Posted at midnight Tuesday, July 8

Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) finally meets his new "boss" Carla (Tricia Helfer). Read my review of USA's "Burn Notice."

If you want to know anything about the mysterious new character Carla on USA’s “Burn Notice,” don’t ask the actress playing her.

Tricia Helfer doesn’t know much.

“I’m definitely looking forward to finding out more of what Carla’s doing and who she is. Just like she’s mysterious to Michael and the audience she kind of is to me at this point,” Helfer told me recently.

“Carla is a strong and intelligent character, and it’s the first time I’m playing human,” she said during a call from the Vancouver set of “Battlestar Galactica,” where she has played the Cylon Number Six for five seasons.

Actually, Helfer knows a little more about Carla. She's very human, and not just a voice on the phone. Carla has been keeping the fired—or burned as the show's jargon goes—CIA operative Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) on his toes.

As Season 2 of the series begins at 9 p.m. Thursday, Michael is sitting in the back of a semi that Carla insisted he enter. When he’s finally able to leave, Carla calls with an “assignment” for him.

“She’s the public face of the organization that burned Michael and she’s definitely one of the heads of the organization—to what extent I don’t know,” Helfer said. “But she’s definitely at the top of her game. She’s somebody who’s very confident in her abilities.”

According to USA, Helfer appears in at least three of the nine episodes making up the first half of the season and she’ll be in some of the seven episodes when the second half airs in early 2009.

Helfer’s scenes in the early episodes are with Donovan and co-star Bruce Campbell, who plays Michael’s ex-spy confidant. Helfer said the two men—and the rest of the main cast including Gabrielle Anwar and Sharon Gless—were welcoming to her.

“It’s always hard going in to a show that’s already a well-oiled machine,” she said. “To kind of go in new can be daunting and it can be hard to feel like you fit in, but the whole crew and cast were just so welcoming of me. It was a really easy transition to go in and start working.”

Helfer and I talked more about Carla, a pilot she’s shooting for Fox and the thought of her and her good friend and “BSG” co-star, Tricia Helfer, doing an update of Sharon Gless’ TV show, “Cagney & Lacey.” For more, keep reading below.

CW: On “Burn Notice,” at first you’re just a voice on the phone. How difficult is it to present a character as a voice?

TH: [The voice] wasn’t me last year. My first thing I did on set was actually a scene so it was easier actually. I did the voice-overs after we had filmed my scenes for the first two episodes. It’s easier than going in and recording the phone calls for the next couple of episodes that I’m not in but Carla’s talking to Michael. It’s easier once you’ve been on set and you get the tone of the show and all that sort of thing.

I think it would have been hard to do the voice-overs first, definitely.

CW: So how is it being a puppet-master who makes Michael dance? Are you having fun doing that?

TH: Oh totally. I’m really looking forward to my second set of dates. I go down in a couple of weeks to Miami and I’m definitely looking forward to finding out more of what Carla’s doing and who she is. Just like she’s mysterious to Michael and the audience she kind of is to me at this point too.

I went into it not knowing much about the character, so I’m definitely looking forward to getting the next scripts and seeing what Carla’s going to be doing.

CW: What can you tell me about Carla? I’ve seen the first two episodes and in those we see she does crosswords and can speak Arabic with a Farsi accent. What else do you know?

TH: That’s pretty much all I know about her. [Laughs.] Carla is a strong and intelligent character, and it’s the first time I’m playing human.

She’s the public face of the organization that burned Michael and she’s definitely one of the heads of the organization—to what extent I don’t know. But she’s definitely at the top of her game. She’s somebody who’s very confident in her abilities.

[The organization] wants to recruit Michael but obviously they don’t want him to know who they are at this point. It is sort of a cat and mouse game—she’s the puppet master of Michael. And she’s sussing him out as well, I think.

CW: To see how far they can push him, you mean?

TH: I think so, how reliable he’ll be. I think they already know how good he is, but how reliable he is, you know. They’re just trying to get information on him, although they have a lot of that already. I think seeing how far they can push him, yeah.

CW: I guess I can’t ask you how long it will be before Michael and viewers find out who Carla really is because you don’t really know that, do you?

TH: No, I don’t really know that. I wish I did but I don’t. I haven’t even seen scripts for the next episodes that I’m in yet—or what they’re filming now. I’m sure getting closer to the date I’ll want to read what they’ve shot.

I think some of the episodes even if Carla’s voice isn’t in them they may be talking about me to some extent because they’re trying to dig out information on Carla and find out who she is and what organization it is and why they burned Michael and everything like that.

So obviously I’ll want to read the episodes even if I’m not in them just to see if there’s any little information there that I should know about.

CW: That begins in the second episode when Carla walks away from Michael and he says something in Arabic and she replies in Arabic with a Kurdish accent. He’s already digging.

TH: Yes, and I do believe they find a picture of me on a mission that I had done as an operative. They do start to gather a tiny bit of information on me as they go along.

CW: Do you think we’ll see Carla in action, picking up a weapon and fighting?

TH: I don’t know; I hope so. I love doing stunts and all that stuff so I hope so. But at this point she’s in a position where she has people doing things for her. But my personal hope is that I do get to do some of that stuff.

CW: How is it working with this cast—especially Jeffrey Donovan and Bruce Campbell—with whom you share your early scenes?

TH: I met Sharon and I met Gabrielle but I haven’t worked with them yet. Jeffrey and Bruce were great. They were very welcoming, very professional, very prepared. [They are] just great actors to work opposite, and a lot of fun. I had a great experience.

It’s always hard going in to a show that’s already a well-oiled machine. They’re moving. To kind of go in new it can be daunting and it can be hard to feel like you fit in but the whole crew and cast were just so welcoming of me. It was a really easy transition to go in and start working.

CW: Has the commute from Canada to Miami been a problem?

TH: I’ve just done the one trip and it actually worked out perfectly timing-wise. I had just finished up a really heavy [shooting schedule] on “Battlestar” for my character. When “Burn Notice” started, they were very helpful and consolidated my scenes into two days. They were actually filming the third episode and went back and shot my scenes for episodes one and two.

Everybody was really great. Both productions were real great trying to get it to work out.

It would be hard if I were doing both shows at the same time because they’re so far apart. L.A. and Vancouver are hard but it’s the same time zone. When you start getting that three-hour time difference on top of the flight it would be really hard.

My last day on “Battlestar” is July 9, and I think I start up on July 16 or something in Miami. So it couldn’t have worked out better, really.

Read Helfer’s comments about “Battlestar Galactica."

CW: You said you met Sharon Gless but you haven’t done scenes with her character, Madeline?

TH: I just met her in the make-up trailer. We introduced ourselves and said hello but that was the extent of it at this point. She’s lovely.

CW: I have this idea because you are now working with Sharon, tell me what you think: You and Katee Sackhoff (in photo at right) do an update of “Cagney & Lacey.”

TH: Oh, that would be awesome. [Laughs.] That’s a great idea. That’s a good idea. Hmm.

CW: Speaking of Katee, have you two been riding your motorcycles lately?

TH: We haven’t for about two weeks, we’ve been too busy. But whenever we get the chance we do. She’s an awesome chick.

CW: Tell me about the pilot you’re shooting, “Inseparable.”

TH: Shaun Cassidy wrote it. It’s about this cop who has a split personality. It’s sort of like a modern day “Jekyll & Hyde” where he’s fighting against it. He’s also got a physical ailment, which I think is really interesting.

His cop persona—his real persona—was injured a couple years earlier on the job and he’s going through a real hard time in his life. And his alter-ego is not injured, so it’s a psychological ailment, which I find quite fascinating. And my character, Mason, is the police psychologist who obviously works with Justin Lambrough, the cop.

It’s really quite fascinating, it’s study on people and sides of personalities. Is it so massively obvious it’s a split personality or if it’s on a minor level of every single person having different sides to their personalities. I think it’s a fascinating look at people and that sort of thing.

CW: “Inseparable” is part of a production deal you have, right? Congratulations.

TH: With Fox, yes. Thank you.

CW: When will you film?

TH: I think it’s August sometime. I don’t have exact dates yet.

CW: So you’ll be doing that and “Burn Notice” at the same time?

TH: Yes. It will be slotted in between some of my days on “Burn Notice.”

CW: Is that hard to do, jumping from one character, one script, one set to another?

TH: It can be. It sort of messes with your mind a little bit. But, you know, you gotta do it; and I’d rather have that problem than not. It can be difficult. You have to make sure that you take a breath and refocus.

I think it would be harder to go from one set to another. Last year when Katee was doing “Bionic Woman” was on the same stages. She literally would be Starbuck [on “Battlestar”] in the morning and go over and be Sarah [on “Bionic”]. Walk a hundred feet and you’re the other character—I think that would be really difficult.

But having to get on a plane with a day or two before having to film, you have time to decompress and get your head space back into who you are now.

So from Carla to Mason, that will be easier than trying to do it in the same day. That’s very difficult.

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