Hi, guys, how are you doing today?
Hi, Sarah. Yeah, good, thank you.
Congratulations on season two of Alex Rider.
I was hooked from the beginning and it's incredible.
I just wondered if you could start by talking about your roles, your
old characters and new characters
and where they are in the series without giving too much away .
OK, well, I wasn't in the last season.
I'm I'm only in this season and I play a character called Damian Cray.
who is a very
successful,
thrusting, confident
producer of video games
like the most successful video games in the world.
And he's just this kind of
super positive guy leader of his company and all that.
But slowly, it's revealed that there is a back story
to Damian Cray, which slowly reveals that there is
a darker past to him and there are.
There are things going on that
the surface below the surface.
You see what I mean?
And I play Kyra, and she was in series one.
She was in Point Blanc, the school that Alex got sent to
and we became friends and sort of helped each other survive
a lot and then Season 2 Lyra pops
back up again.
When we don't get into trouble.
I can't say much more.
Yeah, I think I think like that as far as we can
go with your character.
I always wonder like
because you guys are playing like roles that
they're uncovered over the series and we can't give too much away.
When you're like talking about the roles of your family or friends,
do you feel like you're kind of in a spy for yourself
going like, Oh, I can't speak about my role,
kind of like hiding it from people that you're close with.
I'm terrible
in secret.
Also, I was like what we were doing a line, so I'm like, Can you do this with me?
And they're like, No, because then if I watch it, it's not a surprise.
I get really annoyed at me, but like, I always give up.
So I'm terribly.
How does it feel coming into the cast as a as a new character?
Kind of a new big figurehead?
Well, it was.
It's it was really fun.
I mean, I it's quite a while before
I actually have any interaction with anybody else.
I mean, it's mostly in his world.
And then
Otto [Farant]'s character comes in.
I went into his world and turns it sort of upside down.
And that's it's really fun because somebody who's
on top of the world and he's super confident
and he's totally in control of this world,
and this kid comes in and turns it upside down ,
and it's suddenly the control starts slipping from its fingers.
And it's it's what does that do that that sort of person and
and the way that that connects with his backstory is really fun as well.
So I really
enjoyed it, and I and I have sort of scenes with
pretty much everybody, you know, at some point.
And it was just really fun kind of getting to work with the all.
Amazing.
And how is it revisiting your character, Marli and bringing Kyra
into like a new level of kind of like story?
Really fun, because Kyra was quite
she's only really seen him point blanc in series one.
So she's going sort of like
it's you obviously behave differently and it's such a closed environment,
whereas now we see her, she meets Tom and she meets
Jack and she meets...
That's too much to give away.
And so it's like, there's a lot more.
You can explore the character when you see them in different environments. And
she also learned a lot from these people that she cheats.
So it's like, I really like where she goes in series two.
You see a different side of it.
Amazing, amazing.
And just go back to you Toby.
Having a tech billionaire.
It's like the main... I put antagonist in
quotes - he is in the books, but in the show, I don't want to reveal too much.
But either they kind of figure was anyone in like real life that you kind of faced
like the two of drew inspiration from?
Well, the thing was, he's in a bit of an outlier because he's a British
billionaire.
And I didn't really want to base him on [James] Dyson.
So it was like, What do I?
What do I do?
I guess what I wanted to do was that I wanted to kind of
take the kind of qualities that I think that those people
who are super successful, those driven people who who who just
they are brilliant at what they do
and they have this drive and positivity and kind of,
you know, like can do attitude and this discipline as well.
And that that's like fantastic
and kind of wonderful.
But if it if it kind of tilts into control
freak, then it becomes something slightly darker.
And I think that's where I like Damian Cray
is that he does have this kind of
side to him, which is revealed as we go on
through that through the series, this driven side, that's a darker
kind of drive.
And and how those two things work together
is like this mask or this glossy mask that he wears.
But underneath it is this kind of slightly tragic human being.
And so I really enjoyed playing that dynamic, and I hope that it works.
And it's really fascinating, because even
though he's got the dark side, he does a lot of good as well
when in fact, yeah, like loads of different causes and I think he is.
I mean, I think what makes it fun is always when,
you know, it's not some, just sort of it's a complex person.
And the thing is, you understand
in a way what makes them tick.
You know, once it's revealed and you go, Oh, that's what you're about,
and that's really sad. And it's kind of.
And so it makes it much more ambiguous for kids.
I mean, I love the fact
that [Anthony] Horowitz paints these characters that are quite complex
and puts these kids in an adult world where it's it is complicated.
Life is complicated, and let's not pretend that it isn't.
You know,
I mean, we don't have to depress them.
Totally.
You know, it's nice challenging them in a way and sort of going, you know,
these are complex characters and complex stories.
Amazing, and you do it so well, I mean, you're great in the show, as are you?
MArli, I think what I love... correct me if I'm wrong,
your character was written for the series and it's not in the books.
Yeah. How is the fan reaction?
Because I just the more I researched, the more I realize that Alex Rider
is such a huge kind of phenomenon with with younger audiences.
How is that their reaction been to this new character?
Really lovely. I was a bit nervous.
for series one coming out.
If people like embrace there or
be a bit like, why is she there?
But no, I think fans have been really lovely
and really like taking her on as part of the team.
And yeah, like also, they just have, I mean, the only sort of,
I guess, because you've also not there's not been a lot of meetings, a
lot from social media. There's like.
Like, let people have their own ideas, I love that like fun
to catch and run with them and figure cigaret like they decide who they are
and where their relationships will go and what they think will happen.
And that's really fun to see my little sister send some screenshots.
I don't her, so she sends me screenshots on Twitter. Oh,
okay, well,
you guys are wonderful and it's been lovely to see you today.
Good luck with the series again.
It's amazing,
and I literally watched the first episode as like, right, six episodes in,
so it's really great.
Thank you.