Tell me about the accent. The way he talks really defines my experience of the show.
Accents are a long debate. The producers of the show took great care in choosing British actors to play all the Saxons and Scandinavian actors to play the Danes. They want Uhtred to speak differently from the two factions to emphasize the fact that he doesn’t belong to either world. So I worked with a dialect coach and we came up with an accent that had a British base, but with a Scandinavian twist, which made it almost indistinguishable. It’s also the rhythm of his voice on top of the articulations we developed and became his trademark.
I know you were born in Germany and grew up in Switzerland and other countries. Has Uhtred ever had this experience?
sure. I can really understand Uhtred’s difficulty being accepted in whatever culture he lives in because I moved a lot, especially as a kid. If you’ve lived in many different places, you don’t really feel loyal to a particular country. I felt equally German, French, American—I found it so limiting to have to reduce myself to one person. At the same time, I can also feel the excitement of not coming from any particular place, because you bring something new, you bring a new perspective. That’s what makes Uhtred so interesting and valuable – he’s a Saxon who grew up with the Danes, so he knows how to fight, how to build shield walls, and he ends up being the leader of an army.
When did you know the show got attention and built a following?
After Netflix picked up the third season, the ratings did explode somewhat. But I’m just a very private person, so I didn’t experience much of the effect.
People don’t stop you on the street saying, “Fate is everything”?
Like, when I was in LA – not really. But it does happen when I’m in the UK or Latin America or Germany or France etc. But I have the great advantage of looking very different in real life. Like, once my beard is shaved, I fly under the radar, which is my preference.
