One Battlestar Galactica Cast Member Was Very Unhappy To Be A Cylon

An ongoing mystery in "Battlestar Galactica" was the identity of the humanoid Cylons. The heroes (and viewers) knew there were 12 unique models, but not what (most of them) looked like, which meant there could be Cylons hidden among the humans. Once the "Battlestar Galactica" miniseries ended by revealing pilot Sharon "Boomer" Valerii (Grace Park) as a Cylon, all bets were off. Even the main characters on "Galactica" could be unknowing double agents.

That especially came true in season 3, which spun a new mystery about the identity of the "Final Five" Cylons, who were a question mark even to the other Cylons. Season 3 finale "Crossroads" revealed that one of the Five was the character least suspected to be a Cylon: Colonel Saul Tigh (Michael Hogan), Galactica's crotchety, alcoholic hardass second-in-command. 

At first glance, it was a baffling choice. Tigh had one of the most defined backstories among the main cast; a Cylon war veteran and Colonial Navy washout, he'd met Bill Adama (Edward James Olmos) while working on a freighter, and they started a decades-long friendship. Tigh also despised the Cylons more than anyone in the fleet. He'd led the resistance against them on the planet New Caprica at the beginning of the third season, and he even poisoned his own wife, Ellen (Kate Vernon), for collaborating with them.

If fans were disoriented by Tigh being a Cylon, know that Michael Hogan was too. Speaking to the LA Times in 2009 shortly before "Galactica" concluded, Hogan said he was "surprised" to learn Tigh was a Cylon ... and not in a pleasant way. "I initially just didn't think it was right," he said, but he kept playing the character to the best of his ability.

"Battlestar Galactica" was an attempt to make a "naturalistic" science-fiction show (as series co-creator Ronald D. Moore put it), one that centered on human drama. (Moore had worked on "Star Trek" and wanted to shirk that show's cliches.) Sometimes, you could forget you were watching a space opera and not a Navy drama. Michael Hogan did while he was playing Colonel Tigh, as he said to the LA Times:

"Over the time of shooting 'Battlestar' I'd often thought, 'Am I ever glad I'm not a Cylon,' because it never really occurred to me while we were shooting it that we were shooting a sci-fi. I guess on other sci-fi shows like 'Andromeda' or something, you're very aware that you're doing sci-fi. It never entered in my research with 'Battlestar.' It's always been military or personal."

But while Hogan had his concerns and voiced them, he also noted that he had previously objected to Tigh being on New Caprica during the occupation. Tigh is almost defined by his loyalty to Adama, so why would he leave Adama's ship? But Tigh being on New Caprica ultimately gave Hogan starring roles in some of the show's most incredible episodes. So, he approached the twist of Tigh being a Cylon with that in mind.

It helped, per Hogan, that Tigh was basically already losing his mind by the time he learned he was a Cylon. (He spends "Crossroads" plastered drunk.)

"Tigh's been through so much with his alcoholism and his war wounds and having to kill Ellen, after the occupation and what he'd been through there — now they call it post-traumatic stress. [...] I treated it more as mental illness, almost like schizophrenia. Not just like, 'Oh, I'm a Cylon. What do I do?'"

The "Battlestar Galactica" writer did not plan out in advance which characters were secret Cylons, and the whole Final Five story feels like that bill coming due. Season 2's episode "Scattered," showing flashbacks to how Tigh first met Adama? Those were meant to be taken at face value. Tigh being a Cylon just doesn't quite square with the character we knew, even if Hogan's performance never dipped below excellence.

"Battlestar Galactica" season 4 revealed a convoluted backstory for the Final Five, and I doubt Michael Hogan ever forgot "Battlestar Galactica" was science fiction while shooting those scenes. That said, Tigh being a Cylon led to an incredible scene in the season 4 episode "Revelations," where he finally revealed to Adama that he's a Cylon. Adama doesn't want to believe it, and Tigh hates doing it, but he owes his friend the truth.

Edward James Olmos has the presence of a real military man, one who makes you respect and fear him in equal measure. But after the gravel-voiced, steel-eyed Admiral learns his best friend is not the man he'd thought he was? He breaks; it's the only time we see him sobbing in the series. Was that moment worth compromising Tigh's character?

In the following episode, "Sometimes A Great Notion," Adama bitterly asks if the Cylons programmed Tigh to be his friend. "Bill, I was your friend because I chose to be," Tigh replies, which sums up Tigh's overall attitude to being a Cylon. Even after finding out his life is a lie, he tries to be the man he thought he was. 

Still, the latter seasons of "Battlestar Galactica" are shakier than the first two, and it's because twists like Tigh being a Cylon didn't quite land.