By Kenn Gold

Merlin, the story of the young wizard and the boy who would be king was a smash hit last year and the UK, and comes to American audiences on June 21 on NBC.  The series is a new telling of the King Arthur legends that starts with the basic fabric of the myths, and weaves new and unique elements into the legend as the first meetings of Merlin and Arthur are explored, along with the birth of their unique relationship.

Recently, Anthony Head,(Uther Pendragon), and Angel Coulby (Gwen), sat down to talk about the show’s premiere for US audiences.  Anthony is obviously already popular in the US from his days as Giles on Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and Angel looks forward to her introduction to US audiences.

MediaBlvd> Thank you for taking the time to talk to me today.  The King Arthur mythos is a big part of my childhood, so I’ve been looking forward to the show, and to talking to you today.  Anthony, my first question is for you.  With this show we have Eva Myles, Michelle Ryan, and even Colin and Angel who have all been a part of the Doctor Who universe and have been a part of the cult phenomena within in America.  And of course your performances in Buff stand out.  Do you think that familiarity will translate into success here with the show?

Anthony> I hope so; it’s been a huge success in England and in Australia.  Someone was saying the other day that Australia is a little bit of a guide to what may happen in America.  You never know, but hopefully, the audiences will take this in the same way that it’s sold pretty much around the world.  NBC bought it straight out of the box, which is fairly unheard of for a British series.  Usually, American TV likes something to be tested and tried and well worked in.  But this had such great appeal straight out of the box, the scripts are good and the premise is brilliant, and it has a kind of an extraordinarily wide appeal to all ages.  I hope the American’s love it as much as we do. 

MediaBlvd> One thing I have to ask, Doctor Who has kind of been reborn in America with the new telling, aired here on the Sci Fi Channel.  What is the connection if any?  I know Julie Gardner said in an interview that I read prepping for this that Russell T. Davies had had an influence on the tone of feel of Merlin.  Do you agree with that, or what can you say.

Anthony> I think Russell was probably consulted as much as he and Julie worked very closely together.  But by and large, it would have just been sort of a nod.  Julian Jones and Johnny Capps have been creating this series for years, right down to finding this castle, which is the most extraordinary setting.  They almost cancelled the series because they couldn’t find a castle, and I think Julie was important in finally getting there.  It’s the most extraordinary castle; it’s the most extraordinary setting.  It’s a magical place in itself, and the show can only gain from it.  I think Russell probably gave it the thumbs up, but I don’t think he was that hands on.  But Julie had an enormous part to play in it, and she is an extraordinary source in TV.  Everything she touches is phenomenal, so hopefully, this will turn to gold too. 

MediaBlvd> One thing I wanted to talk about, and this is for Angel, the concept of colour blind casting, I guess is what they are calling it.  Can you talk about what that means? Should American audiences be surprised to see a black Gwen?

Angel> Not necessarily.  I suppose they probably have a different image of Gwen.  But I was cast because I was hopefully the best actress for the role.

MediaBlvd> You’re very good by the way, I love you as Gwen!

Angel> Oh thank you, declarations of love!  Amazing!  I think hopefully the director and producer saw me and thought, “We want Angel for Gwen.” And that hopefully the audiences watching will just enjoy my portrayal of the character, and won’t be too pre-occupied with the color of my skin.  But obviously, in a broader sense, I guess it’s great progress, that I’d be cast, as opposed to a white actress, and that they are open minded.  The whole thing is multi-cast, and I think it makes our telling of the story just a little more eye opening and interesting I guess. 

MediaBlvd> I definitely agree with that, and I love you in the show.  Sorry, no more declarations of love, I won’t embarrass you further! Can you tell me, how familiar were each of you with the Arthurian legends?  The show changes a lot of aspects of that.  Is that bothersome?

Angel> Even the Arthurian legends have various different versions.  So there is not necessarily exact version of the story.  What we’ve done is sort of created our own world and version of those legends.  We haven’t tried to follow them historically or anything.  Even down to the costumes, which are a multitude of different eras all merged together.  Charlotte Morris, who has done the costumes, has done an incredible job on that front.  In terms of the whole show, it’s a nod toward the legend or that time, but it’s not trying to follow any exact path.  We know where we have to end up.  We are sort of a prequel and  we can take any path to get there in the end.  That’s really exciting, because we are playing sort of new characters, and not playing characters that have already been created.  It’s great fun for all of us I think.

Anthony> It bears witness to the fact that the Arthurian legends have been told in so many ways.  This is a completely fresh and new way of looking at the story.  It gives life to something completely new, and has little clues as to how it’s going to be used in the eventual legends.  There are little bits and pieces that have appeared in the first season, and now we’re shooting halfway through the second season, so we’ve got other little tastes of the stuff that happens.  It will become part of the fabric of the legend, and it just gives us a completely new and fresh and energetic way of looking at the stories.  Again, I think that’s part of the breadth of the appeal, that’s why people love it.  It’s new, and it gives the audience sort of a heads up.  It makes them part of the story telling, which is more fun.

 MediaBlvd> A lot of the American press is comparing the show to Smallville.  I’m not sure if you are both familiar with the retelling of Superman as a young boy.  Here we’ve got King Arthur and Merlin exploring their teen age years.  Do you feel that’s a fair comparison, and do you think that’s a good thing?

Anthony> I think the producers, I’m sure, used Smallville as a model.  It’s a great way of retelling a story that’s been told almost to the point of, “Do we have to do that again?” It’s a very clever way of looking at the thing, and it gives you an opportunity to meet these people.  You meet them afresh, and don’t have any pre-conceptions about them.

Angel> Yeah, you get to know them, and become charmed by them I think. 

MediaBlvd> Angel, this one’s for you.  Anthony has a pretty big cult following in America, obviously from Buffy.  And you’re going to be exposed to that audience.  Is that something that is intimidating?  Or is it something you look forward to?

Angel> I don’t find it intimidating.  I definitely look forward to it.  I think for the younger cast of the show, it’s hugely appealing to be in a show that’s going to go stateside.  I can only speak for myself, but I certainly want to work in America.  I want to work all over the world, but I’d love to work in America and get involved in movies and things like that.  It’s wonderful for all of us to have sort of a showcase over there.  We haven’t even been over there yet, but our faces are going to be on the screens over there.  So that’s fantastic. 

Anthony> The thing that is great about the fandom that is created for the shows like this, is that it gives the show a great longevity.  When Buffy first kicked off, just after the first season, I was talking to Alyson Hannigan on the phone, and she was talking about the fan sites that were built and suddenly created on the internet.  It hadn’t been seen before.  It gives a show like this an extraordinarily strong basis, and gives it a longevity that’s only to be wished.

MediaBlvd> For both of you, do have a performance in the first series that really meant a lot to you, or that we should look out for?  Was there a particular arc or episode that kind of hit you?

Angel> I’ve really enjoyed it all.  It’s partly due to the fact that we are working with such lovely people.  We’ve really formed a great unit.  We have a real laugh, don’t we?

Anthony> And we have some great guest players that come on to the show.  They all say that the word out in the business is that this is a really nice show to work on.  The crew is fantastic, and the actors are lovely.  It really is a very, very happy show to be on.  It tells in what goes on, on the screen and what you see is just spectacularly beautiful.  I guess in terms of, not only is Uther a tyrant, but he is also a father.  One of the things that is very fun is playing basically the fights with Morgana.  Some of those have been great fun.  It’s nice to play such a multi-dimensional character, who could be very two dimensional and just the bad guy who has declared magic to be outlawed.  In fact, Uther, and all the characters are extraordinarily complex. 

Angel> I would look for episode ten, where the girls get to fight.  Because we don’t normally get to fight, that’s normally the boy’s domain.  But we’re given a couple of swords. 

MediaBlvd> We’ve just very excited here.  There is a lot of anticipation about the show coming over.  I think I may have hit on this before, so I apologize if it’s a repeat.  But is there anything that has been changed that particularly bothers you?  The show is tweaking a lot of the connections.  Merlin and Gwen seem to be very close, and Arthur knows that Morgana is his sister. 

Angel> Yeah, they have mixed it up and haven’t tried to follow anything else.  This is something new and fresh and different.  I have a bit of a crush on Merlin in the beginning, but who knows where it will go.  Obviously, we know where we have to end up.  I end up becoming queen and marrying Arthur.  But between now, and then…. the world is our oyster, we can do whatever we like.

Anthony> Camelot is our oyster.

Angel> Camelot is our oyster. 

MediaBlvd> You said you are halfway through series two, is that right?  And that premieres in September in the UK?

Anthony> Yeah, that’s right.  How many have you seen?

MediaBlvd> I hate to admit it, but I’m a big fan.  I was in the UK awhile ago visiting family, and I watched the entire first series.  I didn’t leave the flat for an entire day!

Anthony> Excellent!

MediaBlvd> I’m very, very happy with the show, and anything we can do to promote it to US audiences, we will.

Anthony> Thank you!

MediaBlvd> One last question, Anthony, Ripper, the Buffy spinoff; that is mentioned a lot in all of the blogs.  Is that ever going to go to a movie?

Anthony> I don’t know to be honest.  The last time I talked to Joss about it, I introduced him to Julie Gardner, and they got on like a house on fire, and we seemed to be getting somewhere.  Then he had a lunch with Eliza, and they did Dollhouse together.  I think Dollhouse is going to occupy him for awhile.  Maybe Giles will be an octogenarian when they get around to doing it.  But I’d dearly love to work with Joss Whedon again.

MediaBlvd> Thank you both for your time.  I’m very excited about this series, and I hope we can do something to help promote it, and I absolutely love both of your portrayals.