Comic-Con Interview: Merlin’s Katie McGrath On Season 4: “It’s All Merlin’s Fault”

The fourth series of Merlin is due to come to Syfy in early 2012, and actors Bradley James, Colin Morgan, Katie McGrath, and Anthony Head joined the show’s producers for a trip “across the pond” to the Comic-Con International in San Diego this weekend.

KSiteTV participated in press roundtables for the show on Sunday morning, and the first roundtable interview we have to share is with the lovely (and very witty) Katie McGrath who plays Morgana. When we last saw her, her character’s situation changed greatly to say the least. What’s next for Morgana? McGrath supplies some hints… and some opinions about Merlin’s true hero.

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Enjoy! Questions are in bold; answers are not. Please do not reproduce this Q&A onto other websites. Instead, just place a link! Thanks!

And beware of spoilers within.

How evil is Morgana going to be this season?

Perfectly evil. But evil’s a point of view. I’m not sure I think of her as evil. I think of her as brilliant. She’s a bad girl. You want to be a good girl, or do you want to be a bad girl? Which do you prefer? Everybody loves a bad girl.

Think about it. Everybody knows where she’s gonna go. I think everybody’s been waiting for her to get to that point, and the way they’ve done it is very clever. I think you’ll find her quite sympathetic. But by the time we get to Season 4, I think you’ll really enjoy her, because she’s enjoying it.

Where is she going to be living, and what will she be doing?

A year has passed, so I’m sure she’s no longer in Camelot, ’cause that would be difficult, seeing as how she, you know, took the throne.

Is she with her sister?

I can tell you that Morgause is back. We have the brilliant duo that is the Evil Sisters. They are back. Basically, it feels like for the last few years, that in a way, she’s been playing a role. She’s been playing the part that she thinks she should – the perfect princess. And finally now, in Season 3, we’ve started to see the other side of her. And now in Season 4, I feel like she finally is being herself. She’s finally embraced what it is that she should be. She’s more Earthy. She’s sort of back to nature. She’s embraced her magical side. Where she’s living, and how she looks, and everything, all reflects this sort of new acceptance with who she is. She has finally, truly, accepted all that it is about her, and all that it means to be magical. And she’s on a mission.

Her clothes have always reflected her as well. Can you tell us how that has changed?

I like to describe her as a goth Jessica Rabbit.

She’s no longer the first lady of Camelot, so I think her image is going to reflect that. [On the posters], she’s dressed in black. She’s obviously evil. There’s no denying that.

Her clothes, I think in a way for Morgana in other seasons, were a distraction for her. She didn’t have anything else to do. It was the part that she was playing, and who she thought she had to be, and now she’s not like that so much. Her clothes are now going to reflect that again. But yeah. Goth Jessica Rabbit seems to cover it. It’s subtle, guys. It’s real subtle.

Is Morgana seeking a man in her life?

Why does she need one?

It could be fun. I used to sort of joke at the time, that Morgana needs a man, but at the end of the day, the real romance of Merlin, and the real romance of the Arthurian legend, is Arthur and Guinivere and Lancelot, and anything else really does take a second seat to that. It would never be as important, and it would never be as much of an impact of that romance that you know. And I think at the minute now, with Morgana being where she is, she is on a mission. She is absolutely single-minded in what she has to do. And I honestly think a man wouldn’t fit in. At the end of the day, we only have a certain amount of minutes in an hour, and I think it would take away from the storyline.

Now, that’s not to say I wouldn’t love the producers to cast a very hot man for her. But that’s purely for Katie’s enjoyment rather than for Morgana.

What is her relationship going to be like with Morgause? Is she going to take a more dominant role now?

I think if you think back to Series 3, with the dragon talking to Merlin and saying that “she is the darkness to your light,” she is going to be the foil to Merlin. She is going to be as powerful as Merlin. Which stands to reason, then, she will become more powerful than her sister. So, for her to be truly a villain, she must actually be a proper threat to Merlin, which means she’s going to have to be as powerful as him. Which is great for me. I think she does end up being one of the most powerful magical creatures within the kingdom. And damn right she should be.

Did you go back and watch Excalibur and The Sword in the Stone?

I love Sword in the Stone! Excalibur – I think that might have been one of those ones that you have to watch as a child, because when I went back to watch it, I was like “Okay. This is going to be great. Helen Mirren is in it. She won an Oscar.” And I kept watching, and I was like “Why is he in a giant shiny suit? Don’t understand it. What’s Merlin wearing on his head, and what’s with the hair?” I couldn’t. It was beautiful, but I think it was one of those ones that you had to love as a child. Because when I watched it as an adult, I just didn’t quite get it.

I read more than I watched. I’ve read a lot of the books, and I have read more for my own enjoyment, because Morgana was so well crafted on the page. And this was their telling of the story. Rather than look at what other people have done, I wanted to make sure that I got what they were telling right.

I read these things because Morgana’s a character that people adore, and a lot of women really identify with her. There are very few, very stronge female roles out there, and she’s very important to a lot of women. So for me, it was important to be familiar with all of these things, so that I could talk about it intelligently. So, I did read them for my own enjoyment, but less for the actual role of her as she was so brilliantly put on the page. They did a really good job.

She did have feelings of friendship for the others at one time. Is that all gone in favor of hatred, or does she sometimes have regrets?

I always give Colin a hard time and say, “you know, if only you’d helped me. If only when I went to you, you would have helped me.” I was desperately begging. Morgana begged Merlin for help. Not knowing, obviously, that he was magical. Merlin had Gaius, so he had somebody to guide him, and had Merlin turned around to Morgana and said that it’s okay, I think she wouldn’t have gone down the path that she did. If you think about it, she’s on her own, and the one person that comes to her and says “you know, it’s okay to be you, and not only is it okay to be you and I love you for it” is Morgause. So why won’t she go that way? In Morgana’s head, she’s been denied. Gwen betrayed her. She went over to the other side. Merlin betrayed her. Arthur’s betrayed her. Uther denied her to her face, his own child. She’s running on complete anger, and in her head, they’ve all betrayed her except for Morgause, so she’s with the people that she thinks loves her.

Who does she have the most interaction with this season?

We have a few new characters.

Any you can tell us about?

No. [grins]

The great thing about Merlin is, yes, Morgana is out of Camelot. Yes, she is a dark, evil Darth Vader presence. This is true. But, where’s the fun in that if she doesn’t get to interact with all of the characters again? They are so clever on this show, with the way they do it. They’re so clever with storylines and how they bring people in. So yes, she’s out of Camelot, but yes, she will still interact with everyone. Merlin will give you what you want, but never the way you expect it. So even if you know the legends back to front, inside and out. Lancelot isn’t the way you expected him to be. You don’t get Excalibur like you think you do, and you don’t even get Guinevere like you think. So even if you love the legends, you can enjoy Merlin.

Will you be interacting with Uther at all?

I can’t tell you!

She interacts with all of the characters, but in a very weird, strange way that you’re not going to expect.

Is Morgana going to find out about Merlin’s magic?

I don’t think anybody ever finds out about Merlin’s magic. Not for quite a while. No.

Does she suspect it at all?

I think she suspects there’s something different about him. And not only does she suspect something’s different about him, if you think that Morgause suspected it, and so obviously she would talk to Morgana about it. So I think she does suspect that there’s something. He’s a servant boy, and yet he keeps popping up everywhere, and he’s very known to Arthur. Why? I think that does niggle at her, but I think she suffers from the fact that she’s so powerful, that she can’t believe that anybody else is as powerful. She’s kind of a bit self-absorbed in that way. And I think part of the fun is the fact that nobody knows that Merlin has magic. That really makes their relationship between Merlin and Morgana much more interesting, because she believes she holds all the cards, but you all know she doesn’t. It’s fun to watch.

Are we going to see more friction between the two sisters as Morgana becomes more powerful?

You’re going to have to watch the first two episodes before I can say anything.

The sisterly bond is not broken, and it is never broken, which is nice, because for Morgana, that is the most important relationship that she has, and if that was taken away from her, I’m not quite sure what she would do. She’d be without a captain. She’d be oarless. She needs something to keep her going. But as it is, she’s on her mission. She’s on her plan. And she is going to rule Camelot again, in her head. Because doesn’t she look good with the crown? Come on. There we go. Better than Bradley would ever look [in the crown]. Better than Angel would look.  You know?

Will Mordred be returning?

He’s a big part of the legend. He hasn’t appeared yet, so far, but it stands to reason that at some point they can’t tell the story if he doesn’t come back. So it stands to reason that at some point he will [return]. So far I haven’t seen a script that he is in, but you cannot tell the Arthurian legend without him. Asa’s probably slightly busy now, with Martin Scorcese doing Hugo Cabret, but we’ll get him back eventually. When it is, I don’t know. I think for Morgana’s story to be told properly, Mordred has to come in. Hopefully maybe they’ll age him up and he’ll be really good looking.

Is there any temptation for Morgana to be good?

Think about it now. In all fairness, Morgana ends up being the good guy. She saves Arthur. She brings him off and heals his wounds. So really, I am kind of like Darth Vader. I start out good, I go bad, but I ultimately become good in the end. So I’m kind of the hero.

Is Morgana going to have any happiness this season?

I don’t know. It’s weird. It’s not an emotion I ever think of. She gets to play pleased. She gets to play satisfied. But I don’t think she’s happy. I think she’s got too many things that she feels that she has to achieve.

But I don’t think Morgana was ever really happy. You know what I mean? You look back at all the seasons, I think she was very conflicted. I don’t think she’s ever been happy and carefree. I think that’s Guinievere. Guinevere is very light and sort of easy-going, and I think that’s her role. I think Morgana has always been conflicted. And honestly, even if Morgana got what [she wanted], she wouldn’t be happy. Because I think really what she wanted was to be accepted by everyone, and be accepted for who she is, and I don’t think that’ll ever happen.

Do you think Morgana still feels any love for Arthur, and if so, does she ever display it this season?

I think that one’s a difficult one for her, because at the end of the day, the only person that never really denied Morgana anything was Arthur. Any time she needed anything and went to him, he always helped her. But I think in her head, she sees him very much as Uther’s son, and I think she sees him as the ruler that Uther would be. Because at this point, it’s not clear to her that he is going to be accepting of magic. It’s clear to her that he would do what his father would say. So in her mind, he would deny her as well. He would try to kill her as well. So, I think she just believes that she can’t trust him, and I think that she believes she can’t trust anyone. That’s the problem with her relationship with everyone right now. She’s just so completely consumed with the other things she has to do. I think she’s just forgotten about everyone else. And it’s sad. She’s sort of on her own.

Merlin is going through something similar right now.

This is it. The only reason that Merlin is any different, is he’s been told the prophecy. He’s been told by the Great Dragon. He’s been told that yes, in fact, this is all going to work out. Morgana doesn’t know that. All Morgana knows is that these people will kill her if they find out who she is, and so what is she going to do? She’s going to protect herself. Again, had Merlin only told her… so really, it’s all Merlin’s fault. Thank you very much. He is the bad guy! I am the hero, he’s the bad guy. How many people has Merlin killed? How many people have I killed? There you go.

That’s not all! Read part 2 of this interview here.