Steve Bacic: "I looked closely at the description of what a Nietzschean is in the broad sense of the show. A Nietzschean will do what's best for the survival and prosperity of him or herself and their race. Ironically, helping bring down the Commonwealth was, in actuality, a mistake on the part of Rhade and his people. The Commonwealth was the 'glue' if you will that held all the Nietzschean prides together and stopped them from destroying one another. With that glue gone, the clans began fighting amongst themselves because it's in their very nature. Initially, I was a bit nervous about playing the part because I'm a lot looser than Rhade. I like to relax and have fun with a character and always try to incorporate some humour into my performance. There were a couple of times in this episode where, as Rhade, I was able to do this, all based, of course, on Dylan's reactions. It was easy, though, because I felt comfortable working with Kevin Sorbo. <...> We discover that it must have deeply hurt Rhade to have betrayed Dylan. He'd been involved in planning the downfall of the Commonwealth for years. Part of that plan involved him getting closer and closer to Dylan without ever revealing his hand. Rhade saved his life once, and even agreed to be best man at his wedding. He did all this willingly, but with the knowledge that he would one day probably have to destroy Dylan and all that he held dear. Again, a very human struggle within a Sci-Fi story." (Summer 2001 TV Zone Special #42)

Keith Hamilton Cobb: "Right now Dylan is really the last best hope, not only for the Commonwealth, but also for Tyr. Certainly Tyr has goals and ambitions, but this seems to be the most pragmatic way of reaching them, even if he has to put up with any amount of ethical, moralistic hogwash, from his perspective, for a while. And despite himself, these people can't help but in some way, grow on him. So, given that he is a thoughtful Nietzschean and trying to figure out where he sits, this questions of who am I, of what am I, pop up in his head a lot. And being confronted with these people on a daily basis, I think he can't help but sort of grow towards them, and they towards him on some levels. But there's always going to be a difference.
I think that the writers in general had a difficult time because it is not a character that you can apply typical human sensibilities to. We're finding more and more that he is very human in many ways. They are ostensibly human beings, the Nietzscheans, but what tended to happen was that the writing initially was extremely one-dimensional. As I began to play the character and maintain a dialogue with [the writers], I tried to make it clear that you are going to see this character thinking about other things other than "how can I kill all the crew this week?" I look for the characters who express a great deal of feeling in their words. Who take stock in saying something beautifully, because there's so much feeling in it. He is laughing and smiling more now because things are a bit more relaxed, he's becoming more comfortable with the crew. Yet still so much of what he feels he can only express in the turn of a phrase." (8.12.00 Space.com)

Keith Hamilton Cobb: "We have two alpha males on board this ship, and Dylan is the power broker, so he would be Tyr's chief concern. The rest of the crew isn't terribly significant in terms of what Tyr's needs are. He has to tolerate them, and in fact, over time, he'll learn from them an grow. He has to reflect upon the things that they say and do. There's no getting away from them, so he becomes infused with this never-ending litany of ehtical and moralistic values he never would have stopped to consider before. <...> [He] has to soften. He could kill these people and take their ship, but then he's alone. You have to remember, nobody wants him. He was deemed genetically inferior by all Nietzscheans because his pride was destroyed. Nobody wants him, so he can't join another pride. Maybe he could sell the Andromeda and wander around, but he was discovered wandering around working for this rat-faced guy. Doesn't he have anything better to do? Maybe if he just sits this out, he can put the pieces together - aggravating as it is to do it by this means, plodding along with these people and talking to every little insignificant [in Tyr's view] conclave of species and beings." (02.01 Starlog #283)

<...> Tyr's people have a history. "He is removed from that history,'' Cobb says, "which is a good thing. It allows him to be more profoundly affected by what other people do and say, to consider concepts beyond himself and his needs. It also causes him psychological turmoil that is interesting to watch on camera. <...> You can make an ally of Tyr if you understand what he wants and needs, but you have to think in his terms, which is what Hunt is trying to do. And you also have to remember that he is a Nietzschean. He must always have that part of him that you just can't trust." (3.03.01 PR News Wire)

"Dylan has some trust issues with Tyr," says Sorbo. "This is mainly because the Nietzscheans were the chief instigators in the fall of the Commonwealth. The are a selfish, treacherous race that is concerned only about their own needs. On the other hand, Tyr is also very intelligent and, like his species, was bred for survival. These are qualities Dylan admires. So he needs Tyr on his side. Over time, the two allies will come to understand more about what makes the other tick." (06.01 TV Zone #139)

Keith Hamilton Cobb: "It's part of a Nietzschean's modus operandi to convince others that you could care less what they have to say, when, in fact, you really do. Tyr's not very good at it. As time goes on, I suspect we'll find that he isn't as committed to certain Nietzschean ideals as he'd have us believe. <...> Tyr and Dylan are like two pit bulls or alpha males trying to coexist on the same turf." (08.01 TV Zone #141)

Keith Hamilton Cobb: "Prosthetic forearm applications do NOT a Nietszchean make! When you can take any cross-eyed jamoke off the street (fat, skinny, tall, short), dress him in black, slap a pair of these rubber bone things on him and have yourself an instant genetically engineered super-human, something is really really wrong. This was not TPTB's attempt to emasculate Tyr. It was Keith Hamilton Cobb's attempt to force the focus onto Tyr's strength, and huge, unexplored, disrespected Nietszcheanness. I don't know that it was a successful gambit, but at least I no longer have to wear that uncomfortable idiocy on my arms." (17.10.02 KHCobb Message Board)

Keith Hamilton Cobb: "What creates interesting dynamics between characters is energy as well as actual acts. By that I mean energy of personalities, whether in conflict or cahoots as it were. As long as we have that with all of our Andromeda characters they'll be fun to watch and will continue to develop. That said, I felt the show's second season was a rather disappointing one for Tyr. He had a couple of episodes that gave him some scenery to chew on, and then suddenly halfway through the year he seemed to fall off the radar. I had hoped that last season would've, perhaps, been the one where we began to further delve into the Tyr character and give him a bit more depth. His relationships with the rest of the Andromeda crew were just waiting to be explored, but really weren't. <...> It is very easy to say that Tyr's modus operandi is that he wheels and deals with everyone for his own good and personal gain. That ia a very simple overview and one that doesn't work for me. There is got to be more to him and Nietzscheans in general or they wouldn't be around.

<...> I've said all along that in strict terms Tyr doesn't fill the archetype of his species. He's very much his own person. However, what he ended up being here was wishy-washy, and that's not Tyr. The one thing he does do is make decisions and stick to them, whether they be good, bad or indifferent. <...> We've had long discussions [with new head writer Bob Engels] about who Tyr is and what he needs to be. I thought this was my opportunity with a new writer coming in to solidify some of the things I've been pushing for during the past two years. We need to nail down Tyr's characteristic imperatives so that they don't change from episode to episode or script to script. I'm pleased to say we've been somewhat successful so far in doing that and the process is an ongoing one. Bob is trying to cut back on the technobabble to the point where it does not obscure the tale but not so much so that you can't call it Sci-Fi. I think the fans would like to see more stories about our characters interacting. Bob clearly understands that and things seem to be heading in that direction, which is going to be exciting." (11.02 TV Zone #156)

"I'm still playing the same character. There have been shifts in the way they are writing him and the things that are suggested by the writing. But I am still playing the character that I created in season one, because I created a character with very concrete sensibilities and paradigms. That is how I work." (05.03 Dreamwatch # 104)

Gordon Michael Woolvett: "You know it's funny. I think the only people that truly understand Harper, other than the writers of course, are the fans. I'm a bit of a smart ass, and you don't tend to take people like that very seriously. So I think people will, on first viewing, not take Harper very seriously. [They will] get a laugh out of him, they will either like him or they won't like him. But I think the fans that come every week are going to start to see there is actually a side to Harper that does need to be taken seriously. All this joking and all this sarcasm comes from a really tormented past. .... From what I gather, Earth is pretty much a past war zone, just complete wasteland. [Harper] was born and raised in a refugee camp, but he survived. And he survived battle after battle, raids of Magog. Probably everybody that Harper knew died. And he just managed to scrape up enough money to get some backyard garage job of a datalink rammed into his neck and get the hell off the Earth with Beka. Everything else is probably pretty damn dark. <...> Harper is able to be sarcastic [while] thinking about 45 other things at the same time." (17.11.00 Space.com)

Executive producer Allan Eastman: "We needed somebody who would react to situations with attitude and humour and be a counter-weight to the intenseness of Tyr or the military bearing of our hero."
Gordon Michael Woolvett: "One of the things that attracted me to the character, was that I could see on the page that this was a part that would meld really well with ad libbing." Rather than work entirely from a script during the audition, Woolvett ad libbed. It was a strategy that worked. During the casting session, Woolvett did read the dialogue presented to him ... he just added to it and threw in some of his own gestures and smart-ass comments into the mix. <...> I try to have fun with what I'm doing, but I don't go for the laugh from the audience, I go for the laugh of my fellow actors. It's not me Gord trying to come up with a funny way to do the scene. It's Harper messing around and joking with his friends." (Spring 2001 Parsec magazine, Canada)

"Harper is Einstein in a surfer dude's body, that is how I like to describe him. Don't give him any coffee or uppers, he is on a natural and perpetual high," chuckles Kevin Sorbo. "Gordon Woolvett is a very good actor. Halfway through the first season the writers caught on to his specific hanter and began writing to that. Harper is an interesting guy. I mean, he can make a Porsche out of a toaster! What is not to like about him?" (06.01 TV Zone #139)