George Blagden plays Athelstan the former priest (but after being captured during a raid has become a special member of the Viking parties) on History Channel’s hit series Vikings, which returns for it’s second season on February 27th. This interview contains spoilers. We were lucky enough to get the chance to sit in some round robin interview sessions with Travis Fimmel (Ragnar Lothbrook) and Alyssa Sutherland (Princess Aslaug) and well as George. Fun fact: there is a time jump between S2:1 and S2:2 of four years. All the questions asked by other outlets will be listed as “Q”, while theComicsOnline specific question will be listed as “CO” or “Mab”. Everyone on this particular press junket call (as well as the other two) have all been treated with screener copies of the first four episodes of season two, presented in a BEAUTIFUL packaging and full color photograph-heavy booklet. (Previous interview with George from WonderCon 2013 can be found here.)
George: Hi everyone, thanks so much for calling in and having a chat about the show. It’s lovely to hear there is so much interest about season 2! Seems like lots of you want to talk about it.
Q: Athelstan has probably has had the most changes of any one character during the series, and from the looks of it, there are more on the way. How do you, as an actor, feel you’ve changed from the first season to the second?
G: I find that on Vikings what we’ve been able to do is mirror the changes of the actor and the character. I mean when we’re on set, we get these scripts two or three weeks in advance of shooting them. As an actor, you are unaware of what’s going to happen to your character in a month’s time in terms of the shooting schedule. Had I known what was going to happen in episode 4 when we started shooting season one, I really doubt I could have portrayed the character as accurately as I have done. it’s a real bonus working that way, it’s something that’s really great about episodic television.
Q: What do you think the reason is as to why we still find this era and Vikings so fascinating?
G: I think the Viking age is one of those periods a lot of us think we know, but the reality is we really don’t. It’s a household name, and say the name Viking, and every one goes ‘Oh, yeah, those barbaric men that lived 1200 years ago raiding and pillaging and being very naughty.’ And what Michael [Hirst] has brilliantly done with the show is show you the real human side of them and the family drama we’ve created over the two seasons. And I think being able to show that to the public has brought about a fantastic response in people. The reactions being ‘oh, i never knew they sailed west, I never knew their women were regarded so highly’ in that culture and all these things are what keep people coming back week after week. And all of the complex relationships we’ve been able to build, being able to work like this as an actor is really a gift.
Q: It sounds like Athelstan will still have some issues adapting to the Viking world this season, do you ever think he’ll fully let go of Christianity? What will we see in season 2 as far as his beliefs?
G: When we set off shooting season 2, we leave Athelstan at the end of season 1 he’s really in a conflicted place. Speaking with Michael as an actor and an audience the most interesting characters to watch and to play are those in the midst of deep conflict. It would have been far too easy to have made Athelstan completely converted into Pagan and just gung-ho into Viking life. What you see throughout the first three episodes is this attempt, essentially a bit of a bluff on his part, but hopefully what we’ve been able to capture during the season this conflict. And I wish you could have seen past episode 4, because he really goes up a shift in his para-dime, and things get even more interesting for him. It’s absolutely on going for him.
Q: Can you give us a sneak peak of Athelstan’s temptations this season? Does he have any women?
G: Oh, heh, *laughs* what a good, very naughty question. I’m afraid I can’t really. I suppose what you’ve seen in the first four episodes is a much more complete integration into the Vikings, and eventually you see him joking around with the other warriors about women or the shield maidens that go off with them to battle. I’m afraid where you’ve seen up to, unfortunately his journey becomes very very dark. Let me just say there is absolutely no room in his life or his mind for temptation for women, and it’s very much a roller coaster he goes on.
Q: With your recent starring in Les Mis (Les Miserables), I was wondering what the differences were between the film and the television industries? What was the biggest adjustment for you?
G: Well I mean Vikings is my first tv show, it’s the first television experience I’ve had. And it’s episodic. The big difference is with a film as an actor, you get a script that has a set beginning, middle, and end for your whole story arc. You know who this character is and what happens to them in their 190 minute life, I know what I need to portray and the beats I need to hit. With episodic television, unless you have an extremely organized and forward thinking show runner who’s written 5 seasons worth of episodes, you don’t know what will be happening to your character next season or even two episodes from now. You have to find peace with the fact you have to organically create this character and exist. And when Michael sends the scripts and you go ‘WHAT OH MY GOD’ about what’s happening to your character, you have to deal with it. I prefer it in a way because of the organic way of working, it’s very instinctively. I like the way television keeps you on your toes.
Q: Physically, how do you prepare for something like this? Season 2, you’re more into everything.
G: There is a sort of panic that happens during the beginning of shooting season 2, at least for me, to get Viking ready. We were on hiatus for 6 months, and I came back, and Michael handed me a script and said ‘Right, so you’re going off raiding to England with the rest of the warriors, you need to be battle ready’. So there was lots of training trying to get in to shape desperately, and it’s great, it’s very real. And there’s no sort of pretending about it, the fight sequences you see in the first 4 episodes, and it’s Athelstan’s first experience with a shield wall and I remember the first take we were just sort of going for it, and everything you see is real. There are a hundred Anglo Saxon warriors running at you, at our shield wall and then after when the director yelled cut there was this silence, and then the giddy laughter pouring over the forest and they asked “Who on earth is that?” and it was me off my face on some adrenalin high. There’s no pretending, when they smash into the shield wall they’re really smashing into us.
Q: What is the vibe like on set, on location? You all seem to get along really well, do you guys get to mess around and have fun on your down time?
G: Oh yeah, absolutely. Probably the prank heaviest set known in television world. It’s just so much fun, we’re so much a family, especially coming back to season 2, it was like my family. I’ve only just recently seen some of the footage from season two, but what I have seen I can see how hard everyone has worked to make things go up a level. And we’ve tried to make sure it’d be something people would watch and enjoy, we really had a lot of fun on it. And this year we got better at getting back and Travis and tricks, it wasn’t so much just the one way abuse towards the dweeby little monk like season one. I remember Katheryn [Winnick] tried to get a goat into his dressing room at one point which he didn’t find very funny. But it’s really fun, wonderful set to be on.
Q: Who is your favorite character out of the series (other than yourself)?
G: It’s very hard for me not to be biased, but when I first arrived on set during season 1 whenever I’d meet anyone, they would say ‘God your character is amazing, I wish I was playing your character’. If I had to? I’d say working with Gustaf who plays Floki is such a treat for me, I think it’s quite rare to be able to find yourself involved with a project with an actor who takes as much risk as he does. He’s very brave with what he does, and he’s very different, he believes he lives in this magical world, and I think the work and energy there are fantastic. I don’t think the set would the same without him.
Mab: Hello there George, I had the opportunity to speak to you both at WonderCon and at ComicCon last year, and had such a lovely time getting to know you and the cast. And someone else already sort of asked about various pranks and such that happened, but did your back ever get better after the pressroom at SDCC when Travis punched you?
G: *laughs* Oh at COMICCon! Yes! Well, it did get better. I’m just glad he didn’t tie me up like he said to the panel desk and left me there on H stage cowering under the panel table. Yes, it did get better, but there was all kinds of other abuse too to endure on season 2. I’m sure as you’ll see in the first 4 episodes season 2 is much more physical and epic, and we go out on the open ocean and battles are bigger, there are a lot more opportunity for Travis to, I dunno, push people off the side of the boat into the ocean when you’re 3 1/2 miles out to sea, or scare your horse when you’re trying to sit there and deliver your dialog so your horse canters and rockets off to the other side of Ireland. It’s a constant battle to make him behave *laughs*. TO be fair, you won’t see a lot of the other actors around when they’re not shooting, and I hadn’t seen the stuff Travis had done as Ragnar in the first few scenes, I was blown away by Mr. Fimmel. His Ragnar at the beginning of season 2 is just amazing. And I don’t know how he manages to be such a joker and maintain such amazing performances and do what he does.
Mab: It really shows, getting to spend time in a room with all of you together.
G: Yeah, it’s like I said, we’re all a big family really, and hadn’t seen each other for a few months when we get together at the con or to film the new season.
Q: Can you talk a little about the relationship of Athelstan to Ragnar in season 2?
G: It’s changed quite a lot as we’ve moved along. Well at first we have this very master/slave relationship that turns into a friendship by the end of season 1. And what we have at the end of the first episode of season 2 is a four year jump. And after the jump, we see Athelstan fitting into society. And potentially, Athelstan was the one figure in Ragnar’s life he could really trust, with all the marital issues, and Rollo. Where you find their relationship in season 2, is a very deep level of friendship, and by the end, you’ll understand how much these two men are connected and how important they are to each other, and the choices they’ll make to always be a constant in each other’s lives.
