her favorite character to play. The Helena clone is as feral as a human being can get, and her very unpredictable nature makes Sarah Manning and the rest of Clone Club extremely selective in which details they choose to share with her, but Tatiana says that’s exactly what makes playing Helena such an exciting endeavor.

When asked which Orphan Black clone she’ll miss the most, there could only be one answer for Ms. Maslany.

“Helena,” admits the Orphan Black star, “just because she’s bizarre and very animal in base, she lets me do the things I normally would not do in everyday life!”

Even so, if there were to be an Orphan Black spin-off, Tatiana says she would choose Alison (and husband Donnie, played by Kristian Bruun) for that new project. Playing Alison, who goes from community theater star to neighborhood pill pusher in a matter of seconds, all while juggling Clone Club duties, has been another one Maslany’s biggest joys in working on Orphan Black.

Tatiana also admitted to feeling saddened by the knowledge that this would be Orphan Black’s final season. Though the actress couldn’t be compelled to reveal any spoilers for the forthcoming final season, she says she’s confident Orphan Black fans won’t feel cheated by the end of the series.

“Fans of the show will be satisfied with it, I hope. Or at least have stuff to talk about,” says Tatiana Maslany.

Season 5 of Orphan Black will premiere later in 2017.

[Featured Image by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images]