An Interview with Anna Fishko, Creator & Showrunner of ‘Orphan Black: Echoes’

Key Art for ‘Orphan Black: Echoes’ Courtesy of AMC.

Anna Fishko is a highly accomplished writer and producer that has worked on some iconic shows, such as Fear the Walking Dead and Tyrant. Currently, she serves as the Creator and Showrunner of the upcoming AMC Networks series, Orphan Black: Echoes, and in anticipation of the show’s arrival, we sat down with Anna to discuss the next chapter in this epic franchise.
 
John Betancourt: I would love to start by getting to know what inspired the creation of this next chapter in the Orphan Black universe.
 
Anna Fishko: I think the producers really felt like the original show had such a loving, kind of devoted core fan group, the Clone Club, and they had such a great time making the original show that they felt like there was opportunity there to continue telling the story.
 
John Betancourt: I always loved the fact that the original show was so loaded with commentary on science and the human condition, and I’m definitely seeing that depth in this series as well. If there's one particular theme or message that you hope the audience takes away from season one, what do you hope that message is?
 
Anna Fishko: That's a good question. Um, I think it's that there are a lot of different things that make us who we are. So, it's not any one particular thing. It's not the way we look, or, you know, the memories that we have, or the relationships that we have. It's kind of some difficult calculation of all of those things.
 
John Betancourt: What kinds of challenges went into creating this particular sequel? Since I’m sure with you had find that balance between tribute and forging a new path.
 
Anna Fishko: Yes, so it was, it was an exciting challenge to try and thread that needle, to try and find a way to give the audience that was coming to us, having loved the original show, the things they were looking for, but also not make it so kind of steeped in the mythology of the original show that someone who was coming fresh and new to the new show would feel lost. I really didn't want the new audience to feel like they had to have seen all five seasons of the original Orphan Black in order to enjoy the new show. And that was a complicated balance to find.
 
John Betancourt: I'm also always curious, when it comes to shows like this, how much research do you put into the base of what you're working on?
 
Anna Fishko: Yeah, we did a lot of research about human tissue printing, which is a kind of current science. And so, we spoke to the man who's the head of the bioprinting lab at Wake Forest, it's in North Carolina, and he was so helpful and very, very interesting, and just in terms of the printing process that we were talking about, and he really felt like we were on the right track, which was awesome. And he gave us some information about how many cell types there are in the human body and what you would need in order to make a machine that might plausibly work the way ours does.
 
John Betancourt: All depth aside, you’ve also assembled a grand and sweeping story, and I’m curious as to what you’re most excited for audiences to experience in general when they tune in.
 
Anna Fishko: I think it's a fun, thrill ride. I think there's a fun mystery in there. I think there's some good surprises. I think there are some wonderful performances that I hope people get to enjoy. I was very lucky to have such a talented cast, and so I'm excited for them to go on the ride with us.
 
John Betancourt: Last question that I have for you today, what are you most proud of when it comes to what you’ve assembled in season one?
 
Anna Fishko: I think I'm proud to have, I mean, it was a difficult time to make a TV show because we actually shot it during Covid, and so there were a lot of production challenges. And so it was, it was tricky to make happen in a lot of different ways. And so, I'm glad that we'reat this point where people are finally going to get to experience it, because a lot of people worked very, very hard on it, including me, but a lot of people worked very hard and it was challenging.
 
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

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