Rene Echevarria may now be co-executive producer on 20th Century Fox series 'Dark Angel', but in some ways finds himself unable to leave his past with Deep Space Nine as series supervising producer behind - at least when it comes to not knowing what will be happening from week to week with the show.

'Dark Angel', which is set in the near-future after an economic-apocalypse in America, features the talents of Jessica Alba as Max, described as "a genetically engineered supergirl". Unfortunately, on the production side of things, it also features an unwanted ability to consistently run over-budget which, coupled with less-than-stellar ratings, is leading to speculation that the show, brainchild of 'Titanic' director James Cameron, will get the axe - a second season of the show has yet to be confirmed.

Echevarria is quietly confidant that the show will get at least one more season, though he is well aware of the realities of the industry. "It's certainly not assured," he told Kate O'Hare of Zap2It.com. "I feel pretty confident about it, but it's certainly not assured. It never is, in this business. [...] The ratings are not blockbuster, but they're very respectable. We definitely have a core audience, and somehow we very quickly became a band name. Everyone knows `Dark Angel" He then adds that "this [the hesitation to renew] has to do with the fact that it is a very expensive show" but thinks that "it will come at the last moment."

But how does this relate to DS9? "A lot of TV is about being predictable," he remarks. "People know what they're going to get, and they come to a show for a certain comfort. `Deep Space Nine' was a show where, you just never knew what it was going to be." He believes that 'Dark Angel' shares this trait with the third Star Trek series. "I was talking to Ira Behr this morning," Echevarria said. "He asked if we'd heard anything, and I said, `No,' and in a funny way, this show is a little bit like `Deep Space Nine,' in that you don't know what you're going to get every week."

The full interview with Rene Echevarria can be found here at Zap2It.com (via The Trekker Newsletter)

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