Fiesty Vala has won the hearts of not only the members of the SG-1 team, but more importantly, of the show's passionate fanbase.
From her first appearance in Prometheus Unbound, it was clear that the character Vala Mal Doran would be back to become a regular part of the SG-1 team. On the set of Uneding, Claudia Black talks about being reunited with Farscape's Ben Browder and how the 10th season finally allowed Vala to express her true feelings for Daniel Jackson.

How did you first come to be part of Stargate SG-1?

I was working on Farscape, finishing off the miniseries - for want of a better word - that we did to complete the filming of that show. We had a season four but not a season five, so we made the miniseries to cap that off. While I was completing that, my agent rang me and asked if I was open to, if I wanted to and if I was able to do a Stargate SG-1 episode. We didn't think I would have finished my post-production in time, but I finished a day early, got my visa and was able to fly over and start shooting 48 hours later. I really didn't feel like doing anything, I wanted to have a bit of a rest. But I read the episode and thought it was very funny and that drew me in. I thought the character had a lot of potential and when I met Michael Shanks and Andy Mikita, who directed the episode, the three of us had such a great time together. After we wrapped, straight away the crew were saying, "Oh, your character will be back, she didn't die!" and Michael said, "This has gone well, I'm sure you'll be hearing from them again soon." And sure enough they wanted to find ways to bring her back.

Now that you have the advantage of hindsight, are you glad they did find a way to bring her back?

Well, I'm doing this interview on the penultimate day of season 10 filming, and tomorrow will be the last day of filming for the series in its current incarnation. It's been fantastic. Vala's an amazing character to play, she's very different to the last character I played - that's always a real incentive to accept a role, to extend yourself and do something different, to take risks. Rob Cooper's been very supportive of that, so I play with Vala a bit, and what they keep, they keep and what they don't, we still had fun doing on the day. I love my new buddies and I'm not prepared to say goodbye, I refuse to say the word tomorrow, I shall see them all again.

Vala proved great comedic relief to the serious arc of the Ori. What were you told about the character at first?

It was all on the page, really. She was written like a bit of a Han Solo; bounty hunter, free spirited, cheeky, but a smart, sassy lady. But there was also a hint of her being a little damaged. A character that has more dimensions to her is always one I'd be interested in playing, and if I can find an 'in' to them or a way to show those textures and layers, then I'm hooked.

As you've not been a part of Stargate SG-1 for as long as the other main cast members, your character has had less time to develop. Are you happy with Vala's progression in season 10?

We've seen a lot more of Vala's back-story revealed this year. She of course had a child this season and got married, so she's changed from being a single renegade who always flies solo. She's now got quite the entourage from when she started. I think her friendship with Daniel is a genuine friendship now, and it's really sweet to see the show go that way, because they really obviously do care for each other. He's been a huge influence on her ability to open up and be vulnerable, and clear some past issues that she hadn't had the time to, because she's been too busy trying to survive, and being on the run.

Vala has had a very pivotal role this year, and there have been many Vala-centric episodes. Which ones stand out for you?

There've been a few actually. Memento Mori was really fun to do, and even though I wouldn't say it was Vala-centric, because her story was the B-story, I think it was a terrific thing to play. Family Ties in the second half of this season was Vala-centric. She gets to go on lots of missions now! It's the ultimate job for her really, it's the ultimate job for the wild child who's setting down, she still gets to go on adventures, but it's funded by the government, and with a group of people that she quite likes hanging out with. So I think it's a really good place for Vala.

What have been your personal highlights?

Any opportunity I have to do the Daniel and Vala scenes, because I really love working with Michael Shanks. We have a great laugh together. I haven't seen him that much this season on set, we haven't done as much stuff together. Just all the laughing we've had everyday, you know, no matter how bad the hours are, we still find a way to giggle our way through it. Every guest star that's come to play and do stuff with me, they always bring something fun and playful to the table. I got an opportunity to work with Fred Wilard and Wallace Shawn, just terrific people this year. 200 was fun, I was sort of on the periphery of that emotionally. I said to Robert Cooper that I didn't feel like I'd earned my right to be there, I felt like the player that gets the medal, even though they were on the bench the whole time. But it was fun creatively, to see all the departments that make this show possible - as hard as they worked - they still managed to throw something additional in to that episode and then some. I was impressed to see the energy and enthusiasm that was put into that. The overriding thing for me has pretty much just been the laughter, it's terrific.

What do you think has enabled Stargate SG-1 to run for so long?

I think the chemistry between the actors and the characters is fundamental to the show's success. In science fiction you have, if you're lucky, a very loyal and intelligent audience. It was an established brand. I think that the Stargate itself is iconic and it was a very interesting concept for a feature film and it's syndicated around the world. You turn on the TV and you're always going to find Stargate SG-1, and in a way that's what makes the show's departure not so bitter. The sweetness is that you're always going to be able to find it, like Seinfeld or Star Trek; they're successful series. I think in the writing they never took themselves too seriously and that's important, especially in sci-fi because it's inevitable that one day something's going to come to set an alien or something that's not what everyone expected. It'll rain and it'll ruin the creature or something and you have to be able, tonally, to sell that and move on, and that way you're never above the medium and you don't take yourself too seriously.

Will you miss it?

Absolutely. I'm an extremist, so I work very hard for a condensed period and then I need to chill out, so my mind at the moment is set on all the things I have to accomplish over the next few weeks and months in order to keep my life in balance. It really does throw you out of balance and this has been an incredibly challenging year for me, the biggest challenge ever. Having a newborn and having, most nights, no more than three hours sleep for the first five months of filming... that was really tough. It was a real challenge and I learned a lot of things about myself. I was lucky that I didn't get fired; some days I thought my work was just terrible! Obviously it's reflected by the fact that these guys have been here, in it for the long haul, one bad day's filming does not a season make, and they've been very understanding.

Ten years is a fantastic run for a show. How has it been to be part of a record-breaking series?

I've been part of it but I really am on the reserve bench as far as that accomplishment is concerned. I have been a part of it and I'm so delighted for everyone working on it. I worked on a show with Ben Browder and we ended up working together on this show, and I said to the guys it's not goodbye because, so far, Ben's and my track record is one of continuity and working together. It had been an incredible year. I think that Vala's such a fun, brilliant character to play, and that makes it a lot easier to get through the day. It was tough on Farscape because I played the tragedienne and she carried the weight of the story on her shoulders in terms of the drama. Ironically on Farscape, my character informed my life and made it harder to stay positive. Stargate SG-1 has had the opposite effect; Vala is so positive and such fun that it informs my life in a really positive way. For the most part, it's definitely kept me in good spirits.

What is it that you'll miss the most about working on the Stargate SG-1 set?

The people. The people are the crème de la crème for me and on this show in particular, they are wonderful. Sometimes it could have helped to take things a little more seriously but I wouldn't trade the laughter for anything. It's been the most wonderful lesson. Very, very cool people work on this show and the cast is exceptional. How they get on and how welcoming they were... where I was concerned, they were just all amazing.

Will you miss playing Vala?

Oh yeah! It's been such a privilege to play her and also, considering that she wasn't a character that was expected necessarily to be continued, I've had a little bit of a hand in how she grew - perhaps more quickly than if she'd been a character from the very beginning who had been created by a group of people, and then very tentatively handed over to the actor. There is a sort of teething process that occurs when you start a new show. People put a lot of love into what they're writing normally, and then they have to find an actor who can portray what they've put a lot of thought into, and eventually they have to let the actor take over and really play that role. They will take their cues from what they're seeing the actor deliver, with those cues filtering into the writing. Here I've almost been an influence from day one because it was anybody's guess where she was going to go, and what she was going to do, and they weren't so stuck in their minds about what was necessary. She's just been a really great foil for everybody. In the last seasons of a long-running show you do need to bring in someone or something to mix things up a bit and I think she was the perfect candidate.

Is there a little bit of you in her?

Oh, there has to be. I'm Vala in corporeal form and whatever is coming out of my mouth, there's got to be stuff from me. It's hard for people that know me well to watch my performances on TV because they'll say, 'You make Vala laugh the way that you do,' and I say, 'Well don't be daft.' If I'm going to be natural in the moment, I'm not going to concoct a laugh unless I'm playing a very masked character. Certain aspects of my performance in any character I play are going to be influenced by other people as well as myself. I think Richard Dreyfuss talked about this years ago; he said he had the realization while making a film that we have everyone in us as actors, we have the potential to be anyone and anything, and at any moment for any character you have to bring out those aspects that are appropriate. In fast turnaround television, if I really took the time to create someone that was quite unrecognizable, where I was concerned, it would slow production down and they would have to do multiple takes, because it's impossible to do something in one take when the scripts are coming in as they do. You have to make certain decisions about the way you work as an actor, which will mean that there are aspects of you that are visible. But contextually you hope that they give the impression that you're playing someone else. Really my job is just to convince people who are watching me that it's possible that I could be that person. That's really the only job I have apart from entertaining them... hopefully.

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