(dramatic music)
- [Male] The sword is cursed.
It will corrupt all who raise it.
- This is the kind of sword that gets you noticed.
- Now this show has so many fight scenes and stunts.
What kind of training did you have to do
before shooting "Cursed"?
- This role was really interesting and different
in the sense that you just mentioned,
it required me to use my body in a way
that I haven't had to before in other roles.
But as a former athlete it was something
I was really excited about.
So I think we had about a three to four week period
before we started shooting.
And it was sort of like a bootcamp set up.
So I would do three to four hours
of swords and horse-riding,
and then once shooting started it kind of just
became part of the every day to day.
- Learning, you know, fight training in terms of boxing,
how to hold yourself as a person,
how to hold a sword, how to...
Where to put your hands.
It was one of those things where you
just didn't want to look stupid on screen,
that people were like oh you look like you can't fight.
So it was constant work over 10 months,
and I think by the end of it you're like
I feel comfortable just being authentic in the character.
- Yeah, lots of horse riding, lots of training,
and a lot of things that I wanted to do
that I felt were important to this character.
So I took ballet classes.
I took foraging classes on how to live
out in the wild in Scotland.
I worked with a movement teacher on getting
the weeping Monk's expression to be the thing
that was most important to him.
And so a lot of work on that.
- I promised her.
And Arthur, I will keep that promise.
- This show is set in a mythical world,
but it feels like the subject matter
couldn't be more relevant.
What message do you hope that viewers
take away from this show?
- Yeah, I think it discusses a lot about
demonization of other and why do you think that,
why do you believe.
Even playing a person of color in the role of Arthur,
if you do have a problem with that,
why is it, because, you know, it's a myth,
it's a legend, there's a magical sword.
- And I think there are a lot of messages
that you can take from the show, but, you know,
we definitely address within the story
and within this world, you know,
senseless war and oppression of minorities,
and you really see the theme of justice
and having to really find your courage.
- I hope it raises certain questions
around the legitimacy of power,
but then it also highlights other themes as well.
You know, the duration of the natural world,
persecution of minorities and indigenous people.
So there's, yeah, there's a lot at play.
- [Female] Hold that sword and lead.
- Lead them where?
To more slaughter?
- Shooting the show for 10 months,
what was it like being immersed in this world for so long?
- It was grueling.
It was amazing.
It was an amazing physical, emotional and mental journey,
'cause one day you're in a battle scene
with a hundred plus people and the next day
you're crying to your queen.
It was a constant juggle of emotions, but amazing.
- When I signed on, I signed on before
any of the scripts were even finalized.
I just loved the story and really wanted to be a part of it.
But when I signed on it was a six month show,
and then five days before I was supposed to leave,
it was gonna be a 10 to 11 month shoot.
So it was really interesting to see
the way that the show evolved.
- It really made it hard to like step out of it.
You know, when you're like on the top of a mountain
in North Wales, riding this horse through mist,
and then, you know, you're back in your hometown,
like having dinner with your grandparents,
like trying to explain everything.
It was such a trip out the whole time filming.
It was one of the greatest experiences of my life though.
Like it was such...
So incredible.
- Well you know, to me it's interesting,
'cause I hadn't been back to England in a long time.
There was something kind of magical about that, you know,
and especially for me kind of returning home
and seeing parts of England that I'd never seen,
and I thought I'd seen all of it.
- This is our only chance at survival.
- Kinda wanna get into spoilers just a little bit here.
The final episode, there are huge cliffhangers
and your character is very much a part of it.
So if there is a potential season two,
what do you hope happens for her?
- Oh gosh, maybe a partnership with Merlin
would be really interesting.
Throwing that in there, you know.
I really wanna see what happens with...
I mean, God, I'm really bad at this spoiler stuff.
But I really wanna see what happens with sister Iris.
I wanna see what happens with Nimue.
I just wanna see everything really.
- I would love to get a season two
just so I get to know what happens next.
- I have no idea.
Tom hasn't told me, if we do get a season two.
But I assume that he's going to discover
more about himself as a leader, hopefully, potentially.
And I think, yeah, it's hard not to spoil.
There's just a lot more to come, I think.
I think we were only scratching the surface
of what the story is.