Van Helsing: Rukiya Bernard Talks Vampire Uprisings and Women in the Media [Exclusive Interview]

The Fall TV Season is upon us, with many of our old favorites returning, there are also several new shows coming down the pike, including Syfy’s new series Van Helsing.

Van Helsing is set in the near future after vampires have taken control of the world. Humanity’s last hope is Vanessa Van Helsing, who awakens from a coma to discover that, through her unique blood chemistry, she can turn vampires back into humans. Her ability makes her a prime target for vampires.

I recently spoke with Rukiya Bernard about her character, Doc, one of the vampires turned during the early days of the uprising.

For fans of the vampire genre, it sounds like this series will be a wild ride.

“I would describe the show as super exciting, action-packed, and actually heartfelt. The show is about the vampire uprising and a woman who is in a coma for it, and wakes up — and wakes up all of a sudden — only to discover that she has special powers,” said Bernard. 

“If we were to experience that in the real world, it would take a toll on your heart, your sanity, on everything. So I would describe it as an action-packed show that has a lot of heart, and I guess pain,” she elaborated.

Bernard teased a little bit about how her character, a vampire, is going to interact with the show’s lead, a vampire hunter. 

“The show starts off with them kind of captive at the same time but in opposite ways,” said Bernard. “Doc isn’t someone who makes friends, per-say, but she’s had to create allies, and in a weird way Vanessa is an ally, just because they’re holed up together.” 

Although Van Helsing may come with associations to the 2004 movie about a vampire hunter, we can expect to see some emotion from the horrifying creatures that have taken over the earth.

“The showrunner, Neil LaBute, is famous for his plays, and his plays really get into human nature and the weird and odd things that we do to feel good about ourselves, and the hurt that causes. And so, in the show, he’s really infused a lot of that, which of course would happen if vampires had taken over the world.” 

Bernard said that the chance to work with LaBute is one of the things that attracted her to the scripts. 

“I was quite drawn to the show–first off, being able to work with Neil is like, ahhh! He’s a theater god!” Bernard exclaimed.

But the character of Doc had her own complexities that drew Bernard in.

“I was fascinated by her journey, and I feel lucky that I got a shot to play her.”

Bernard knew a little bit about the Van Helsing mythology when she read the script, having seen the 2004 movie, and read Bram Stoker’s Dracula, but she tried not to let the existing mythology influence her creation of Doc. 

“In general, I try not to do too much historical research in my process as an actor, because I like to see what I create first, before I can get into historical things — unless it’s absolutely necessary.” 

Viewers shouldn’t fear watching this show, because it while it may draw from the existing property, the creators have reinvented the myth. 

“In the show, they did a great job of creating a brand new world, and a brand new version of Van Helsing, which I am excited for everyone to see,” she explained.

Bernard also explained the process she went through in creating Doc, the complex and very introverted scientist. 

“I researched into OCD, a little bit of Asperger’s Syndrome. I wanted her to be particular about specific things. Not everything, but specific things, and have a certain way of thinking as a human,” said Bernard. 

“It’s a profession that is done with a minimal amount of help. This is pre-uprising, right, and she’s someone who is very introverted and kind of a loner, and she likes to be in control of the things that she does and wants to do. So the profession allowed her to do that. I mean, she’s dealing with dead bodies, so it’s hard to mess up with a dead body and autopsies,” Bernard added.

Bernard did her research into the technical aspects of Doc’s field as well, including how to do autopsies. 

“There is an art to it. I watched videos on YouTube of autopsies, and it can seem gruesome, but there is a specificity to everything that is done,” Bernard explained. “In creating the character, I could totally see why she would be drawn to such a profession.” 

The role of Doc requires Bernard to create two characters. Not just Doc, but then translating Doc into her post-uprising vampyric version. Bernard elaborated on the psychology of developing Doc as a vampire.

“She’s a vampire, but the vampires aren’t just flat-out monsters with no conscience. They do have a conscience. So I needed to figure out how does this translate into a vampire, who is basically a self-fulfilling egoist?” she explained. “Or if you were an introvert, then what does that look like?”

Bernard approached this problem by looking at animal behaviors starting with a wolf and eventually finding her way to an owl. 

“I wanted her to move in a certain way. If someone is totally extroverted and narcissistic in the real world, and they get bit by a vampire, that’s a scary vampire. Vampires in general are scary, because it’s really about fulfilling your ego, all your desires, and having no qualms about getting it,” she explained.

“But if you’re an introvert, and you’re a loner, and more of a one-on-one kind of person, what does that really look like? So, I thought owls, you know, they’re not in packs, they’re night animals, they hunt, and they’re very sharp with their movement.” 

Viewing the sneak previews and trailers that Syfy has released so far, it is clear to see that world that Vanessa and the other humans are inhabiting isn’t a very pleasant one. In the event of an actual Vampire Uprising, Bernard has a plan. 

“I was talking to my husband, and I said ‘Man if that ever happened, in any shape or form we’ve gotta go to the bush and just hide from it all,'” she laughed. 

“Just live off the land. Learn about mushrooms, what plants you can eat, fish, hunt. I like fishing anyway. I think in that way I would fare okay. I don’t know, man!” 

Part of this plan comes from the high stakes and the dangerous conditions that the characters face throughout the series. 

“Van Helsing vampires are gruesome, man. And they are dangerous — very dangerous! That’s why I’m like, I’m going to the bush, I’m going to some far off land, the mountains, and just hide from it all. So if I have to interact with anyone, it’s just one at a time,” she explained.

One of the many things that makes Van Helsing unique is the way they designed and cast the show, an attribute that Bernard loves.

“They have a female lead; they cast it very diversely. They cast the show, based on, the essence of the character, not how they look, so she just so happens to be a female, and I love that,” she said. “Kelly Overton rocks, man! That girl is hard core!”

The show’s female-centric plot might be drawing some eyeballs to the show, but Bernard has one simple way to keep this trend moving forward. 

“You just got to hire women, plain and simple. We don’t need to do anymore studies. We don’t need to have anymore forums about it. We just need to hire females, and we need to hire diversely,” she said.

“We live in such a varied world right now. Varied in how people work and varied in what people believe, and film and TV helps people believe in certain things. Because if you only show certain things, then people start to believe that,” she explained.

“We’re lucky enough to live in a time when those beliefs are being questioned by hit shows where people are black or Asian, and a show where it normally would have been a male, it’s a female all of a sudden. And seeing people with different sexualities on TV in roles that aren’t always about ‘my sexuality’ — they’re complaining about their cell phone bills and other things that we all complain about.”

Not only does Bernard stress the need to hire women in front of the camera, but also behind the camera. 

“We need to see more female directors, a lot more female directors, and we’re starting to. They’re out there, they just need a shot, and people willing to take a risk,” Bernard stated.

One of Bernard’s upcoming projects is a short called Women Seen, a collaborative effort produced by a 100 percent female crew and directed by Amanda Tapping.  

“The union here has done a study to see, in Canada, what are the statistics of a woman being hired in front of the camera and behind the camera, and it is atrocious,” exclaimed Bernard.

“So Amanda, and Elvira Kurt, who is a writer/comedian, she wrote it and Amanda directed a series of short films, which in a playful, parody type way, go into the statistics and disparities that we have here, up north.”

Bernard also worked with Amanda Tapping when she directed a few episodes of Van Helsing.  

“She’s a force to be reckoned with,” Bernard said. “I can’t wait to see what the short ends up looking like. It was a lot of fun to shoot.” 

Bernard is currently working her way through The Artist’s Way, a 12-week course originally published in the 1970s by Julie Cameron that focuses on unlocking the artist with in. 

“I did it years ago and I decided to do it again, just to get my creative juices going.”

“There’s a lot of ideas that I’ve had and I need to put pen to paper, and I think The Artist’s Way is an important book for anyone endeavoring the creative life, because there is the business and then there’s the art, and if the business isn’t happening, the art usually dies and you’ve gotta keep it alive,” she elaborated.

“I was just doing it as a way to put my ideas into fruition as opposed to just talking about it, as I do a lot. It’s a great book, great, great book. Everyone should do it, not even artists, just everybody.”

Recently, Bernard finished watching the Netflix Original Stranger Things.  

“Oh my god! That’s a great show! Such a great show! I’ve been passing it over, passing it over, and then you just hear all the buzz about it, and I’m like, ‘Okay, let’s just do this,'” she said. 

“I powered through that show. I usually watch shows after my kids go to bed, so to do that within three days, is a lot of–we were up late,” Bernard laughed. 

“It was outstanding, and I realized after a little bit that I actually worked with Millie Bobbie Brown on a shortlived TV series called Intruders a few years ago, and man, she’s come a long way.”  

You can catch Rukiya Bernard on Syfy’s Van Helsing, which premieres Friday September 23 at 10/9c.

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