Sometimes it frustrates me

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Elaborate costumes, complicated special effects and dangerous stunts are the least of Bridget Regans problems.

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Published: Sat 19 Dec 2009, 10:18 AM

Last updated: Mon 9 Jan 2023, 3:55 PM

Instead the Legend of the Seeker actress is unhappy about being kept apart from her leading man

IF WHAT SHE was seeking was success, consider it a done deal.


Bridget Regan’s show, Legend of the Seeker, is a hit, the only first-run syndicated series in recent memory to score with viewers worldwide. But making the fantasy programme, now early in its sophomore season, has demanded much more of its leading lady than she expected.

Regan, who stars as Kahlan, the powerful, magical and gorgeous Confessor sworn to protect the Seeker, Richard (Craig Horner), suddenly found herself on the other side of the world in New Zealand, playing a major character and dealing with elaborate costumes, complicated special effects and dangerous stunts.


“It was crazy at first,” Regan says. “The first few months living here, there was a ton of adjustment. I was a New York City girl, and I was up until three in the morning every night. Now I get up at 4:30 in the morning, so it’s the exact opposite.

“The workload, the other elements, it took time, but I think we’re all used to everything now,” she says. “We all work really hard and know when we have to buckle down, but most of the time we just play. We approach work like it’s play. The more fun we have, the more they tell us to calm down and get back to work – and we do.

“I’m really enjoying Season 2,” Regan says. “We’re well past the halfway point, and I can’t believe how fast it’s going by.”

Much of Legend of the Seeker’s first season was spent introducing the universe created by Terry Goodkind, whose Sword of Truth novels serve as the source material for the show, which is produced by Ken Biller, Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert. Audiences met the central trio, Richard, Kahlan and the wizard Zedd (Bruce Spence), as well as the main villain, Darken Rahl (Craig Parker). Kahlan and Richard learned that, despite their powerful mutual attraction, they can’t be together – it’s not their destiny – while Darken Rahl was ultimately dispatched.

In Season 2 Kahlan and Richard continue to keep their feelings at bay, while Darken Rahl turns out not to be as dead as he seemed. He is, in fact, more powerful than ever, and his visit to the other side has unleashed countless other evil figures back into the world of the living.

And then there’s Cara (Tabrett Bethell), a Mord’Sith who has joined forces with Richard, Zedd and Kahlan, much to Kahlan’s displeasure.

“My favourite thing about this season is the conflict within the group,” Regan says. “Having that has really heightened the drama. Just the nature of having Cara in the bunch does that, and I’ve loved the conflicts with her.

“It matures the show, I think, when you have two very strong women, who come from opposite backgrounds, facing off against each other,” the actress says. “That makes the show more adult, and it makes things so much more interesting. You don’t know if you can trust Cara, and Kahlan would kill her in a heartbeat if she had to, and Kahlan probably would enjoy it.

“Building this relationship between Kahlan and Cara, with Richard in the middle, has been cool and fun,” she continues. “It’s great when we have a scene where we’re stumbling into a village that’s in terrible trouble and have to save everyone and, instead of saying, ‘Let’s get to work, let’s save people,’ Cara says, ‘Really? We have to do this?’

“It adds humour to every scene, and I just love it.”

There’s also humour – not to mention sexual tension aplenty – in the Kahlan-Richard relationship. It’s so obvious that they should be together, but they can’t be, and the chemistry between Regan and Horner only amplifies the situation.

“I find that really interesting, that she’s got this boiling under the surface yet always seems to make the right decision,” the actress says. “Sometimes it frustrates me too, because I’m like, ‘How is anyone able to do this?’ Her strength is exciting to play, but it challenges me to find the reality in that. They should be a couple. They’ve both professed their love for each other.

“Craig and I sometimes do these sleeping scenes, where we’re supposed to be sleeping around a campfire,” Regan says. ‘‘I’m going, ‘Can we be spooning? Can we get that close?’ They’re like, ‘No, no, you can’t.’

“It’s going to get really interesting, I think, because we’ve hopefully got a long way to go.”


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