“You treat them as a human being and see their world through their eyes.” **WARNING: SPOILERS**
The submarine-based thriller Vigil has wrapped its run now and while we all wait for news of a potential Vigil series two, we have that dramatic finale to unpack. Weighing in on what happened is a man who was right the centre of the action, Lorne MacFadyen, whose character turned out to be the treacherous villain of the piece.
“It was actually a big challenge because playing someone [who is] a villain,” he told press including RadioTimes.com. “It’s always the cliche. You don’t judge them – you treat them as a human being and see their world through their eyes. So you have to figure out why it is they’re doing these bad things. And it has to come from a place of, ‘I guess there’s righteousness there.’
“There’s a sense of ‘what I’m doing is the right thing and I will go to the nth degree to get that done’. It was really interesting having that conversation with James [Strong, executive producer] early on about why it is that he’s doing what he’s doing, and we discussed that at great length.
“Even for me to know – even if it’s not for the series – it’s important for me to know why I’m doing what I’m doing in a way that makes sense. Hopefully that will translate into a kind of fully rounded person.”
Prior to the finale airing, MacFadyen spoke about the big episode five twist and admitted that he loved the way it was revealed to the viewers. “I loved that kind of arc of just being a sort of shadowy, and quite sort of polite character for a lot of it, and then being thrust into the action like that with a really violent reveal. I thought that was a really cool way of doing it.”
While Vigil was a gripping series, the Vigil finale had a mixed response from viewers with some loving the resolution and others feeling it was a bit of an anticlimax after the drama that came before.
As for series two, writer Tom Edge says that while the show will not return to a submarine again, he does think there is great potential for more stories for the characters, saying: “Some of the characters that we have developed as we’ve made it, they feel like characters that we’d love to burrow into. So if there’s a will to do it from everyone else then certainly I would be up for it.”
For more to watch, check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.