The fourth series of Merlin, coming later this year in the United Kingdom and early next year on Syfy in the United States, sees Anthony Head‘s King Uther gone mad. At the Comic-Con International in San Diego a few weeks ago, we participated in a roundtable interview with Mr. Head, where he talked about Season 4, running into Buffy friends at Comic-Con, and more.
Because of his character’s condition, be warned that Mr. Head is a bit cagey and mysterious about his character’s fate… though there are some spoilers within.
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Now that Uther has gone mad, what do the scripts look like when you get them?
A lot of staring out the window, with the occasional coming back to reality, and then off again.
No. It’s fun. Yeah, fun playing mad. Mad’s good.
Then what is Uther doing?
He literally is staring out the window a lot. It’s very painful. It’s very sad.
Does Uther know that he’s king, or has he lost even that?
I think he probably knows but there’s nothing he can do with it, really. He is aware that there are other people looking after the kitchen, but it’s more about the affect that it has on other people, and on the Royal Family. And Morgana is… she’s just bad. Bad and getting badder. She’s great, and it’s really lovely… Katie’s taking it in stride. She’s given some really meaty stuff to do now.
Is Uther beginning to show warmth toward Arthur?
He is undoubtedly showing more humanity, because he is much reduced, as it were. So, the wall of Victorian parental closure is dissolving. There’s some really nice, emotional stuff.
Will Uther still be in this state at the end of the season? Or will he be dead?
…And I can’t answer that.
Can you talk about your relationship to the legend of Uther?
I’m very glad I didn’t play Uther in Camelot, because he died in the first episode.
Not a lot was known about Uther, more than he caroused a lot, like drinking and womanizing. In the Arthurian legend, I couldn’t wait to get off of Uther and on to Arthur, so I’m really grateful for something like Merlin, which has fleshed out [Uther] and made him the King that Arthur kicks against, and like a Victorian father, the child doesn’t want to make the same mistakes. That’s what made it fun to play. So far, we’ve had a very interesting journey.
Will Merlin have much interaction with Uther this season?
Mmhmm. A little. We never get to do that many scenes together, because he’s Arthur’s servant, and I’m a King, mad or not.
Will Merlin be taking a sympathetic role to Uther’s state?
[Silence] ….Yes. I will say yes. But ultimately, his destiny is linked with Arthur’s. Not with Uther’s. And the few times that he has been forced to intercede when Uther has been in trouble, it’s been for Arthur. There’s no love lost between Uther and Merlin.
How will Morgana react to Uther’s state?
We’ll see.
If Uther was healed through magic, would it be the good Merlin magic, or the bad Morgana magic?
[Laughs] Well, if Uther is to be believed, everybody that touches magic goes to the dark side. They can’t help themselves. So, that remains to be seen.
Do you see Uther as a sympathetic character?
I do, yes. I see him as somebody who is basically doing the best he can with a very limited toolbox. It’s the Dark Ages. There weren’t that many family-friendly kings around. They made really drastic decisions. But he took the land. He didn’t inherit it. He is a warrior. He hasn’t made a bad job of it; just a little bit of ethnic cleansing. Wiped out a third of the population, but you know, otherwise…
And he occasionally resorts to chopping someone’s head off. Quite a lot of burning at the stake. That seems to be the method of choice, when necessary.
Have you ever talked to the writers about the history between Uther and the Great Dragon?
It’s interesting. I was talking to somebody yesterday, actually. Basically, they wanted to see the Great Purge, and actually visit the Great Purge. The part of the Purge that I find interesting is the Uther-Gaius relationship. It’s kind of like the McCarthy Witch Trials, what they ultimately touched on, is the idea that Gaius, to save himself, sticthed out some of his friends. And I like the fact that Gaius isn’t all clean.
The problem about going back to something like the Purge is that it’s huge. And it doesn’t really affect Merlin. It’s history, but it’s an interesting place to go.
Someone asked me how I managed to tie the dragon up. [laughs] Got me there! Big chain. Uhhhh….
Has there been a moment in this upcoming season where you went “That’s amazing! That’s better than I expected?”
Yeah. Even the first episode from last series – first two episodes – I thought they were just extraordinary. At that point, you could make a movie out of it. It went into big stuff. When you read it in the script, you go “that would be cool. I hope it is.” It was mind-blowing. Also, we saw the first two episodes cut together, on the big screen with the British Film Institute. So cool. Just so cool. So, yes. There are episodes that will blow you away. Big stuff. And we now have one of the biggest green screen sets I’ve seen in British TV.
Are they treating the show as if it is for theatrical release?
This season – I don’t know if anybody’s said, but we’ve moved to 35 mil, which probably doesn’t mean a lot to Americans because a lot of stuff in the past in America has been shot 35 mil. Buffy, we moved from 16 mil to 35 mil in the second or third season, I think. But in English TV, everything is moving to digital and to video, and a lot of American stuff is now moving to HD. For me, it’s really powerful, when we go to 35 mil. 35 mil is the most beautiful medium. It has a richness and a depth that you just can’t get with HD. For me, it’s the way to go. It may be a retrograde step for the accountants, but man, it looks good. So, yes. It’s looking more filmic and more beautiful, and Dale, the DP, is very, very talented. It’s beautiful. The lighting, and the sets, and the design.
For me, it’s nice when you can see something grow in stature and gain ground. So often these days, the pen pushers and the accountants say “Okay. Can you make the same thing for less?” It’s inevitable. They all go “Great! That was fantastic! Now make it for a few grand less.”
Are you hip to what’s going on right now over in the Buffy comics?
Yes. “Ah’m dead.” But I know something you don’t!
I was talking to the Dark Horse people yesterday. They have some good stuff.
Have you been running into any of your Buffy co-stars here at the convention?
No. I talked to Eliza [Dushku] on the phone yesterday. I didn’t know Nicky [Brandan] was here. Sarah Michelle [Gellar] was here, I didn’t see her. And I saw Joss [Whedon] last night.
Would you like to do a guest shot on Ringer, if you had the opportunity?
What channel is it on?
The CW.
No, I can’t do that. But, I moderated the panel for David Greenwalt’s new show Grimm yesterday, and he was saying it would be great fun to get me on as a guest star. He’s a part of NBC, so he can. I’d do it in a flash. He can kill me grusomely. Or I could be a monster.
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1 Comment
Smallville parallels! This is like when Daddy Luthor went blind and then he was crazy once too…or all the time depending on how you think about it.