The third season of Fringe will be like watching two shows at once. Every other week will take place in our universe, and the episodes in between in the alternate universe where Olivia is now stuck. “This is a great experiment—it’s like two Fringes,” says John Noble, who next season will play both Walter and Walternate. “Walternate appears cold and hard, and that’s the way he’s going to appear for a while. But we have to humanize him, otherwise he’s a two-dimensional character.”

Noble thinks we’re going to find out what’s underneath that exterior soon enough. “We were talking about specifics of how to do it today, and that makes me happy.”

But before delving into the inner workings of Walternate, the premiere episode on September 23 promises to answer questions about Olivia’s fate in the “wrong” universe. “You’ll see a massive episode set in the alternate universe, with our Olivia escaping from the place they put her in,” says Noble. “Anna [Torv] does a really amazing job.”

As the upcoming season explores if the alternate universe is indeed an evil place, Noble acknowledges that splitting the show in two is an enormous risk. Yet, he’s certain that it will pay off. “We took a risk with the flashback episode and that paid off, we took a risk with the musical episode—but this is the biggest,” he says. “Everyone wants to have a good guy and a bad guy, and the alternate universe is the bad guy. But we want to get viewers to know the people there and say, ‘They’re really nice people. No wonder they’re angry.’ It’s almost counterintuitive.”

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It was previously revealed that the series will now alternate between worlds from episode to episode.

The actor old io9:”I really do think that we will see more of Broyles and his wife in the alternate universe.”

He added that the parallel version of his character will become “more intimately connected to the plot” in future episodes.

The second season finale saw Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) trapped in the alternate world, while her doppleganger took her place in the regular universe. Reddick speculated that Broyles will eventually detect the switch.

“Sooner or later, I do believe he’s going to figure out something,” he said. “I just don’t know how long it will take him.”

Fringe returns to Fox on September 23.

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According to producer J.H. Wyman, season three of this Fox drama will focus heavily on “Over There,” saying at Comic-Con over the weekend:

“We want to see how our universe would have evolved had different choices been made along the way. People are really interested in possibilities and choices that you’ve made or could have made that would take your life in a very different direction.”

As for what else fans can expect next season…

Joshua Jackson, on Nolivia: “I think Nolivia and Peter are a more natural personality match than our Olivia and alternate Peter… they just have sort of a more animal understanding of each other. I think they’re almost going to get along too well and then the inevitable wrecking comes and it will tear everything up again.”

Jackson, on his character: “He’s in a really bewildered state. He doesn’t know who to trust or where to go.”

Blair Brown, on alternate Nina: “If she’s about control in this world, she’s about a lack of control in that world. The actress added there will be a lot to come about Nina and Peter’s relationship.

More William Bell on the way? “Should we be able to convince [Leonard Nimoy] to come out of retirement, we have another story to tell,” executive producer Jeff Pinker said.

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Alternate worlds are going to be an even larger aspect of the Fox sci-fi series Fringe when the show returns for a third season on Sept. 23. That means playing a totally different character for most of the cast, including Jasika Nicole. She worried in the beginning about how long her role, a junior federal agent named Astrid Farnsworth, would hang around. “I still take the PDF file and I search for Astrid and I make sure she doesn’t die. You never know!” she says. But her patience has paid off over that slow build, getting to play both Astrid in our world and the very cold and enigmatic Astrid of the alternate universe. She talked at Comic-Con last week about the differences between those characters and what family member she looked to for inspiration for alterna-Astrid, so read below for her thoughts.

When the third season opens, Nicole says, the loyal and warm Astrid we’ve seen for a couple years now will have a closer bond than ever with Walter Bishop (John Noble), since he’s lost the support system he’s had because of the revelations to his son Peter (Joshua Jackson) and FBI Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv). She also says we’ll get to see Astrid’s home this season. “Her apartment is like a hippie den, and she’s got like eight rugs on the floor and all these lamps and rich colors. I would never have known her apartment looked like that,” Nicole says, laughing.

This year, though, she has a whole other character to talk about with the alternate-universe Astrid. Viewers had a chance to meet her in her beret and combat boots briefly in the May season finale, but they’ll see a whole lot more starting in September. “She’s tricky but she’s really cool. She’s so guarded that it’s a little bit easy to play her because I don’t have to relate to anybody. It’s like performing monologues, which is an interesting thing to do in a television show,” Nicole says.

“It’s really just playing a completely different charter, almost in a different show. The alternate universe is so different — none of the characters she interacts with are the same. It’s like doing a regional theater show for summer stock where you’re doing seven different shows at the same time, and you’re rehearsing one show during the day and performing another one at night.”

Nicole’s favorite aspect of playing alterna-Astrid is that she doesn’t make eye contact with anyone, something only sharp-eyed viewers aw in the season finale. “She speaks toward them and she’ll look at them, but not when she’s speaking,” Nicole explains. “That’s really funny to play because people get uncomfortable when I’m doing that in a scene. She doesn’t really respond to their facial expressions or what they’re doing. She’s not interested in that. She’s only interested in relaying the information that she has for them.

“That was something my sister does that I always thought was really interest. She’s not quite as high functioning as Asperger’s, and that was one of the first things that we knew that something was up with her: She would talk to you looking at the side of you, and then she would look at you, and then when she’d start talking again, she would look away. We just thought it was a quirky thing, and come to find out that’s one of many, many different things that kids who have autism tend to get. I’m trying to not incorporate everything about my sister, but just things that I know really well to take from my own experience and put into alternate Astrid.”

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Photo courtesy of FOX.

The actress told Entertainment Weekly that she feels the relationship is progressing at exactly the right pace.

“I think it’s perfect,” she said. “Of course you want them to get together, [but] every time they try, there’s an obstable, and then another obstacle.”

The two characters finally shared a kiss in the second season finale.

“I think that’s as close as [Olivia] gets to declaring her love,” revealed Torv.

She also admitted that she is unsure whether the pair will ever enter into a full-blown romantic relationship.

“I don’t know if that’s ever going to happen,” she said.

The third season of Fringe is due to premiere on Fox on September 23.

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For the Fringe team, meeting their alternate selves in the series’ second season finale was only the beginning. The tug-of-war between this world and the other world will be even further explored as Season 3 deals with the themes of duality, duplicity and the road not taken. “We want to see how our universe would have evolved had different choices been made along the way,” executive producer J.H. Wyman said at the series’ Comic-Con panel Saturday.  “People are really interested in possibilities and choices that you’ve made or could have made that would take your life in a very different direction.” So now that viewers will be spending more time in the alternate universe, we thought we’d make a handy guide to navigating that world with clues and teases from the cast.

1. Don’t underestimate the other universe: John Noble tells TVGuide.com that the alternate universe will play a bigger role this season. Episodes will alternate between showcasing primarily the other world and our world, but with a small hook from the opposite place. Additionally, producers said this season will go back and forth between mythology-heavy episodes and myth-alone episodes with cases.

2. Don’t assume you have Nolivia all figured out: She may be very much in love with her boyfriend, but her mission is to keep an eye on Peter and Walter and she’s sticking to it. “I think Nolivia and Peter are a more natural personality match than our Olivia and alternate Peter … they just have sort of a more animal understanding of each other,” Joshua Jackson said. “I think they’re almost going to get along too well and then the inevitable wrecking comes and it will tear everything up again.”

3. Which means … Olivia is not to be underestimated: First off, don’t expect to stay in confinement for very long, according to Anna Torv. Exclusive new footage from Season 3 not only previewed a steamy kiss between Nolivia and Peter, but a big brawl between the two Olivias. “I always think our Olivia really wants to kind of be the best, whereas [alternate] Olivia just wants to win,” Torv said. “That’s the swagger to her and the earnestness to Olivia.” (Torv’s biggest complaint about her alternate self? “It’s exhausting getting the wig on and off.”)

4. Don’t expect to see Peter over there anytime soon: Besides the fact that it’s impossible, Joshua Jackson says he’s been able to appreciate the show in a new way thanks to his lack of screen time over there. Plus, Peter has plenty of his own emotional baggage to deal with this year. “He’s in a really bewildered state,” Jackson said. “He doesn’t know who to trust or where to go.”

5. Alternate Broyles is not to be trusted … maybe: Lance Reddick has no doubt his character has “enormous respect” for Walternate, but maybe that’s not enough. “At the same time, Broyles is a bit of a maverick, so I guess we’ll see just how that loyalty plays out.”

6. Nina is ready to cut loose in the other world: Viewers will get to see much more than just alternate Nina’s arm this year, Blair Brown said. “If she’s about control in this world, she’s about a lack of control in that world,” Brown said, who also added there is still a lot to discover this year about Nina and Peter’s relationship.

7. And more alternate Astrid!: Alternate Astrid will appear heavily in the first episodes of the new season, according to Jasika Nicole, who describes the other Astrid has machine-like. “Astrid doesn’t have the emotional communication in the alternative universe which she does in this one,” she said. “She’s kind of a loner.”

8. Fans of that world (and this one!) may not have seen the last of William Bell just yet: Despite Leonard Nimoy’s retirement after Season 2, the producers think there’s a possibility he could return. “Should we be able to convince him to come out of retirement, we have another story to tell,” executive producer Jeff Pinker said.

Fringe returns to Fox on Thursday, Sept. 23 at 9/8c.

(Additional reporting by Natalie Abrams)