What. A. Premiere. Episode. DAMN, Reign!
Not only did a LOT of shiz happen on the episode, but we got to know the new villain Narcisse, aka Craig Parker, a lot better.
Which brings us to the conclusion that he will be duking it out with Mary aka Adelaide Kane a lot on the upcoming season.
Seriously! Just watch the EXCLUSIVE! clip (above)!!!
[ Video: EXCLUSIVE! The Cast Of Reign Talks Season 2! ]
Well, we decided that even though he plays a villain on the show, we’d sit down for an EXCLUSIVE interview with Craig , to get some deets on everything about his character…
and SO MUCH MORE!!
So, OBVIOUSLY We had to ask Craig about his status as a villain on the show.
Is he one? Is he not one? Is he evil?
He said:
‘No, the lovely thing about this show, and how we’ve been going script wise so far with Narcisse is that he will do terrible things, but he absolutely believes that these are for the good of France. You have Mary and Francis, the new rulers, and they have these ideas about people first, and humanity, and kindness, and all of that stuff.
Whereas Narcisse is very much old school. He’s a believer that the system must exist, and France only runs when the nobility and the royals behave as noble and royal. He’s definitely out there to smack them around, and teach them a lesson, but he’s doing it, in his head, for the good of France.
He’s one of those awful Republican monsters who lobby the governments, and tell senators what to do. He does terrible things, and people suffer for his decisions, but he believes this is the only way the system works and it’s his duty to maintain that system.
Within the show and also that period, it’s about lineages, and dynasties. All these people have grown up with the sense of duty, and family, and carrying on these traditions, so he’s no different in that way. He had a father who was a monster, and taught him how to behave. Narcisse has passed it on to his dear son Edward.’
GREAT! Soooo, then it’s okay to call his character “brilliant, sexual, and fierce”?
Well, kind of!
Craig said:
‘Oh, I hear all those things everyday! It’s quite a set up — I could be brilliant, that’s fine. But along with fierce, and sexual?! It’s helped by fantastic costuming and very good people to play.’
Innnneresting!
So, what was it like shooting the scene of our EXCLUSIVE clip (above)?
Craig had an amazing response!
He explained:
‘It was a marvelous scene. Adelaide is glorious, and it’s really our first scene together, I think. She’s pushed this man’s son into a room full of plague victims. She’s murdered him. Again, coming back to the, ‘is he a villain or not?’
The lovely thing about this is there is an absolute grief, and fury at what she’s done. He’s lost his son. That rage is absolutely there, but, he’s a political beast as well, so he needs to temper that, and you can’t come right out it and say that the future queen of France has murdered your son! You have to be careful with that kind of stuff. He uses it politically, but underneath, there is absolutely a rage and hatred toward Mary for what she’s done.’
So, we know whats happening between him and Mary, but what about him and Catherine?
He said:
‘It’s a glorious meeting. These are two monsters who do monstrous things for what they believe to be right reasons. They’re definitely very wary of each other; they’re definitely sparred in the past. There is also a familiarity between the two, where they know each other inside out, they know how they work, and they know how they manipulate the world.
They’re also, in a way, old friends. They’ve known each other for a long, long time. They’ve seen each other work and there is definitely a joy. I love personally doing scenes with Megan [Fellows]. There is such a sense of fun about it as well. These two people can drop their guards slightly with each other.
Megan and I went to Ireland at Ashford Castle and she and I had a number of our scenes there on the gardens, and we were getting busy throwing as many hints for the writers as possible about relationships! I think that’s definitely in the cards that they’re setting up.
A growing relationship. Where that will go, how twisted that will be, how monstrous it will be, I don’t know.
It’s wonderfully toxic. The great thing is you’re really not doing it in real life and Megan, she’s a joy to work with. She knows how to balance the operatic with the human as well. I’ve been catching up on season one and it’s never cheap. It’s always got this heart, and this humanity to it and she’s wonderful to work with.’
Oooooh, wonderfully toxic! Sounds like that is one romance that’s gonna be innnnneresting to see!
But what about when the other cast members welcomed him to set?
Well, Craig was a but worried, but turns out he didn’t need to be!
He said:
‘There’s definitely a very fine sense of humor on everyone on this show! One approaches the first day with trepidation, and especially on a show that’s already done a season, when new people come in, it’s always weird.
I must admit, I was slightly terrified on day one, but they’re all delightful. There’s no sense of diva-ness going on anywhere in the cast. They’re all quite wonderfully eccentric, odd people who are just having a great time. I’ve been made to feel incredibly welcome, and I know Sean Teale, he also joined the cast at the same time. We both would be home in the evening going, ‘They’re really nice. They’re not scary,’ and waiting for them to reveal themselves! But they have just been absolutely delightful.
Very quickly we were just sort of welcomed into the gang, and treated like the gang. So there’s wonderful cruelty that happens all the time, but it’s in loving good-natured English kind of way.’
So, what about the criticism out there that Reign isn’t quite historically accurate?
Well, he’s got some choice words for those people!
Craig explained:
‘I don’t understand people having those kind of issues. Certainly you watch “Game of Thrones” and it’s entirely made up! I would watch the History Channel if I wanted to see, a proper docu. I much prefer drama and did “Spartacus” a couple of years ago, and initially we had people going, ‘They wouldn’t speak like that,’ and it’s like, well, you wouldn’t understand them if they spoke how they spoke in Latin all the time!
I think that’s part of this wonderful kind of, everyone can have an opinion, idea. It doesn’t concern me at all. I want to watch a good show with drama; I want to see interesting characters. And if they’re based on real people, that’s fantastic, the structure to run with it, but I really don’t care whether it’s historically accurate. I’d rather see great stories, and fantastic character.’
So, we changed the pace, just a little, to ask Craig about his character, Haldir, from Lord of the Rings movies and whether we’d see him in any of the Hobbit movies!
He said:
‘In the Hobbit? I really don’t think so, because there’s enough of the old guys popping back. I saw a few of the Hobbit kids a few weeks ago, and filming has wrapped up now, they pretty much got it in the can, and with a film like that, you have to stop filming at some stage, and let the special effects people finish it off.
The wonderful thing about television is you, you’re on your feet working most of the day. And I love that. I’d much prefer work the full day rather than sit around. On the film side with Rings or Hobbit, there’s an awful lot of hurry up and wait, where you get dressed up, and you all sit around for hours, and hours. So as glorious as those things are to watch on the screen, I would much prefer to be working on this show [Reign] right now.’
Bummer, but it’s such a big universe, those books, that it’s totally understandable!
Guess we’ll just have to enjoy all his HANDSOMENESS in French Court instead! Make sure to tune in TONIGHT for Craig’s debut!
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