Thanks to SpoilerTV and FlashForward Series.com for these preliminary scans.

by David Hochman

Photograph by Smallz & Raskin

Another day on the set of FlashForward, another lesson in quantum brain dynamics for Dominic Monaghan. “There are extreme electromagnetic energies in the consciousness field,” he says earnestly, before starting to laugh. “Oh, thank God I bought An Idiot’s Guide to Quantum Physics. I wouldn’t have a clue what I was talking about.”

Having a script from this sci-fi drama in hand helps, too. As quantum physicist Simon Campos, Monaghan is the villainous brainiac behind the worldwide blackout that left billions grappling with revelations about their future. Then again, Simon may have nothing to do with it. “It’s unclear yet whether Simon’s a good guy or a bad guy, and whether he knows everything or just a little,” Monaghan says. “I’m taking the one-episode-at-a-time approach.”

That’s pretty much the way FlashForward sees its future, too. The much-hyped ABC show has struggled to find traction—and viewers. Audiences shrank from 12.5 million to 7.07 million after just three months. Monaghan, however, insists the drama is primed like a laser in vector space for its second half (which begins with a two-hour opener tonight).

“Coming back, we’re giving a lot of answers about how much Simon knows and where he stands morally,” he says. We’ll also learn more about Simon’s cohort in blackout science, Lloyd Simcoe (Jack Davenport), who was abducted in the episode before the hiatus. Meanwhile, electricity builds in Simon’s relationship with Special Agt. Janis Hawk (Christine Woods).

Monaghan was already familiar with the behind-the-scenes dramas of network series. As the heroin-addled rock star Charlie on Lost, he watched ABC scramble to energize that show by introducing a cast of “Others” in Season 2. “People were asking, ‘Where’s Charlie? Where’s Hurley?’” And by the Season 3 finale, Charlie was dead—although Monaghan has returned for the occasional flashback and will appear in the Lost finale in May. “I can’t tell you what I’ll be doing, but Charlie will be back,” he says.

Simon, meanwhile, is as different from Charlie as Charlie was from Merry, his “Lord of the Rings” Hobbit. But the role was created specifically for Monaghan. “I’m an obsessive Dom fan,” says Jessika Borsiczky, FlashForward’s exec producer. “We asked him, ‘What do you want to do next? We’ll write it for you.’” He asked to be a bad guy. “Simon is by far the darkest character I’ve played,” he says. In his flash-forward, Simon strangles a man, and he’s the sort of intense dude who gets off talking about pulsed lasers and plasma afterburners. “His cerebral demeanor is completely foreign to me,” Monaghan says. “I’m usually a sunshine-on-my-forehead kind of guy.”

Which is unusual for a guy who grew up mainly in gloomy Manchester, England, where his dad was a teacher and his mom a nurse. Sitting in his trailer on the FlashForward set, Monaghan has a wiry, spritelike presence, which makes him appear younger than his 33 years. “Simon is the first actual adult I’ve played, and I like that,” he says. “It makes me feel kind of manlike.”

Not that Monaghan has trouble in that department. He has famously been dating his gorgeous former Lost costar Evangeline Lilly on and off since 2004, though, when pressed, Monaghan says they aren’t exclusive. “I’m in and out of different relationships all the time,” he says. “I think that’s how it works when you’re young and moving around.” Now there’s a statement even a quantum physicist like Simon couldn’t save him from.