Whedon, a very vocal "Battlestar" fan, echoed the sentiment. "I don't know where it comes from, but Tahmoh has this wonderful sadness amidst being tall and handsome and strong. He was the first name I came up with to play Paul.
"He brought up this book I'd read, Kazuo Ishiguro's 'Never Let Me Go,' that I'd completely forgotten about as a precursor to 'Dollhouse,' " Whedon said. "At that point we just absolutely clicked." (Penikett said Whedon's reaction was more like: "Oh, my God, I think I jacked the idea from there!")
In the first episode of "Dollhouse," Paul is revealed to be a lethal combination of loner and relentless cop. Penikett couldn't resist.
"I've been wanting to play someone darker. Helo's got his demons, but ultimately he's the most moral, ethical, family-man hero there is," Penikett said. "Paul, you question right off the bat. He's divorced, doesn't have a lot of friends, messed up career-wise a few times and very self-righteous. I immediately wanted to play around with this guy."
If you take the ratings out of the equation, Penikett has had a rather charmed career so far. After growing up the oldest of three kids in Canada's Yukon region, he studied drama in Vancouver and went to work on the city's various productions, including "Dark Angel," "The L Word," "Smallville" and the Canadian police procedural "Cold Squad." His initial stint on the "Battlestar" miniseries turned permanent once the project was ordered to series.
"I knew 'Battlestar' would go on for a while. You could feel it," Penikett said.
He added that the feeling was the same on "Dollhouse" -- even while he was having a tough time keeping track of his character's now-jumbled story. "One of the writers told me they had to make a chart for Paul's arc to keep it all straight," he said. "We just shot Episode 9, and I'm only now beginning to figure things out."
They're all good things, he added quickly with a laugh. But patience will be key.
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denise.martin@ latimes.com
