Mike Dopud seems to be one of Canada’s most prolific actors, a performer who has been in just about everything at one time or another. Once you know his face it’s easy to spot him as a square-jawed leading man, a nondescript criminal called in to break someone’s legs, or a stunt performer narrowly escaping a speeding collision.

Dopud also did a little bit of everything on the Stargate franchise, from stunts to bit parts to a major recurring role in the second season of Stargate Universe: Varro, a member of the Lucian Alliance, who chooses to go straight and join the crew of Destiny after his crew failed in an attempt to take control of the ship. He is one of a few actors who has appeared on all three Stargate series, in three (or more) roles.

We had a chance to sit down face-to-face with Mike at Gatecon: The Celebration in 2022, and we are happy to finally bring you this conversation! Mike shares a bit about moving from stunt work to acting, his various Stargate characters, and what he wanted to see for Varro’s future on board Destiny.

GateWorld’s interview with Mike Dopud runs about 13 minutes. Watch it below, or read the complete transcript. Audio listeners can also find the audio player above, and search for “GateWorld Interviews” wherever you get your podcasts.

GateWorld: Mike Dopud, welcome to Gatecon! I shouldn’t say welcome – I should say thank you for coming to Gatecon, because we’re now at the end of the convention. But how has your convention experience been?

Mike Dopud: Oh, it’s been amazing. This is probably, arguably one of the most fun conventions I’ve been to. Because of the pandemic, for two years nobody could do anything. And I’ve had other commitments cancel on me – not cancel on me, per se, but just because of the pandemic. But seeing all the guys that I haven’t seen in so many years, all the other actors from the Stargate franchise – it’s been amazing. Just reconnecting with everybody has been just great. It’s been a blast.

GW: Gatecon is a special kind of event, right? Because — you guys are here to work, but for all of us it’s also family. It’s a special kind of convention. So when we missed in 2020 and then in 2021 it was like missing a family reunion.

MD: Absolutely. And again, that’s what I think makes Gatecon so special: I think it’s the most family oriented or family feeling convention that I’ve ever been to. Everybody knows each other, and most of the people have been here from … like I remember my first one was in 2016, and a lot of the same people are still here. And the volunteers! And 2018, and then now in 2022.

So it’s amazing. It’s nice to reconnect with everybody and see a place full of people is nice, right? Instead of doing these Zoom conventions. It’s been such a great weekend. And the weather held out! It was pretty good. So it was great.

Mike Dopud as Russian Colonel Chernovshev. From “Full Alert”

GW: Well, when we have an hour with somebody, we want to do a deep dive into a person’s character, their work, [and] their work on Stargate. We don’t have that much time … and you have a ton of characters that you’ve played on Stargate! So take it from the top.

Your first appearance, I think, was in “Full Alert” in Season 8, wasn’t it?

MD: Was that with Colonel Chernovshev?

GW: Chernovshev, yeah – or however you pronounce it. Had you auditioned for the show a bunch before that?

MD: No, I didn’t actually. I hadn’t really auditioned much but I did some stunt roles on the show. I played some Jaffa and stuff – just basically ND [nondescript] stunt performers. Whenever that was an explosion or something, that’s me in the background, flying around.

But some of the producers – and Amanda Tapping, if I remember correctly – came to see a play that I was doing with J.R. Bourne at the time. And then they were like, “Wait a second, you’re an actor.” And Peter DeLuise, who was a director-producer at the time, saw me in this play as well. And he just explained to me – “Wait a second, I thought you were stunt guy. I didn’t know you were [an actor].” I said, “Yeah,” [and] he goes, “Well how come you’re not auditioning for the show?” And I said, “Well, they know me as a stunt guy.” And then I guess the casting didn’t realize that I was an actor.

Odai Ventrell interrupts Mitchell’s high school reunion. From “Bounty”

And then my agent started pushing for auditions, and then I read for Chernovshev and got it. They didn’t realize I’m Serbian, so very similar to Russian as well. And I understand a lot of Russian. I can speak some Russian. So it worked out really well.

GW: And then you’re back on the show in Season 10, in “Bounty,” playing Odai Ventrell.

MD: Odai Ventrell – and what a fun character that was! And again, Peter DeLuise was directing that one, and I just had a blast. And you know, what’s amazing about the Stargate family is all the series regulars, even though they knew me as a stunt guy or whatever, really respected me as an actor as well. And as soon as they saw me they were happy to see me. So it really made that episode just a blast to be a part of.

GW: Your work on Stargate is … well, these first two roles on SG-1, they’re a bit on the antagonistic side. And then when you come along in Atlantis you play a really interesting character called Kiryk [“Tracker”].

MD: Yeah, and Will Waring directed that. And Kiryk was, again, another great character to play. So my background in film was when I watched the original Mad Max with Mel Gibson I told myself, “I have to be in movies.” That post-apocalyptic world … I don’t know if you remember what he was wearing when he was limping with his knee brace, and he’s got the patchy leather outfit and such. And then Kiryk ended up wearing a similar type of outfit. So for me it was just fun, and I was very lucky that they ended up choosing me for that role.

Dr. Keller (Jewel Staite) tries to help Kiryk. From “Tracker”

And I know at the time Joe Mallozzi had explained to me (Joe was one of the main producers on the show) they’d been looking for this character for a while. And it just worked out. So it was, again, another great character to play. And Jewel Staite was great in it, and David Hewlett, and Jason Momoa. We had our fight scene and I got to know Jason. These are some great people to work with.

GW: Kiryk is a complex guy, because he’s not just the sort of flat antagonist or obstacle to the plot, but he’s front and center and he’s got the sympathetic side. And you’re running around the woods with Jewel …

MD: And a little girl that I’m trying to rescue, right?

GW: And it’s breaking through kind of the “tough guy” veneer, I guess a little bit.

MD: Yeah, and that’s what was interesting. That’s what drew me to the character was he had feeling. He cared, he had empathy. But at the end of the day he was still a Runner, and he could still be violent if he needed to be, and he knew how to protect himself. But the end-all be-all was trying to save this girl, and that’s what he was all about.

GW: Well, of course, we know you most in the Stargate world as Varro on Stargate Universe, because you finally had a chance here to build an ongoing, recurring character that had a little bit more dimensionality to him. How did the casting originally come about? Because I know that casting for Stargate was sometimes a little bit leery of using somebody without prosthetics, right? Using the same actor [again].

The Lucian Alliance prepares to take Destiny, under the command of Kiva (Rhona Mitra). From “Incursion, Part 1”

MD: I know, and we were trying to figure that out. Because originally there was another character – one of the series regulars – that I had been approached about wanting to ask if I should read for. And then they said, “Actually, you know what, you can’t because MGM has said that your character Kiryk in Atlantis was quite a substantial role, and that character resonated with a lot of people.” So how do we play that? How do we parlay that into another character? How do we make that work?

And then Paul Mullie and Joe Mallozzi ended up coming to me, asking me to read for the character named Varro. And that was towards the end of Season 1 – the last three episodes, playing a member of the Lucian Alliance. And somehow they made it work. And I guess MGM at that point was okay with it.

And so again, to my benefit, I was so lucky that I ended up playing this amazing character Varro on the show. And then after Season 1 ended they asked me to come back for Season 2.

GW: And you’re in enough episodes then, are you contributing to the development of this character or are you just taking it off the page?

MD: No, I think as an actor you always try to contribute as much as you can. And I did have some conversations with Joe and Paul as far as where are we going with this character. And they were not on the same page, if I remember correctly, as far as Varro ends up having a relationship with T.J. on the show. So it was really interesting. And I don’t think they were necessarily buying into it, because some were Team Young, some were Team Varro, as far as with T.J. And so that was really interesting. But I’d mentioned how I thought it was important.

Varro and T.J. (Alaina Huffman) share a personal moment. From “Alliances”

But again, they’re great writers, so at the end of the day you let them figure out which way to go. And they wanted to incorporate some of my action stuff as well. So we were able to do that too.

GW: And that dynamic afforded you a chance to work more with Alaina Huffman.

MD: Yes! And Alaina has become a great friend, and she’s an amazing actor. And I think there was great chemistry between Varro and T.J. So I think it really worked. And I know this simply because I remember being in Atlanta, the Atlanta airport, flying back to L.A., and two security guards pull me over. And I thought, “What did I do? What do I have in my bag? What’s wrong with …”

“Excuse me, sir, can you come with us?”

I’m like, “Oh, what have I done?” And they’re like, “We just wanted to tell you that we so want you and T.J. to be together!” [Laughter] “So it’s not me, it’s Varro!” And they’re like, “Well, yes. But we think you guys are perfect together.” And so that was really, really fun to see.

GW: That’s amazing. “T.J.’s very special. Make sure you treat her right right!” … like her brothers.

So who is Varro? What is this guy’s inner monologue? Once the Lucian Alliance’s initial incursion onto Destiny is over he makes it pretty clear that he’s going to be an ally. He’s going to play ball. He was the contrast to Robert Knepper’s Simeon – [who was] clearly the guy with the lit fuse who was going to go off at some point. What makes Varro tick?

Varro stares down Simeon (Robert Knepper). From “Aftermath”

MD: For Varro is was all about justice and doing things the right way. Even though, yes, he did kill people and he was that – but he was still about trying to find a way to create this world to be one. He didn’t believe in an arrogant, strong takeover, [a] violent takeover. That was never his mission. And then Robert Knepper’s character obviously wanted it to be more violent, and wanted the takeover to be something fierce.

So I think really for Varro, he just wanted to find the right way to do things. And I think that’s why he was able to get along with the crew from the Destiny, because you knew what Varro was about. There was no nothing mysterious about him, in a sense [of] what’s underlying … what’s he really trying to get after? What does he want? No, he just wants to make things work. And I think he felt better being part of the Destiny crew.

GW: Yeah, the Lucian Alliance had done some pretty scary stuff, forcibly recruiting some of its members. It’s nice to see that with Varro’s character, and with Ginn (played by Julie McNiven), these characters who seem like they’re ready to get out.

MD: Yeah. I think that was it – I think Varro and Ginn were searching for a way out. And I think being on Destiny, I think they saw their path. “Okay, this is more like our characters, or our people – who we really are.”

GW: Well, of course, for fans the million dollar question is: If there had been a third season, where would you have liked to see Varro go?

Varro and MSgt. Greer (Jamil Walker Smith) search for T.J. on an alien world. From “The Hunt”

MD: Oh, that’s so good! It’s been a while since I’ve thought of this, but I think Varro at that point would have been fully integrated into the Destiny crew. And I think he wanted to be part of something special. And I believe, even if that was with T.J. or not – I’m sure that’s where Varro would have wanted to be – but I think at the end of the day, he really wanted to be part of the crew and part of something positive.

GW: That’s fantastic. Well, what have you been working on lately that we can check you out in?

MD: Well, I do have a movie coming out December 2, [2022]. Universal Pictures. It’s called Violent Night, starring David Harbour and John Leguizamo, Beverly D’Angelo, Alex Hassell, myself. And it is a different take on a Christmas movie. I’ll leave it at that. You can even say it’s “Die Hard with Santa Claus.”

GW: Die Hard is already a Christmas movie, right?

MD: Yeah, I think so! I think it’s a great Christmas movie.

GW: This afforded you a chance to work directly with David Harbour?

MD: Yes, some CGI sequences … but David and I, yes. We have an amazing encounter in the movie. I’ll leave it at that.

GW: It sounds like a lot of fun. Thanks for coming back to Gatecon. Real pleasure to get to talk to you.

MD: Thank you. I really had a great time this weekend.