Michael Shanks / Tricia Helfer - 'Burn Notice' Guest Appearances

From the Chicago Tribune's 'The Watcher' blog (Chicago, IL):

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2008/06/spy-hard-a-talk.html

(Please follow the link for the complete article. Photos of the Burn Notice cast at the site.)

THE WATCHER

by Maureen Ryan

Originally posted: June 25, 2008

Spying hard: A talk with 'Burn Notice' creator Matt Nix

I'll post a feature story on "Burn Notice" a few days before its Season 2 premiere on July 10, but I thought I'd post a transcript today of my Tuesday interview with Matt Nix, the creator of the USA Network show.

"Burn Notice," which was on my Top 10 list last year, is a Miami-set comedy-drama about a spy who has been exiled from the espionage community for reasons that he's still trying to figure out. It stars Jeffrey Donovan as the wonderfully deadpan ex-spy Michael Westen, Bruce Campbell as the affable Sam Axe, a former intelligence operative and Michael's best buddy, Gabrielle Anwar as Fiona Glennane, Michael's ex-girlfriend and another covert ops veteran, and Sharon Gless as Michael's hypochondriac mother.

This season, "Battlestar Galactica's" Tricia Helfer has a recurring role as Carla, a representative of the person or people who "burned" Michael. She's in the first two episodes of Season 2, and her character will return for the mid-season finale (USA is airing nine episodes of "Burn Notice" this summer). Helfer will also appear in some of the seven Season 2 episodes that will air in 2009.

Nix shared a little "Burn Notice" casting news: Michael Shanks, who played Daniel Jackson on "Stargate SG-1," will appear in four consecutive episodes of the show as Victor, another burned spy with whom Michael and Carla will work. Shanks first turns up in Episode 6 of Season 2.

Another bit of news about Helfer: I interviewed her on Tuesday as well, and she revealed that she's been cast in "Inseparable," a Fox pilot that is a contender for a mid-season slot on that network (Toby Stephens and Lloyd Owen have already been cast in that drama, which is about a forensic psychiatrist with a split personality). Helfer said she'll wrap up work on "Battlestar" around mid-July, head to "Burn Notice's" Miami set to film more episodes, and then she'll do the "Inseparable" pilot later in the summer. I'll post much more soon from Helfer, who talked about both "Burn Notice" and "Battlestar Galactica."

But first, here's an edited transcript of my talk with Matt Nix.

**snippage**

MR: Any other guest stars coming up?

MN: We've got ["Stargate SG-1" actor] Michael Shanks in a four-episode arc as Victor, another burned spy who works with Carla, and Michael gets to work with him too. Victor has a very different attitude toward his burn notice.

We have some other fun guest stars, Oded Fehr ("Sleeper Cell," "The Mummy") [and Robin Givens are] in the fifth episode, Larry Miller is in the fourth episode and also Andrew Divoff from "Lost."

[A PR rep for USA adds that Michael Naughton will be in Episode 3, and Max Martini from "The Unit" and Method Man will be in Episode 6.]