Recently it was announced that comedian Patton Oswalt was joining the Battlestar Galactica prequel/spin-off Caprica. I recently saw the pilot of Caprica and although it was very different from Galactica, it was still quite good. Patton will be joining the cast as a re-ocurring character for the first season of the Syfy Channel’s new drama.

AVClub.com recently talked with Patton about his role and here is what he had to say:

As far as I know, they wanted some other way-bigger-named comedian and then that person dropped out, and I literally got sent the script the day before. I got the script sent to me on a Tuesday, with “Can you fly to Vancouver tomorrow?” Like, on a Wednesday morning, can you get on a plane and go to Vancouver and do all your wardrobe? And then I did that, and Thursday I shot all day. I shot all of the talk-show scenes, and we’re going to go back next week to do a lot of monologue stuff. I’m just going to be a sort of Jon Stewart-esque presence that’s always going to be on television in the background. I think that’s going to be the role I have, though there’s a big confrontation I have with Eric Stoltz and Paula Malcomson.

Then when asked if he would do a regular role on the series he said:

Oh yeah. What’s really odd now—trust me, I love doing movies, but right now, television is the way Hollywood was in the late ’60s and early ’70s. The dream era I would have loved to have been part of in Hollywood then is happening right now, but it’s happening on television, with these big complicated story arcs and real character-driven shows and sheer ambiguity left and right. So to get asked to do stuff like United States Of Tara and Caprica is terrific. I can’t complain. If people wanted me to commit [to shows like that], I’d do it. Imagine if you were asked to come in for something like Breaking Bad or Damages—holy fuck, I would commit to that in a second.

I am glad he is joining the cast and the role sounds very interesting. I am really impressed by what I have seen Patton do recently. His comedic work is outstanding. His hosting duties at Comic-Con was very entertaining. Even his guest spot on Dollhouse was good. I am looking forward to Caprica and this is a good step in the right direction on SyFy’s part.