Earth: Final Conflict's leading man Robert Leeshock provides a glimpse of things to come...

THIS past year has certainly been a challenging one for Earth:Final Conflict's resident alien-Kimera hybrid Liam Kincaid. introduced in the second-season opener First of Its Kind, he is the son of Ha' gel, an ancient enemy of the Taelons, and a human, former Companion protector Lieutenant Siobhan Beckett. Liam follows in his mother's footsteps and becomes the Companion protector to Da'an, but he also joins the Resistance and is secretly supporting their cause to drive the Taelons from Earth.

Liam is made Resistance leader in the episode Second Chances but the honor proves a double-edged sword. Although he wants to devote himself fully to his new responsibilities, a part of him is preoccupied with trying to cope with and make sense of his human and alien roots. In the show's upcorning third season, Liam is compelled to focus his energies on one battle at a time and his real life alter ego, actor Robert Leeshock, could not be more pleased.

"When I spoke to the shows writers during the recent break I said, 'You know we really have to deal with Liam's heritage.' We spent a lot of time last year on my character's internal struggle, which was sort of predicated by the fact that he was trying to figure out who he is," says Leeshock. "That influenced his relationships with a lot of people including Sandoval [Von Flores], Lieutenant Beckett [Kari Matchetti and especially Da'an [Leni Parker]. Liam looked to these other characters to help him define himself and that really didn't lend itself to my playing him as a traditional leading man.

"The thrust behind all this was, 'OK, we're going to discover what Liam Kincaid is all about and allow him to kind of organically evolve.' At some point the trust in that type of evolution was abandoned and it was decided that I'd turn into this classic lead in a heartbeat, which led to Liam becoming the leader of the Resistance. Normally you have to do something to garner such a title and I think some fans may have thought, 'Oh, well, he really didn't deserve it.' That being said, as the character I felt as though it was also dumped in my lap. So that was the precursor to my going to the writers over the hiatus and asking, 'Where is my character going? What am I going to be doing?' How do we deal with his alien background?'

"I was basically told that Liam will eventually meet his father Ha'gel and that this existential question will be resolved. I thought that that was pivotal to the way I play my character this season," continues the actor. "I decided, 'This turbulent self-exploration is over. Liam has a job to do and he is going to do it.' So now my part really is being written more like a classic lead. Whereas last year Liam's struggle was inward, now it's outward and far more of a global journey or battle, which makes sense considering the title of the show is Earth: Final Conflict. It just feels as if I have something substantial to play this year and I'm truly excited about it."

In the first episode of the two-part season opener, Crackdown, America's President Thompson has declared a state of emergency and civil liberties have been suspended. Volunteers, recruited and trained by the Taelons, join with the national police force to arrest all suspected Resistance supporters. Liam, Augur (Richard Chevolleau) and Jonathan Doors (David Hemblen) are nearly captured by a group of volunteers but the beautiful and mysterious Renee Palmer (1ayne Heitmeyer) manages to save them. Leeshock has high praises for this episode and its director, Allan Kroeker, who also worked on the second half of the story The Vanished.

"I happened to see a rough copy of Crackdown and I can't believe how good it is. In fact, it was so exciting that I wanted to sit down and watch it again, and this was without any music or special effects," he enthuses. "Allan Kroeker is just so talented. He's into jazz music and he has a wonderful sense of rhythm when he's behind the camera. Usually when it comes to television, the schedule is so tight that a director plans out all of his shots and pretty much has to follow a predesigned formula. However, with Allan it's as if you're working on a feature film, and despite any budgetary issues or time constraints he still manages to make it a very genuine, organic, 'let's discover it together' experience.

"The writing is so solid this season. I watched this episode and thought, 'There's a great story here,' and even watching my character within the context of the plot it was like, 'Oh, wow, Liam seems so different.' What I said before in regard to Liam's struggle now being much more of a global one is, I think, nicely illustrated in Crackdown. It deals with the president and the state of the country and as America goes so goes the rest of the world. All of a sudden you realize that there are epic ramifications to what's happening with the Taelons being on Earth. I wanted to go back to the writers and tell them, 'Hey, listen, I don't know if you guys did this on purpose but this seems to be the way the show needs to go.

In last season's cliffhanger Crossfire Captain Lili Marquette attempts to save the Earth by trying to destroy the Taelon mothership. Unfortunately, she fails and ends up becoming an unwitting pawn in a devious plot being hatched by the duplicitous FBI Special Agent Ron Sandoval. Her limited involvement in the first half of Earth: Final Conflict's third season is designed to allow actress Lisa Howard to spend time with her new baby. Jayne Heitmeyer's character of Renee Palmer has a different agenda from Lili's when it comes to her work with the Resistance and this initially causes friction between her and Liam.

"Renee randomly appears, which is great because it throws everyone off balance," explains Leeshock. "There's more of a charged chemistry between her and Liam than there is with hiim and Lili. Last year, Lisa and I kept looking for the specifics of the relationship between our two characters. Are they like brother and sister? Is there any kind of underlying sexual chemistry between them? Just how badly do they need each other? I don't think it was ever made clear enough so as to give Lisa and me anything to work with, really.

"I think the show's writers understood this and have created such a dynamic character in Renee Palmer that Liam has to deal with her and she has to deal with him. Liam's link to the Resistance becomes vital to her function and many of the resources Renee has at her disposal are incredibly important to him. So there's a real base need for them to interact with each other. Jayne is a very talented actress and this makes our scenes together that much more interesting and enjoyable."

Although Liam's feelings towards Zo'or (Anita LaSelva), leader of the Taelon Synod, will remain just as acrimonious this season, his relationship with Da'an will hardly be as cozy. Early last season, Liam revealed to Da'an that he was working with the Resistance and even took him to their underground base to meet Jonathan Doors in the episode Atavus. Since then, Da'an has kept Liam's secret and tried to help him and Lili Marquette whenever possible, but he will not betray his people and Liam can only push him so far.

"At the end of last year Da' an and Liam clearly marked their lines in the sand," notes the actor. "Da'an came out and said, 'Above all else, I am Taelon,' and Liam told him, 'You know, above all else, my place is with humanity' That set the stage for where their final allegiances will lie, which then fuels the conflict between Da'an and Liam this season. Da'an starts to change and maybe isn't as clearly benevolent, I guess, on all fronts and it falls to Liam to then point out the alien's contradictions and hypocrisies. The Taelon does the same thing to Liam and that's when things begin to get a little heated. When I first started on the show I considered Da'an to be Liam's mentor but we've obviously gone past that. Leni and I were doing a scene together recently and afterwards we both said, 'Gee, things have really changed bettween our characters.'

"Augur and Liam also aren't going to be on such good terms," he adds. "He's going to get a little ticked off because he feels as if Liam has, perhaps, influenced him a bit too much. It may end up they won't always be as eager to help each other. There won't be as much friction as with Liam and Da'an but the two of them are certainly going to redefine the parameters of their friendship. Occasionally, Augur may get caught up in the minutia of daily living and Liam will have to step in and make him realize that there are bigger things to worry about than how much money he's going to make this year," laughs Leeshock.

The cast and crew of Earth: Final Conflict finished work in mid-July on The Once and Future World before going on a two-week summer hiatus. Of the five episodes they have filmed so far, Leeshock's favorite is Deia' Vu, a slice of life story that shows what happens when Generation X-ers are influenced by Taelon technology gone astray.

"Talk about a wild journey," he says. "I had to search deep within myself to come up with the range of emotions I needed to play Liam and it provided me with a wonderful acting challenge. It's an intelligent, sexual, humorous, well-written story with a variety of different aspects to its plot. Since it was the first episode we shot this year the producers and writers were scrutinizing everything, so there is a lot riding on it. I haven't seen a rough cut of it yet but I have a hunch it will be a strong story.

"After Deja' Vu came Crackdown and The Vanished, which were shot concurrently because they used many of the same locations. The fourth story, Emancipation, is more of a classic science fiction tale, and the one we just did, The Once and Future World, has a real twist to it and in its own way influences the show's mythology.

"Last season we shot off one way, then another, and then all of a sudden we became like a cop show with a couple of aliens. This time around, starting with these five episodes, there seems to be a common thread to the storytelling and that's making a world of difference.

"It's going to be a terrific season for Earth:Final Conflict fans," proclaims Leeshock proudly. ·

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