When Tricia Helfer first stepped into our screens as the enigmatic Number Six on Battlestar Galactica, she became a sci-fi icon—magnetic, mysterious, and unforgettable. The performance earned her a Leo Award and cemented her as one of television’s most compelling presences. Years later, she stole scenes in Netflix’s Lucifer, proving that her range extended well beyond the galaxy. And now, Helfer is venturing into a different kind of uncharted territory: the jungles of Vietnam, surrounded by dinosaurs, in the new action-horror epic Primitive War, now in theaters. 

“It’s like Full Metal Jacket meets Jurassic Park,” Helfer laughs. “I just found it a really fun mashup of genres.” 

A War Film with Teeth 

Based on Ethan Pettus’s cult novel, Primitive War is set in 1968 at the height of the Vietnam War. Vulture Squad, an elite special forces unit, is dispatched to a remote valley to investigate the disappearance of a Green Beret platoon. But what begins as a gritty military mission quickly swerves into a fight for survival when the soldiers encounter prehistoric predators in the jungle. 

“We weren’t playing it as camp,” Helfer explains. “The war element had to feel authentic—the costumes, the missions, the toll it takes on the soldiers. That way, when the dinosaurs arrive, the fear feels real, not just popcorn entertainment.” 

For Helfer, that balance was key. “You’re not just waiting around for two hours for a single dinosaur fight. The creatures are a constant presence. There’s action from the start, and it never lets up. It’s one of those movies that’s just meant for a big screen.” 

Sophia: The Survivor 

In the middle of the jungle chaos is Helfer’s character, Sophia—a Russian scientist and paleontologist who’s been stranded in the valley for nearly a year after losing her entire team. When Vulture Squad finally discovers her, she’s equal parts relieved and wary. 

For Helfer, Sophia was a refreshing departure from the polished roles of her past. “I didn’t have a stitch of makeup,” she says, laughing. “Every day, the team made me look worse—bigger bags under my eyes, dirtier clothes. It was liberating. Vanity was completely out of the equation. Sophia looks like she’s been through hell, and that freed me to lean into her strength and her brokenness.” 

That brokenness, Helfer explains, is what makes Sophia compelling. “She’s been alone, she’s traumatized, she’s self-medicating just to survive. But she also has the knowledge the squad desperately needs. They’ve got the firepower, but she understands the predators.” 

And while Sophia begins as a shattered survivor, her resilience soon takes center stage. “There’s a push and pull,” Helfer says. “She needs the soldiers for protection, but they need her if they want to stay alive. Out of that dependency, she starts to claw her way forward—maybe even toward recovery. She’s traumatized, but she’s not defeated. That’s what made her so exciting to play.” 

War, Horror, Humanity 

On paper, Primitive War sounds outrageous: Vietnam soldiers battling dinosaurs. But Helfer is quick to point out the film isn’t just spectacle—it’s layered with themes of war, trauma, and survival. 

“Even though it’s obviously fiction, the director wanted us grounded in the Vietnam War,” she says. “You see the exhaustion, the toll it takes on these men before the dinosaurs even appear. So when they’re suddenly facing raptors in the trees or massive predators charging through the jungle, the stakes are even higher. They’re already broken down by war. Now they’re fighting something beyond their comprehension.” 

That mix of grit and spectacle was what hooked Helfer. “I hadn’t read the books before, so when I got the script I thought, ‘What is this?’ But the more I read, the more I realized how clever it was. It’s war horror, it’s survival horror, it’s sci-fi. It’s a mashup I’d never seen before. And honestly, it was just fun. As an actor, you don’t get many chances to run through the jungle being chased by dinosaurs.” 

The Big Screen Experience 

With practical effects blended with cutting-edge CGI, Primitive War is designed to be a visceral theatrical ride. “This isn’t one of those movies where you wait an hour and a half for a reveal,” Helfer grins. “The dinosaurs are in it. They’re part of the DNA of the film. It’s two hours of action, suspense, and chaos. The kind of thing you want to see with an audience, where you can feel people gasp, laugh, or jump beside you.” 

And for Helfer, it’s more than spectacle—it’s another opportunity to surprise her audience. “Sophia is unlike any character I’ve played before,” she says. “She’s messy, she’s raw, she’s damaged—but she’s also strong in ways she doesn’t even realize yet. That’s what I love about acting: finding the humanity in these extreme situations.” 

Why She Keeps Going 

Tricia Helfer has spent two decades defying expectations—from a Canadian farm girl turned supermodel, to a sci-fi legend, to a performer unafraid to strip away vanity and dive into the rawest corners of humanity. In Primitive War, she’s at her most unvarnished yet, battling both inner demons and prehistoric predators in a story that is as much about survival as it is about spectacle. 

And if there’s one throughline in her career, it’s resilience. Whether she’s commanding the screen as a seductive Cylon, Lucifer’s celestial mother, or now a paleontologist clinging to life in the jungle, Helfer brings a rare mix of strength and vulnerability that makes her impossible to look away from. 

“I came into this business in a roundabout way,” she reflects. “But what’s kept me here is the feeling acting gives me—the ability to dig into the human condition, to express sides of myself I usually keep hidden. That’s what I love. That’s why I keep going.” 

With Primitive War, Helfer once again reinvents herself—proving that even after 20 years in the business, she’s still willing to take risks, still finding new layers, and still commanding our attention. This summer, she’s not just facing dinosaurs on screen—she’s reminding us why she’s one of the most dynamic talents of her generation.