Orphan Black: Best Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes

As we get ready to say goodbye to #CloneClub, let’s appreciate everything it has already accomplished during its tenure. Luckily, the creators know that Orphan Black fans love taking a peek behind the scenes, and they’re happy to oblige.

Here are some of the best clips they’ve put together for us over the last four seasons…

Meet Tatiana’s Clone Double

Orphan Black has always been a challenging show from a technical perspective, to match the ambitious storytelling we see on screen. None of the clone-on-clone scenes would be possible without Clone Double Kathryn Alexandre. In this video we finally see her face and get to see how her work makes the show possible. I love how Tatiana has always been a vocal supporter of her double’s hard work. Kathryn was even able to play her own role on the show, with her own face visible.

Twin Sestras: Sarah and Helena

Orphan Black has had plenty of twists and cliffhangers, but one of the most fun reveals is the fact that while all the Leda clones consider each other sisters, Sarah and Helena are in fact twins. They were carried in the same womb, and they are the only two who can give birth. This makes rewatching the first two seasons a lot more fun, and this video with Tat, Kathryn, and the creators gets into how long they thought about the twins, and how it affected their performances.

Explaining Motion Control

One of the more sophisticated, technological ways Orphan Black is able to successfully shoot multi-clone scenes is with “motion control.” In this clip, Tatiana and co-creators John Fawcett and Graeme Manson explain what it is and how it helps them give such genuine performances without tripping up the special effects team.

Clone Dance Party

Season 2 ended with a very chill, very trippy clone dance party with all your favorite sestras, and the one and only brother-sestra. This great video cuts between the final product and the various takes that were filmed for each clone, revealing the special effects magic that brought us this cathartic and much-needed reunion.

Four Clone Dinner Scene

After giving us the amazing Clone Dance Party, Orphan Black had to up the ante — on the show and on their behind-the-scenes vids. Tatiana and the crew explain how they made this dinner scene between the four clones and five of their favorite people. My favorite part is that it seems so casual, even including some clone-on-clone improv, in spite of that fact that it was highly choreographed and then filmed over the course of two long days.

The Best Clone-Swaps

Obviously the best, most impressive part of Orphan Black is the fact that Tatiana Maslany so flawlessly plays so many distinct, different characters. One of the best demonstrations of this is when she plays one of the Leda clones pretending to be another. Sometimes the audience is in on the secret, which is either agonizingly suspenseful or played for laughs, but other times we have no idea, and little idiosyncrasies in her performance tip us off that something is amiss.  

The Entire Final Season in 60 Seconds

If you really want to blow your mind, check out this rapid fire. You’ll recognize some stills and longer clips from the season premiere, like the village, Rachel, and Sarah. There’s plenty more to get excited about, like the return of Crystal, and what appears to be Allison trying to tell everyone at her community theater about the Leda sisters, to the dismay of Felix.

The Final Trip is upon us, sestras. We can’t stop it, so we might as well enjoy it while it lasts, and relive all the great memories in the meantime. I hope these videos reminded you of some of your favorite moments in Orphan Black history, and taught you a thing or two about how the show is made.