Britannia
THERE’S A DEAD MAN WALKING the land when Jez Butterworth’s fantasy drama Britannia returns to screens in October. as imperial rome attempts to tighten its grip on the newest, albeit highly unwilling, addition to the empire, the leader of the druids, Veran, finds his own position in peril from a source only too close to home. This new threat comes in the form of harka the Dead Man, who happens to be Veran’s brother. it’s a huge challenge for Mackenzie Crook, who plays both brothers, but taking on harka has allowed the actor to see Veran in a new light. “in the first series i was playing this character, i don’t know how much i understood him or where he came from, but introducing his brother into this world i realised why he’s the way he is and i like him,” says Crook. “i look forward to playing Veran now. harka not so much, because he’s a nastier piece of work. i’m not as fond of him as Veran. weirdly, i’ve become fond of Veran and i think other people have as well. They’ve realised he’s got good intentions, if a bit twisted.”
We do have a rave. I’ve got this crazy fish-skin cloak and crushed glow worms on my face
harka’s appearance risks undermining everything Veran has established in keeping the fractious tribes of Britannia from descending into total chaos, unleashing a struggle over the young Celtic girl Cait, played by eleanor worthington-Cox, and the fulfilment of the prophecy she represents. “For decades or generations, the druids have not been questioned,” says Crook. “whatever Veran says is followed, and this is the first time ever that there are ruptures within the druids. They’ve split into rival factions, so everything is at stake for Veran.” Crook compares the druid leader to a force of nature – he’s almost beyond good or evil. “everything is dictated by the signs that he interprets from the gods, and they’re signs from nature,” he says. “There’s cruelty, or a lack of sympathy, where a bird will take the chicks from one nest to feed to their chicks, so that nest survives and this one doesn’t. There’s no sadness or happiness about them. i still think he operates like that but we’re seeing why because he has got compassion.”
Veran’s potential for caring is quite unlike harka, who’s thoroughly malevolent, despite being the more charismatic of the two strange siblings. “i liken him to Veran’s older brother who’s just come out of prison and come back to their hometown where he’s stirring up trouble,” says Crook about the Dead Man. “i’m fascinated by narcissists. he’s really full of himself. he thinks he’s very funny, very clever and probably good looking as well. he’s fun to play but i come away from it feeling a bit dirty.”
at his core, Veran is motivated by the desire to protect his people – and his power – from the invaders. “when he first turns up looking the way he does and acting the way he does, you assume he’s the bad guy out for destruction. But i’ve grown to know him more and i’m convinced he’s a good guy. he wants the best outcome but can’t see the outcome as living happily with rome. rome’s his sworn enemy.”
in season one, David Morrissey’s roman general aulus came to Britannia sure of his mission of conquest and full of purpose. But in the wake of his visit to the Underworld in the first series, he’s started to go off-message. The question for aulus in season two is how far down the rabbit hole he’s willing to go. “aulus has done terrible, terrible things,” says Morrissey. “Part of his quest, certainly in season one but even more so in season two, is a spiritual quest. it’s searching for something beyond life. he’s been the perpetrator of horrible things, murderous, genocidal behaviour and a brutality that we could not comprehend, but for him it’s second nature. he’s in a place where now, as a man, he’s looking for something else. The idea of climbing through the senate to get to the top job, i don’t think he’s interested in that. he’s not interested in becoming the Caesar of his generation. aulus has gone beyond that. it’s not about bread and circuses for him, it’s about higher power. it’s about immortality and it’s a god complex.”
season two will see emperor Claudius, played by steve Pemberton, arrive in Britannia to have a gander at this unruly land at the very limits of rome’s mighty reach. But even the emperor’s exalted presence may not be enough to quell the festering discontent among the occupying army. “There’s a sense that Britannia for the romans was like afghanistan,” says Morrissey. “it was an unknown territory. it was a territory they weren’t equipped for. it was a territory they were desperate to conquer because it brought riches, but actually at one point they had to think, is this worth it? That’s where they are now.”
alongside themes of power and faith, and all the action scenes, Britannia has distinguished itself as being thoroughly trippy, particularly with the druids and their proclivity for mind-altering substances. “it’s about the spirituality and it’s about the enlightenment but it’s also about being totally stoned,” says Morrissey. “every generation likes to feel that it has discovered drugs and you look way back and they’ve always been there, whether it’s bark from trees or smoking flowers. The desire to have a higher consciousness through intake has always been there.”
From season one, the writing and production team are aiming to push season two further in every respect. asked what they learned from making the first season, showrunner and co-creator James richardson replies, “we realised that it’s a show that could allow for
comedy and darkness in equal measure. and it could also allow for a sense of, i was going to use the word madness, i’m not sure if that’s the right word. we realised from the moment that we came up with the idea that this show was about a spirit more than anything else. we were trying to capture a vibe.”
BIG FISH, LITTLE FISH...
The vibe promises to be wilder than ever in the new season. “The first episode of this series, it’s called ‘The rave’,” says Crook. “we do have a rave and i’ve got this crazy fish-skin cloak on and crushed-up glow worms on my face. it’s a proper druid rave out in the woods.”
it’s all about reaching beyond the physical world for some higher plane or purpose. richardson sees the clash between rome and the druids as a battle of ideas. “in this season it’s about the occupation of not just the land, but of people’s souls,” he says. “People start believing this voodoo, they think it’s real. That’s the way voodoo works. aulus knows that, he knows that they’ve got this belief system and that’s what he wants to tap into. Then we bring in a new dark force that’s trying to fuck up everything that Veran is about as well.”
alongside the threat posed by harka, season two introduces a new religious group, the Devini, who see themselves as the keepers of the true faith. “This is all about what and who do you believe and therefore who’s in control,” says richardson. “whose story do you believe? Do you believe the story the druids are telling? The story the romans are telling? They’re all fighting against each other, meaning the characters are being pulled in all sorts of different directions between the light, the dark, the magical, the non-magical.”
Morrissey adds, “it embraces the idea of the unknown, whether that’s magical or spiritual or miraculous. Magic, to me, suggests there’s something underhand about it, that there’s a trick involved. i don’t think there is. it’s the real world for these people. it’s an acknowledgment of greater things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your imagination.”
Brothers Jez and Tom Butterworth return as writers for season two, now joined by a third Butterworth, John-henry, and richardson believes they’re poised to push the show further than ever before. “This season, it’s going, ‘Okay, what else can we do?’ You’re in the hands of the Butterworths, who are brilliant at playing with that idea of going, ‘Okay, what’s going to be a great idea now?’” says richardson. “we’re learning that we’re in a melting pot. what we wanted to say in the first season was that the romans were coming along to a divided nation, they were at war with themselves. we want to pick up on that idea. it’s got a bit of the spirit of The Empire Strikes
Back in the fact that the empire is seemingly on the front foot and the druids are more defensive, but we’re playing with that idea of belief systems. not only who do you believe but what do you believe and how that’s used in the power struggles? we’re trying to tread a very fine line between belief and disbelief. some people are drawn by the fact that there’s something other, some people are using that as a means to an end, to get power or control people. That’s a really interesting idea, that’s what religions are created for, that’s what myths and stories are about and that’s a great place to play around with.”
“in this season, any shackles Jez had are off,” says Morrissey. “sky and amazon have said to him, ‘Do it, go wild,’ and he’s done it. it’s fun, it’s rooted in some real true human emotion, but it’s also truly out-there.”
Britannia season 2 will air on Sky Atlantic and Amazon Prime in October.