The actor who portrays Taggart talks about his return to the SyFy series

Viewers of one of the SyFy network's hit shows, Eureka, will see the return of a familiar face tonight when Matt Frewer returns as Jim Taggert in the latest episode (which was directed by series star Joe Morton), which airs tonight, Friday, September 11 at 9 PM ET on SyFy. Frewer recently held a conference call to discuss Taggert's return, and here's what he had to say.

Now it's good to have Taggart back. I just wanted to know what was it like being directed by Joe Morton?

Matt Frewer: Actually it was great. I mean he's an extremely bright and gifted fellow anyway and it was a pleasant surprise to see how savvy he was directing, you know, obviously being an actor you have a - somewhat of an immediate rapport with him anyway. And there was kind of a shorthand there. But on top of that the was just great fun. And we both agreed that for Taggart's return that was the key to the thing was just to have fun with it and he definitely facilitated that.

Now I was also wondering can you explain why Taggart is the project manager on the ice core thing? I thought he was the resident dog catcher, animal expert guy?

Matt Frewer: Yeah, so did I. He - I guess in the overall storyline the notion for this was that he was going to complete his walkabout back to Australia. And the whole deal with Taggart is that he always gets waylaid somewhere interesting. And this was his next port of call was to do ice core samples - take ice core samples in the Arctic so there you have it.

Okay. So he's actually the guy the found that?

Matt Frewer: Yes.

I thought you looked really cool as a White Knight. And I just wanted to know what can fans expect from Alice in December?

Matt Frewer: Oh it's - well it's an updated version of the story. And much darker in tone than the - than Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass. But visually it's amazing. And it's - it was great fun to do. And Nick Willing, the director, did a brilliant job on it. And I think it's - it's going to do really well. I have high hopes for that one.

So you were in Watchmen and you've been doing a lot of projects lately. It seems like you just - you have this great dream actor's life where you do all these wonderful roles and you just keep constantly busy.

Matt Frewer: Yeah, I'm very lucky that way, blessed in fact. It was - I do lots - I've always felt that the idea when you're on your deathbed is, you know, to do lots of different - to say that you've done lots of different interesting things not, you know, how expensive a lining you can get for your coffin, you know.

What did you think when they suddenly took this sort of flirtation you had with Jo and then revved it up and then...

Matt Frewer: And then whisked it away?

Yeah.

Matt Frewer: It's sort of like real life I guess. I don't know. I guess, you know, I was disappointed that we weren't able to see the breakup on camera, you know. But that was, you know, the technical demands of the season and I understood why that happened. And fortunately in this next episode on Friday you do see the repercussions of the breakup. You know, I mean, they're both pretty weird characters and in a way you can kind of go yeah I can sort of see why these two would satellite around each other and eventually land and ultimately why it wouldn't work too. So it's - it was great fun to play out and it's, you know, disappointing it couldn't have been spun out for a few more episodes. But there we have it.

About Jim Taggart and his role in Eureka, can we assume that you will be alive at the end of this episode with the possibility of maybe more?

Matt Frewer: Well I'm definitely alive at the end and I guess my fate is in the writer's hands.

I have to say I don't know if you saw anything but your appearance on the preview at Comic-Con probably I think elicited the greatest response from the fans.

Matt Frewer: Oh wow, that's good to hear. Thank you.

So how many episodes are you planning to be on or is it just this one?

Matt Frewer: Gosh, I don't know. I'm rather hoping that if the show the gets picked up then I'll be back for at least a couple more after this one and hopefully more. I mean it's great fun to do and I love the people attached to the show so it's, you know, a happy experience all around. So I just got to - I'm sort of in a wait and see mode.

So as far as - well you filmed this episode - is there any kind of resolution that would mean that you might not come back or...

Matt Frewer: No. I mean it's pretty much business as usual once I'm back, you know, I mean after the kind of, you know, initial where have you been, oh I've missed you all we're pretty much right back into the flow of the character interaction. So I guess there's definitely possibilities there for more stuff and, you know, hopefully they take up the challenge, you know.

But this is the only episode you filmed?

Matt Frewer: This is the only one I filmed, yeah.

Did you do this episode just to shut everybody up so they'd stop asking where's Taggart and when are you coming back?

Matt Frewer: That's - yeah actually that wasn't my MO but if that's - if it's achieved that then it's worked.

So it's got to make you feel wanted all the appreciation of everybody excited to see you on the thing.

Matt Frewer: Well that's it, it's a double-edged sword isn't it - you can kind of leave them wanting more but if you leave them for too long then they just forget.

And really the question I had was about the White Knight character. What interests you about the character? Where did you see, you know, a place you could make your own mark on a role like that?

Matt Frewer: That's a good question. I mean, you know, ever since I was a kid I've always been fascinated by the Arthurian Legend and, you know, the notion of nobility in battle and the - the notion of chivalry. And, you know, that's a - whether to not that's a dying theme in today's world. And then the offer of the White Knight came along and the writing was just beautiful and it was something that I just leapt at. I mean, it was great fun to do. Nick Willing the director and writer did an immaculate job on it. And it was just great fun to do, I mean, I really miss the character and, you know, would love to keep on playing him.

Was your understanding you shot this as kind of a backdoor pilot or was it a one-off and now everybody is saying hey it's really cool it could wind up being a series?

Matt Frewer: Yeah, I think we're in a wait and see mode. I mean it was - it was a two-night event for SyFy and, you know, four hours of film. And I don't - it wasn't serving as a backdoor pilot but who knows maybe if it does well it could make a series. I mean, that would be fantastic if it did. It was great fun to do and like I said I'd love to do more of it.

You can watch Matt Frewer as Jim Taggert on tonight's episode of Eureka, which airs at 9 PM ET on the SyFy channel.