London-born actor Jamie Bamber is best known for playing Captain Lee 'Apollo' Adama in the hugely successful reimagining of Battlestar Galactica. He recently returned to the role for the feature-length installment Razor ahead of next year's fourth and final season. He chatted to Bryan Cairns about all things BSG.

In Razor, Lee is just taking over as commander of the Pegasus. What’s the dynamic like between the character and the rest of the crew?

To get the chance to flesh out that process with him gradually assuming command was really fun and interesting, because it was so quick when we shot it as part of the season. It was nice to take a bit of time to really look at how the Pegasus was different, what that meant for Lee and the crew on board.

Obviously, in Razor, there is a very significant new character, Kendra Shaw, who represents the old Pegasus that has to be won over, and that is largely what the story is about for Lee. It is gaining the respect of a crew that has had its own leaders fall and questioned by this other Battlestar.

Despite the general dark tone of the show, at its core Battlestar Galactica has always been about hope. How does Razor play into that aspect?

Razor is going back to the very bleak pretext that the mini-series confronted, which is just that unthinkable apocalypse suddenly striking. And we relive that again but this time through the Pegasus story and its struggle to survive those initial moments of terror, confusion, and disorientation.

The show inhabits this darkness very well, and the premise is extremely bleak. But as you rightly say, the whole thing is about survival, coping, and the dignity of humanity in the direst of situations. For me, there is nothing more joyful than dignity in adverse circumstances.

The things that make life worth living are the hope of future generations, the joy within that time, and I think our show has been honest about that…If there’s a question that our show is about it is ‘what is worthy, noble and worth saving about humans and humanity?’ And that’s really the question behind every season.

In terms of Lee and Kara, are they destined to be together?

Thus far, I would say they are definitely a disaster that keeps happening. As to their destiny, I haven’t read the last 10 scripts so I don’t know where they are going to end up as of yet. It is definitely one of the many, many loose ends that this show is going to be addressing in the final season and it has been the single most interesting relationship for me to play with all the way through.

Kara seemed to die and the producers were trying to keep it a secret that Katee Sackhoff wasn’t really gone for good, even from you guys. What was your take on that whole situation?

Like everyone else, I didn’t know for a few days, but it was one of those things. You understand what Ron Moore and David Eick were trying to do. They were trying to keep it secret, but went about it in a slightly mistaken and ill-advised way by asking one cast member to keep a secret and keep it from the people that she’s closest to and works with every day. And that is not really conductive to a good workplace environment.

They realised that after a couple of days, and they brought six of us in the loop and we knew while some people didn’t, which was all a bit confusing. They were trying to surprise the audience and it was a noble endeavor.

What kind of influence have you had on the development of Lee Adama?

Well, I have had some. I have a good relationship with Ron, David and all the writers. My sort of refrain has been a gentle reminder every season that Lee is not a cardboard cutout, do-good, heroic type. He is more pragmatic than idealistic.

If there’s been a battle that I’ve had it is to force him into more interesting, surprising areas. Ambition is the thing I have tried to highlight, which is not always an attractive quality. It can be a quality that causes you to trample on a few fingers and toes.

Do you have any idea of what will happen to Lee at the end of the show?

I actually don’t know what happens to him at the end because I’ve only read up to episode 12. We have 10 more scripts to go and they’re not written yet.

I know where he is now and I would never really have expected him to be here. The other thing is I kind of like being in the dark as to where the character is going, and I haven’t tried to steer too much in terms of my likes, dislikes, wants and fears for the character.

With filming halfway through, has it hit you that this is the last season yet?

You have to start thinking of other things - thinking what I am creatively going to do next, and how I am going to try to match this experience. That is a very sobering thought, that some of us may never get this quality of writing for a TV show and we may never find ourselves so lucky again.

What are your thoughts on continuing Battlestar Galactica with further direct-to-DVD projects?

Well, I love the show to death so long as the writing continued to really push the boundaries. But it is going to be tough because hopefully we’ll resolve this story, so any future projects would have to acknowledge that.

I think Razor is a good model to have gone in on, in that it does use a new character to reintroduce everyone to a completely different audience who haven’t seen any of this stuff before. Yet there’s stuff there for the seasoned viewer that sheds light on questions that you already had.

Battlestar Galactica is unlike any other sci-fi show on television right now. What do you think will be its legacy?

I think people will regard it as groundbreaking television in every way...in the way it is shot, the way we use multiple and very free-ranging cameras, the story arcs, and the shape of the show telling one epic story.

And it is epic. This is more akin to Homer’s Odyssey than it is to Desperate Housewives or anything on TV right now.

Battlestar Galactica: Razor is out now on DVD (region 1). Season 4 is due to air in 2008.