Interview by Troy Rogers, contributing editor

The ability to become whatever you want is both alluring and helpful, especially if you have to re-invent yourself to maintain your freedom. As one of the best chameleons on the small screen in recent years, Michael T. Weiss returns as Jarod, the master of disguise, in The Pretender: The Complete Third Season on DVD. After four successful seasons from 1996 to 2000 and a reunion show in 2001, Michael Weiss left a lasting impression on TV and now we sit down with The Pretender himself to get the lowdown on the series, his character and what he's been up to.

UGO: During the first two seasons, it seemed like everyone was discovering the show, just like Jarod discovered the world. What was the production mindset heading into the third season?

MICHAEL T. WEISS: Overall, going into the third season we were happy because we already had three years under our belt and we knew the show was working. The third and fourth seasons were the most fun because the pressure was off a little bit and you could sort of enjoy the process.

UGO: What did the discovery of Jarod's father plus Jarod's clone give the character and the show?

MICHAEL: I guess it would probably freak out anybody to find their clone, and it would be very disturbing I would imagine. I thought that was actually a fun episode and all the intrigue started paying off in the third season. In the first season you try to figure out what you're doing. The second you try to set up all of the plot points and in the third season they started answering some of the questions and leading you down roads that they didn't have answers to.

UGO: What was it like having George Lazenby (the second James Bond) playing your father on the show?

MICHAEL: I had James Bond, and I had Darth Vader [Jake Lloyd]. The little boy was Darth Vader in one of the episodes too, so it was great. He was a great guy. I worked with James Bond, how cool is that? James Bond was my dad, that made it all the more fun.

UGO: How was Jarod's quest similar to your own personal journey as an actor?

MICHAEL: I think we are always discovering in life. Every day is a new discovery and if you stop using that sense of childlike wonder, you might as well cash it in.

UGO: Jarod's personal life was vastly different from his public persona, almost like two different characters. How did you approach that aspect of the character?

MICHAEL: On one end, the thing that attracted me to Jarod in the first place was his childlike innocence. On the other side, he was completely dark and revengeful and I felt that both polarities of that were really fascinating to play. As human beings we all have both sides anyway, but with Jarod it was very black and white.

UGO: What did you find fascinating about the relationship between Jarod and Sydney from a conflict standpoint?

MICHAEL: Well, it was a completely dysfunctional relationship, but he was like his father, the only father figure he ever had. He became his mentor and he had a love/hate relationship with him. I should say "father figure" because, basically, he was Jarod's father and captor at the same time.

UGO: How was that different from Jarod and Miss Parker?

MICHAEL: I think they both have a love/hate relationship as well. Jarod sees through to Miss Parker's truth. We still don't know what happened and something must have happened between the two of them at some point that she turned on him. Still, we don't know what that is exactly because as children they were meant to be together.

UGO: Jarod pretended to be so many things. You must have learned a lot about different fields and professions.

MICHAEL: I did, I just learned. Every day that I got on the set I was in a different world. It was just like a different class every week, it was amazing. I call it Action Hero 101, to be every kind of action hero there was.

UGO: Because of that, do you think you inadvertently WERE Jarod on some personal level just because of what the role called for?

MICHAEL: It was funny because I was sitting out in my yard one day and the house across the street caught on fire and I immediately ran over and ran up the stairs to help the people, and I didn't even think about it. So, some of the character did rub off on me.

UGO: Looking back, why do you think the show has such a cult following?

MICHAEL: I think it appeals to everybody's sense of the ability to reinvent yourself, to want to be somebody different and to not always have to be the same person with the same life. I think it appealed to everyone's fantasy of, "I wish I could be somebody different today."

UGO: Is there anything that you wish you could have done with Jarod that you didn't get a chance to explore?

MICHAEL: I think if we had gotten a fifth season we would have done some pretty wacky stuff, so I hope that some day we'll get to do a final movie and wrap it all up.

UGO: You've also done voice work on the Justice League Unlimited. How did your weekly idenity changes on The Pretender help you with the role of Jason Blood/Etrigan?

MICHAEL: Oh right, because he was the half-demon guy. It was great, it's always fun and I love playing demons and bad guys with the deep crazy voices. He was a great character too, with total duality. He was kind of dark, but he was also a hero in a weird dark way.

UGO: What can you tell us about the upcoming horror film Fade?

MICHAEL: I can't tell you too much about it, because they haven't released it yet and they are pretty quiet about the plotline.

UGO: What about your character, Doctor McCabe?

MICHAEL: I play a doctor, an old-fashioned doctor, I guess. It's an interesting story and I guess they're trying to keep it secret. I'm not even sure if they've finished post-production yet.

UGO: Do you have anything else on the go?

MICHAEL: I just wrapped a play that I did in Boston called Les Liaisons Dangereuses, and now I'm just two days back from that, so I'm looking to work on the next gig.