Merlin takes the King Arthur legends, and re-tells them for a modern audience.  The hit UK show, which aired on the BBC is airing this summer on NBC in the United States.  The story covers the early lives of Merlin and Arthur as they meet in a Camelot where magic is forbidden.  Katie McGrath (The Tudors) takes the role of Morgana, the ward of King Uther (Anthony Head).  Though Morgana is often the nemesis in Arthurian legends, it’s unclear what her motivations are in this new series.  Katie recently spoke to TV Talk  about her role, and the new series and about how exciting it is to involved in such a fun project.

Shaun> Merlin is a good show.  Finally, there’s something on TV that you can sit down with all ages, and you can escape into this crazy world of Merlin, right?

Katie> That’s what I love about it.  A five year old, a six year old and a hundred year old are all going to get something out of it.  All something different, but they are going to enjoy it just the same.  Personally, it’s nice for me to do something that my mother and brothers and grandmother can watch and not go “Oh my God, what is she doing?”

Shaun> You’re great as Morgana, and it’s a fantastic role.  How did you feel when they first came to you, or when you first heard of Merlin?  What did you think of the show?

Katie> When I first heard the BBC were doing it over here,  you read up on these things because you like to be prepared  just in case you get a last minute call.  I remember reading all of the legends and going to my mother, “You know what, I’m really not interested in playing Guinevere.  I don’t want to play the good girl.”  If I had a choice, I wanted to play Morgana. Everybody likes the bad girl.  She gets all the best dresses, and then she gets the dark secrets and the magic powers.  So if you are going to play anyone, you want to be her.

Shaun> That’s what everybody says.  Years ago, I talked to Joan Collins and I talked to Larry Hagman.  They both said, “Oh no, I never want to play a good guy again.  I love playing the villain because it’s the juciest role on a series or movie.”, right?

Katie> Absolutely, it’s the most fun.   I mean, I can’t wait til I’m sitting in a cave somewhere cackling over a cauldron.  It will be brilliant! 

Shaun> And you’re already filming season two.  It’s got to be great as an actor having that kind of job security I guess, in the state of the world economy.  They’ve already renewed the show for a second season, that’s terrific.

Katie> It’s unbelievable, it’s brilliant.   We film eight months of the year, and not only that, but because of the type of show that it is, we great the cream of the cream, the best of the British actors coming in to do guest roles.  I mean, it’s people that I never thought I’d been in the same room as, let alone sharing a scene with.  We’ve got Frank Finlay, and Anthony Head, and he plays my dad!  We’ve got Santiago Cabrera, who’s on Heroes as Lancelot.  You know, it’s really a bloody good job to be honest!

Shaun> What did you first think when they said, “Ok your cast on Merlin, and your father is going to be played by Anthony Head.”?  Did you think they were kidding?

Katie> Oh, I did have a bit of a moment.  And they didn’t actually tell us.  We didn’t know until the day before filming and we went to the read through where we all sit around and read scripts together.  You meet the rest of the cast for the first time, and I did walk in and go, “Oh my God, it’s Giles from Buffy, I just have to call my brother!”  I had a complete moment.  And I ended up sitting next to him, and I was really nervous because I’ve never done one before.  And he was so lovely and so relaxed and down to Earth.  He was giggling and laughing and enjoying it.  It made me think that if the rest of the season was going to be like that, I was going to have a complete ball.  I still am.

Shaun> I talked to him earlier, and he is reveling in this role of Uther.  It’s got to be great for all of you  to see somebody like him loving what he is doing.  Sometimes on a TV show, these actors come in and kind of just go through the motions.  But Anthony really seems to love what he is doing.  In your scenes, your eyes light up when you are doing something.  You can tell you love what you are doing?
Katie> I mean come on, it’s the best job in the world.  On any given day, I can be on horseback, then the next day be fighting with swords.  Then the next day I’ll be shouting at Anthony Head, do you know what I mean?  It’s what I do for a living and I get paid for it!  You know, there are moments standing in that massive big castle in France in a dress, and just standing there with knights and peasants and princesses, all swirling around you and you go, “I can’t believe this is my life.”  It so far away from getting up in the morning to what I end up doing by the end of the day.  I love it, it’s wonderful!  I’m living in fairy tales.

Shaun> You were on The Tudors, then switching over to Merlin, you’ve got to work in all of these wonderful settings.  You’ve been very lucky.

Katie> The really funny thing is I started out as crew on The Tudors.  I worked behind the camera, lacing girls into corsets all morning.  And when I was on that, a couple of the directors and producers said, “You really should give acting a try.”  I was like, “Hell yeah, that looks like fun!”  So I did and ended up with a few parts, then came back a year later and ended up with a part in The Tudors, which was very weird because I still knew everyone.  I’d walk in and they were like, “Ok Katie, we’re taking you to makeup.”  Guys, I know where makeup is.  “No, No, we have to take you.  We’re going to take you to costume.”  I’m like, “Guys, I know where costume is.  It’s ok, I did work here for eight months.”  It’s completely different treatment.  It was genius. 

Shaun> Some people on the message boards are kind of picking on Merlin because it’s diverging from the legends.  I think in this age, with TV, it’s the right thing to do.  You want to stick to the original story as much as possible, but also change it up so it’s more fun for the audience. 

Katie> If you think about it, there are so many different interpretations of Merlin.  Because Merlin is a legend, do you know what I mean?  And it’s re-interpreted based on the time in which they are telling the story.  So this is just our re-interpretation of it. If you go back through all the different tellings, there are a few constant threads through it.  But it’s so different each time it’s told.  It’s just the way we’re telling it this time.  And it still has all the bits that people will remember.  It still has Lancelot.  It still has Excalibur. It still has Modred.  It still had it all, it’s just a different spin on it, and it’s just told from our point of view and for our time.  I think that has value for it absolutely, and people are going to be able to relate to it, and that’s what they’ve done. 

Shaun> Like you’ve said, it’s magic, fantasy, relationships, the show packs a little bit of everything into every episode.

Katie> Exactly! It’s escapism, but you can still relate to it.  Because at the very heart of it, you know, Merlin has magical powers and Arthur fights giant flying birds.  But at the very heart of it, it’s a story about the relationship between Merlin and Arthur, and between Arthur and Guinevere, and Morgana and Arthur.  That’s the heart of the story, then it’s how they deal with all of these things that they are coming across.  That’s what the story is about and I think that’s what people are going to relate to.  Then at the same time, it’s got great sets and it’s got costumes, and talking dragons.  It’s got John Hurt, come on! You’ve got to watch something with John Hurt’s voice in it.  The man is musical. 

Shaun> Yeah, he’s great.  I didn’t look at first to see who was doing the voice, and was like, “Oh my goodness, that voice is so familiar.”  I went and looked at it and saw it was John Hurt.  I’ve seen some interviews that he’s done, and he loves that role as a dragon.  I think he said he doesn’t care if he’s ever seen in person, he loves doing that voice. 

Katie> The really cool thing is that when they go to do his voice, they put the dots all over his face.  So they map the dragon, the animatrix, has all of John Hurt’s facial expressions.  Colin went and did it with him once, and he said he actually does all of the motions of the dragon.  He acts out, he’s a professional.  But all of the facial expressions that you see the dragon do are John Hurt’s expressions.  That’s what John Hurt would look like if he was a forty foot gold dragon.  In case you were wondering, watch Merlin and you will see. 

Shaun> I can see the resemblance, I’m looking at some stills (laughs).

Katie> It’s that little cheeky smile that John Hurt does. 

Shaun> We’re still in the first season here in the United States.  We don’t know how it’s going to wind up in the first season. But going into the second season, is it the same dynamic more or less?

Katie> The writers have been really, really clever in what they’ve done.  All of the seeds that they start to sow in the first season come to fruition in the second.  They are really clever in what they do by the end of this, and I know you are all going to stay tuned until episode 13, if you have any sort of lingering questions or how could they leave it like that, oh my God.  By season two, it’s all going to sort of be pulled out and really interesting and intriguing ways.  That’s what great about this show.  It takes the bits you are familiar with and introduces them to you in a new and familiar way.  You don’t know where Excalibur came from, but this story explains it.  You don’t know what Lancelot was before he was a knight, but this story explains it, and that’s why this story is great.

Shaun> I better let you go, or NBC is going to cut me off.  You are terrific and I hope to talk to you again.

Katie> Thanks Shaun, thank you so much, and thank you Las Vegas.