I'm not sure if Dollhouse would be a great move for Summer. Given the budget cut, painfully low end-of-season rating and return to its Friday slot I think it'll take a miracle for us to get a third season of Dollhouse, and I'd hate to see Summer on yet another show cancelled before its time. With her brilliant role as Cameron on her resume I think Summer could score a big movie role (might even see her in Terminator Salvation 2!). As much as I'd love to see her working with Joss again, I think that's something that should wait for now.

ChromeShark | May 18, 23:58 CET

As much as I love Summer and think she was great on TSCC I too think she shouldn't come onto Dollhouse. Not as a doll at least!

Her last two well known roles were crazy River and Robot Cameron, and I think she should do a "Normal" role before she gets typecast.

zz9 | May 19, 00:07 CET

I would absolutely love to see what Joss could do with Summer!

Lino | May 19, 00:16 CET

I think we've only seen Summer in a kind of specific acting role...either mentally overwhelmed as river or completely devoid of emotion (sort of) as Cameron. I'll bet shes got the acting chops to be a doll, even if the budget cuts mean only a 2-3 episode arc. I'd love to see it.

And I have no doubt that if Joss made a phone call she'd be in at much lower a price than if she were taking on a different show. We all know how much Joss' actor's love and respect him. The only question is if they kiss his ring and call him Godfather behind closed doors.

alexreager | May 19, 00:17 CET

Yeah, as much as I love Summer, it'd be really nice to see her do other things and become a genuine big name star, rather than join Dollhouse. Hopefully, we'll see her and Joss work together again for The Serving Girl anyway; in the meantime, I'd be much happier seeing her in a starring role somewhere else. It'd be nice to see her in something that isn't science fiction for a change (agree with zz9 about typecasting, which would be awful).

MattK | May 19, 00:17 CET

I really want to see what she would do with the lead starring role in a project and not a supporting one for a change - the kind of role she isn't going to find on an already-existing tv show.

brinderwalt | May 19, 00:29 CET

Whether it would be good for her career or not, she would be amazing on Dollhouse. She is such a unique actor, and I would love to see what she would do with the multiple personalities of a Doll.

cinnamon_clover | May 19, 00:41 CET

I think seeing Summer in a ‘normal’ role after seeing her do such amazing roles as Cameron and River, would be massive disappointment. She is better off playing crazy rather than the stereo typical female roles that most actresses play and honestly I couldn't see her playing a (boring) normal female role, she is better than that.

Zoic_Fan | May 19, 01:46 CET

If Summer were to return to the Whedonverse a la Dollhouse, I also think it would be best for her career if the role was only a guest spot. But nonetheless, she'd make the perfect doll!

phyrelight | May 19, 01:52 CET

Joss could always bring her on as a new doll that gets killed. Cause we all know that would go over well. :)

TamaraC | May 19, 01:58 CET

"She is better off playing crazy rather than the stereo typical female roles that most actresses play and honestly I couldn't see her playing a (boring) normal female role, she is better than that."

That's a bizarre attitude to have. So the only options are crazy or stereotyped? Just because someone plays a "normal", i.e. could-actually-exist-in-real-life, character doesn't mean they're boring. People are still people regardless of the stories we put them in to -- to say that somehow a genre character is interesting whilst a real world character is not is sort of missing the point, in my opinion at least.

[ edited by MattK on 2009-05-19 02:05 ]

MattK | May 19, 02:04 CET

Summer did play the girlfriend of one of the guys in "The Unit", a typical girlfriend role. I am not sure she should be an Active in Dollhouse, but maybe a new assistant to Topher who winds up undermining his work. There could be some mysterious firms who wants to either ruin the Dollhouse, or take it over to satisfy their own agendas, and she can be from one of them. Tie that in to an origin story for Topher, and you have a nice storyline. It's a variation of what Dominic tried to do, but worse

[ edited by impalergeneral on 2009-05-19 02:44 ]

impalergeneral | May 19, 02:40 CET

AHHHH!!! Spoiler tags spoiler tags!!! I still haven't gotten around to seeing the finale of Dollhouse and there's spoilers in there!

Turbofist911 | May 19, 03:09 CET

"She is better off playing crazy rather than the stereo typical female roles that most actresses play and honestly I couldn't see her playing a (boring) normal female role, she is better than that".

Such a disservice to Summer. As an actress you want to stretch your acting chops and try all types of roles. I think she would become very depressed if all she ever got to play was crazies.

madmolly | May 19, 03:14 CET

From one of the comments: "Joss seems to be hit-or-miss very often".

Well, at least he's consistent.

ThorpeWithoutShrimp | May 19, 03:43 CET

Summer could play an active from one of the other Dollhouses, perhaps.

I understand that she perhaps ought to look to something else... but she's also the woman who's said, "Sci-fi has been very good to me." And if she ever works with Joss again, you know it's going to be at least a bit of an unusual role.

ManEnoughToAdmitIt | May 19, 05:57 CET

Or maybe Alpha could imprint a copy of himself into Summer as a new way to infiltrate the Dollhouse. They're not gonna see that comin'.

AlanD | May 19, 06:30 CET

All I'm saying that playing characters like Cameron and River are much more challenging for an actress, than the normal roles (cop, lawyer, doctor etc) because these normal roles are such well warn stereo types, that people have been doing for decades. In comparison the characters of Cameron and River seem totally fresh and new (on TV any way).

I also disagree with the idea that playing Cameron and River has somehow pigeon holed Summer, if anything they have show how she has this amazing ability to play such completely polar opposite character, one all emotion and the other, all logic and manipulation.

As I said before, if I heard that Summer signed on to play a typical cop/doctor/lawyer etc. I’d be really disappointed. And If I heard she was doing a role that was as challenging, fresh and original as Cameron and River I’d be jumping for joy. Though Summer would have to be incredibly lucky to find another role as good (and iconic) as Cameron and River.

Zoic_Fan | May 19, 08:07 CET

A guest appearance like Alpha's would be good enough, she can bring much to the show

maz | May 19, 09:27 CET

I understand what you're saying, Zoic_Fan. There are far more interesting roles for women in genre, than in typical TV series (exception: Leverage - the women in Leverage rock).

Shey | May 19, 13:07 CET

With Macadamia gone (the real Mellie--I can never remember her name), a space in the dollhouse has opened... Just because she would he a doll on the show doesn't mean she has to be anyone in specific prior to her wipe, and her primary engagements could be virtually anything.

iwearthecheese | May 19, 14:46 CET

The thing is, the freshness and originality present in (I would argue) all of Summer Glau's past roles has been a direct reflection of Summer's natural talent as an actress. Yes, Cameron Phillips and River Tam are two of the coolest characters (arguably) ever created, but the thing that truly made them so compelling was the unique way in which Summer portrayed them - not the types of characters they were. Since this is a quality inherent of Summer herself, it will carry through to whatever roles she chooses to portray in the future, regardless of type. Obviously not every role out there is going to play so greatly into the specific acting talents she has exhibited in the past, but different types of roles will (I'm sure) bring out new, equally interesting facets of her acting that no one would have suspected she possessed (probably including herself).

This is also the reason why I think she would work better in movies than on tv: She just seems to have such a great breadth of acting talent that I feel it is wasted when she gets stuck portraying a single character over an extended period of time (Yes Dollhouse would seem to make an exception to this, but it really doesn't: Dollhouse is about characters with changeable personalities; the characters stay the same. What I want to see is Summer portaying lots of different characters. Hell, we've seen her do the changeable personality thing before - something which she is stunning at, by the way - but I can't help wanting MORE).

[ edited by brinderwalt on 2009-05-20 00:06 ]

brinderwalt | May 19, 20:31 CET

Honestly, I'd like Joss to stick with casting people we've never seen before. It's kind of a running gag to see which actor he's going to trot back out as a new character. There's no question most of our favorites have the chops, but I'd rather be impressed by people I haven't seen before in Jossian fables. I'm getting bored with saying things like:

"Wow... Fillion nailed that scene. Speaking of which, do you remember the time when he kicked that guy into the running engine? That was sweet!"

azzers | May 20, 03:15 CET