State Of The Art
Devon Terrell plays Arthur
There have been countless takes on Arthur. What’s this one like?
I talked to Tom [Wheeler] early on in the process, and he was saying that with Arthur it’s kind of that moment before he becomes this person, and that we’re constantly, throughout the season, seeing glimpses of that person. So you see who these people can become. But also Tom can take it in a different direction; he wants to keep the audience on their feet. Coming into it, you put that pressure on yourself: “Oh, this is King Arthur.” But Tom, straight away, was like, “No, you’re playing Arthur – don’t play the King, play the Arthur part.” He’s a young mercenary, he’s kind of cheeky, and Nimue is the one who starts this journey for him. She’s always the centre of gravity for the story. And she brings a vulnerability to Arthur that we don’t see enough in other versions, so he has a reason to live and become this person.
Not that long ago this role would have been closed off to a BAME actor…
Yeah, absolutely. When I got the audition, they sent me [pages for] Arthur and the Weeping Monk, and I was like, “Why would they send me Arthur?” Instantly my brain went, “No, that can’t happen.” My agent said, “No, they want you to try out for Arthur, and if you want to try out for the Weeping Monk, you can.” And I thought, “Why am I holding myself back? Why am I telling myself I can’t play that?” It’s been an amazing process, where the colour of my skin hasn’t been brought up. You realise: it’s a legend. It’s a myth. It’s “Who is this person?’, not “What race is this person?”
What makes this show stand out?
I come on set and I watch scenes, and I’m like, “Oh, this isn’t what we all think it’s gonna be”. You think, “This is where the show is gonna go…” Then by episode five it’s a different show. And once we’re onto 10, completely different. It gets more epic every episode, and gets bigger and bigger. When we first came into it we were like, “Oh, we didn’t realise it was gonna be this giant world.” And when you see the Fey, it’s like, “This could only be made in Frank Miller’s head!” It’s just a beautiful, amazing, terrifying world.