“Fringe” star John Noble discusses series and its finale

John Noble stars as Walter Bishop in "Fringe." - Fox Photo

(This story was published in the Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman on Friday, Jan. 18, 2013.)

With mankind’s destiny at stake, the sci-fi drama “Fringe” ends its five season series run with a two-hour, two-episode finale airing at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 18 on Fox.

“Fringe” has centered on Special Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv), eccentric scientist Walter Bishop (John Noble), his jack-of-all-trades son Peter (Joshua Jackson) and Walter’s assistant Astrid Farnsworth (Jasika Nicole) as members of a team investigating mysterious events involving parallel universes, doppelgangers, Observers (advanced human beings), and innumerable anomalies. The relationships among the characters have been just as important to the story as the science fiction element.

Australian actor Noble, 64, shared his thoughts on the series and its conclusion during a recent media conference call.

Q: What do you take away from working on “Fringe?”

A: Doing something of this nature was new to me. I’d never done anything which required a five-year commitment. To build a show that seems to have kept the imagination of the world, actually, so much was a bit otherworldly to be honest with you. I would go to anywhere in the world, really, and people would stop me in the street and talk about “Fringe,” and how much they adored it, and asked questions about it. The international reach of “Fringe,” I think, still catches me by surprise a bit at times. Also, I was given the gift of a character that is every actor’s dream. So you combine those two factors and it’s been an incredibly memorable five years.

Q: What was your reaction to the ending, and how was the final day on set?

A: I think we were all apprehensive to see what would happen in the finale. We didn’t know until really quite late in the piece how Joel (Wyman, executive producer, writer, director) would finish it off. I can honestly say that it was everything that I had hoped it could possibly be. When I read it, I thought that he had done a masterly job in writing it, tied up our character lines, tied up the great story arc. I couldn’t imagine a better job, to be honest with you. So, I was extremely elated when I read the final episodes.