by Jen “Lil’ Bit” Schleusner
In this Claudia Black Dragon Con interview, the Farscape and Stargate SG-1 star gets candid about community, creativity, neurodivergence, burnout and finding her voice.
Best known to science fiction fans as Aeryn Sun on Farscape and Vala Mal Doran on Stargate SG-1, Black joined members of the press for a candid conversation about community, creativity, neurodivergence, burnout and learning to use her voice for herself as well as others.
Returning to Dragon Con after 20 years, Black also shared details about her new podcast and why she wants to create a different kind of space for meaningful conversations.
Finding Community at Dragon Con
Asked what Dragon Con and its fans understand about community, Black described conventions as “interest-led, passionate, heart-centered, community-based spaces.”
For Black, conventions are about much more than the actors appearing as guests. They give people a place to reconnect with friends, celebrate shared interests, be creative and embrace parts of themselves they may not always feel comfortable expressing elsewhere.
She also reflected on her own journey with neurodivergence and masking. Black said she has spent much of the last decade and a half understanding how neurodivergence has shaped her life. Today, she is learning to live a less masked and more authentic life.
Burnout, Boundaries and Finding Her Voice
The conversation became especially personal when Black was asked what she would want younger women — or anyone struggling with burnout and invisible labor — to know.
Black said she had always been good at standing up for other people but had not always used that same voice to advocate for herself.
That realization eventually led to a larger conversation about boundaries, toxic power dynamics and the pressures placed on people working in the entertainment industry.
“We should not be selling our wounds,” Black said while discussing the importance of deciding what parts of our experiences we choose to share.
Black also spoke about training as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner [SEP] and how understanding the nervous system changed the way she approached her own well-being.
Listen to an excerpt here:
Claudia Black’s New Podcast: Airstreaming
That work is now helping shape Black’s newest project: a podcast she is quietly launching.
Rather than creating another traditional interview show, Black wants the podcast to provide a different kind of space for conversation.
She explained that boundaries are established with guests before they ever appear on camera. Those boundaries are checked again on the day of recording, and guests can ask for something to be removed if they later feel they shared too much.
The project also has a small female team, including Lisa DelMonte, whom Black first met through her connection with the Jim Henson Company during the early days of Farscape.
Black hopes listeners will feel as though they have simply been invited to take a seat in the conversation.
The discussions may feel relaxed, but the subjects won’t necessarily be light. Black plans to explore topics including grief, neurodivergence, education, healing, creativity and finding practical tools that can make life a little easier.
Creating Spaces That Work
Neurodivergence became another major theme of the conversation.
Black discussed her own experiences as well as those of her children. She emphasized the importance of finding environments that understand different ways of learning rather than automatically treating those differences as problems.
She also talked about helping young people learn to advocate for themselves while recognizing that asking for help can itself be difficult.
Her larger goal — both personally and through the podcast — is to share useful tools, connect people with knowledgeable voices and create spaces where people don’t have to leave pieces of themselves at the door.
From Farscape to Stargate SG-1
Of course, there was still time for a little science fiction.
Asked about joining the already-established cast of Stargate SG-1 after spending years on Farscape, Black recalled that her first appearance was only supposed to be a single episode.
Instead of worrying only about how she would fit into the group, she approached the experience by asking what she could contribute.
Apparently, it worked.
That single appearance as Vala Mal Doran eventually became something much bigger — another memorable character in a career filled with women Black describes as wild, alive and rebellious.
Twenty years after her last Dragon Con appearance, Claudia Black returned with plenty of stories from the past. But much of this conversation wasn’t about looking backward.
It was about what she’s learned, what she’s still learning and how she’s trying to build something different moving forward.
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