Think it must be hard to be Merlin, the central character in Merlin, the “before-they-were-famous” retelling of the legend of the Camelot?
Imagine being Colin Morgan, the 24 year-old actor upon whose shoulders the entire production rests?
Last summer, the first season of Merlin aired on NBC (to mostly lackluster ratings). For the thirteen-episode second season, the show has gravitated to the SyFy channel, where it premieres this Friday night at 10 PM (9 C).
I was eager to talk to Colin about the new season, so we set up a call from Cardiff in the UK where he is currently filming the show’s third season. Because of the time-difference, it was quite late in the day there, but he was eager to share with me his thoughts on the latest season, his love-hate relationship with the internet, the truth about whether the show’s much-discussed “hoyay” (or gay subtext) is intentional or not, and even his curious love for American peanut butter.
In other words, just like his television counterpart, Colin seems to be holding up just fine.
TheTorchOnline.com: I appreciate your staying late to talk to us.
Colin Morgan: Well, it’s late every day these days. It’s all going well. We’re on the third series at the moment, about five weeks into it, and it’s all going good.
TTO: What episode are you filming now?
CM: The way it works, we film them in three-episode blocks, so we’re currently filming episodes one, two, and three.
TTO: Since the show airs so much later here in the U.S. — season two aired last year in the UK, but we’re just about to watch it here — does it ever get confusing when you’re doing press, thinking back on a season you filmed well over a year ago?
CM: Yeah, it is confusing. We just did an interview the other day, and they were asking questions about season one, and that was two years ago, and I was like, “Oh! Can I think back to that? What happened back then?”
But talking about series two [the second season] feels a lot more on home ground, especially since that was just released on DVD. But does definitely take up a lot of your head space.
TTO: Tell me what you liked best about season two?
CM: A couple of different ways to look at it. From having seen the whole of the second series, I liked the darker, more intense tone that the overall series took, especially toward the end. Me personally, those are the things that I like.
And I like that the writers weren’t afraid to put Merlin through some really horrendous situations. Going into the third season, I’ve learned how it’s really changed him, forever.
What’s great about the second series is that they’re taking bigger steps, bigger character steps. We see big steps taken in terms of Arthur and Guenevere. Morgana’s dark side is starting to come through, as is Merlin’s abilities and his past. We also get to see his first love.
TTO: With series three [the third season], are you going back to a more light tone, or are you carrying over the darker tone from the end of the second series?
CM: What’s great about the series is that, although the show takes a dark tone toward the end, the show does still somehow maintain its charm. It will always have its charm and that element of lightheartedness, even if the overall tone is quite extreme and serious.
There’s always a balance, there’s always room for those lighter moments. While it got quite dark, there were never the moments were it suddenly became The Exorcist.
TTO: Speaking of humor, one of things that I think is so great about your character is that you get to play both broad comedy and also the drama. Tell me honestly: between you and Bradley [James, who plays Arthur], you know you have the better role, right?
CM: Yeah. I’m more naturally drawn to the quirky, magically, fantastical aspect of many stories, and I’m a big fan of the fantasy genre, and I do like those more surreal elements.
And what’s great is that Merlin is the unsung hero, so he gets to look like an absolute prat to everyone else, but the truth is, he’s the one behind the successes of Arthur.
It’s great that you get the variety. You get a chance to have a laugh, and then, in the second series, when horrendous things happen, you get a chance to show a new emotional, even angry side. Everyone’s got their lighter side and they’re darker side.
TTO: A lot of people have written to me, expressing some frustration with the fact that Arthur still hasn’t figured out that Merlin has magic. Do we get some progress on that front in series two or even series three?
CM: You’re going to see huge changes in the relationship between Arthur and Merlin. Arthur’s going down the path of being more king-like, but he’s going to be a more understanding king that Uther would be.
And Merlin wouldn’t want to reveal that he has magic if he thought [Arthur] was going to have the same attitude as his father. I think it’d be the wrong time, but as the series progresses, you see times when Merlin is kind of assessing the situation. He’s becoming more like the “adviser” of the legends that we know.
Whether he comes right and says it in series three, you’ll have to watch it and see. But there are some big changes that I think people will be happy to see.
TTO: Do you ever joke on the set about how clueless Arthur sometimes seems? He’s always looking away when Merlin performs magic, or passing out, or whatever the excuse is for not seeing what’s really going on.
CM: Oh, yeah, definitely! We definitely look at it from an audience point-of-view. By no means are we naive to it all.
It’s one of the conventions of the show, and that’s how it is. Part of the fun is that [Arthur doesn't know, those are] some of the great comic scenes. It’s one of the things from the start of the show, that Merlin does have to keep his magic secret.
He’d love to be able to confide in someone, and what’s great about series two is that he does. One of those is Morgana. It was a good dilemma for Merlin, having someone who has magic and who is part of the court of Camelot. What are the consequences of telling someone? Does Merlin help her when her powers start to come to the fore?
TTO: You mentioned you were interested in fantasy. What books and movies?
CM: Do you know Terry Pratchett?
TTO: Oh, sure.
CM: I’m a big fan of his, I think he’s brilliant. And I love Tim Burton — Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, Big Fish. I love all those.
More recently, things like Avatar are right up my street. Strangely, I haven’t been into Star Wars — I’ve have to revisit them — but Indiana Jones, The Goonies, that kind of thing. Escapism — I think people do enjoy escaping from their daily lives for an hour or two. It’s why I love the fantasy genre, which seems to be really in at the moment. I just finished watching the first series of True Blood. That was brilliant.
The fantasy genre is really in at the moment, and it’s great to be a part of that.
TTO: I have to ask you about this phenomenon of “hoyay” that I read about everywhere, where people see a gay subtext between Merlin and Arthur. Are you guys aware of this when you’re filming and what do you think about all this?
CM: It’s certainly something that we never ever play. I think you’re watching anything, and you’re looking for it, you could probably find it. You could find gay connotations in Barney. You could find it anything.
I think it very much depends on the individual watching it as opposed to any portrayal that’s being done on-screen.
TTO: Well, it’s a huge online thing. And I think it goes back to the whole keeping a secret, how Merlin can’t tell Arthur about his magic.
CM: It’s lucky that I’m not an internet person. I avoid the internet like the plague, so it’s probably a good thing that I don’t know what’s been going on.
But I can attest to the fact that there’s no intentions there of pushing of any that kind of subtext. It purely as innocent as the scripts are.
I think it’s very much dependent on the individual watching it.
TTO: So you really don’t read what people write about you online?
CM: It’s not an ignorant way that I’m doing that at all — I think it’s great that there is the internet, for people to talk about the show and have that base and that community and meet fellow fans. I think that’s brilliant.
But I think it’s a bit scary. It’s great to get the support and appreciation, but there’s a lot of things out there. If you’re an actor, if you’re to read things that are good, you get full of yourself, and if it’s bad, you never forget it. So I think it’s destructive either way.
So I’ve always stayed clear.
TTO: Well, what I read is all very positive. And when I tweeted I was interviewing you, I was inundated with questions.
CM: You’re gonna make me full of myself!
TTO: Oh, right, sorry. I wanted to ask you, since the show runs in the UK and in the U.S., is there anything you do that’s different for the U.S. broadcast?
CM: You’re seeing exactly what we see, as far as I know. The only thing that’s the changed, in the first season … I have to change my accent [which is Irish] for the show to an English one, and I had the line, “Don’t be such an ass.” Because I was doing an English accent, I was saying it “aaass,” more like “posh,” and they wanted to change it to the American “ass.” They didn’t think it would be understood.
And that’s the only thing I can think of that’s changed.
TTO: With the success of the show, have you done any auditions in Los Angeles for American television?
Colin on stage in 2007
CM: I’d love to come to the States and audition for some things. I think it’s worth doing, but I think it’s probably better if a job came up that took me. I get the impression that it’s quite hard to go there and just audition. It might be better to go in the back. But it’s definitely something I’d love to do.
I was in the States for the first time last August. We had a week off, and I went to Boston and New York for a couple of days. Gave me the bug for the States — I’d love to do a road trip for a year!
I’d love to do some exploring and just chill out. Life isn’t just all about work.
TTO: When will you be coming back to the States?
CM: I might be doing something over Thanksgiving. I’ll probably be going back to the Boston area, because we know people there, but I want to get to New York and Washington too.
One of the things I love about the States is your peanut butter.
TTO: How is it different?
CM: It’s completely different. The peanut butter we have here is like sawdust.
But your Skippy and your Jif is awesome. I literally order it online because I like it so much. I’m a loser.
TTO: Nah. Well, I’ve enjoyed the show, and I’m looking forward to series two — and three too, although that probably won’t be for several years, the way they’re going.
CM: I’ll try to speed them up as much as possible.
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Oh Colin, what have you done to me? I started off adoring Bradley and sort of overlooking you, but you had to win me over with your sexy Irish brogue and understated intellectual-ness and totally epic bone structure. Now I don’t know where my loyalties lie, and we all know how disastrous that could turn out to be *coughMorganacough*.
As for Colin being uncomfortable about the slash, he’s always been the more reserved one when it comes to that topic, lol. Bradley’s the one who’s always been more open about it, admitting in an interview that he and Colin probably have a “bromance” going on and saying that Arthur and Merlin, like Lancelot and Guinevere, should end up together in “a different way” (although what he means by that, I’m not quite sure). So for all the slash fans out there, Colin’s just ever so polite and reserved like that and you’re probably not going to get much out of him with the whole slash thing. If you want someone to fan the flames of your fangirl-ness, best go to Bradley. Or better yet, Katie Mcrgath. That girl is one of us and we all know it. x)
wow, this is weird. i never even considered ‘merlin’ as having a gay subtext. like, seriously? they are just mates, guys. you and your mates probably act loving and caring to each other. you probably have ‘chemistry’. doesn’t almost everyone? yeah. you can have romantic chemistry [which i do NOT see with merlin/colin - arthur/bradley], friendly chemistry [now THERE we go !] and hateful chemistry. there is no way there is a gay subtext to merlin. its all about the fantasy, the partership and the bond between all these characters. there is no merlin/arthur team. they are both straight characters. end of that.
OMG! Who could ever not love Colin?!
I don’t think there is a gay subtext at all. I think they are close, as in brothers or best friends close, but I can’t see how ther is a gay side to it at all. Also, Colin himself said that there was no gay stuff, and that people see gay anywhere. I’ve spoken to loads of people on the Merlin spot on Fanpop, and very few people say they are gay. Most people who say they are say it as a joke, and make it obvious that they are not serious. There are more people who think Merlin/Morgana than anything else. To be honets, I think it should be Merlin/me!!!
Tamara- you said he sounded uncormfortable about the whole gay thing; of course he did! People were suggesting that his charcter was gay! I’d feel uncomfortable if people were saying that about me, LOL!
Colin, if you ever read this, I’m just saying that me and lots of my friends think you’re amazing. I know you don’t want to be full of yourself, so sorry, but it’s true!!!!!!!!!!!!
Colin morgan is my favourite actor.
He’s so talented and lovely.
I think Colin’s got it wrong. People know he is not gay, that’s a reality. And then there’s the other reality where fans want to see Merthur happen. It seems like Colin is afraid of being perceived as gay himself. He should relax and enjoy the love and appreciation. He is so talented and with such a bright future ahead of him that I think he should start being more mature about this situation.
Dear Colin.I have to ask you something? Whants the difference between where you live and being in the U.S?
To be fair, he said that he avoided things written about him because it could either be good or bad, as in criticism, not slash fan stuff. Also, even if that was what he meant… some of it IS disturbing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m addicted to Merlin slash, but if you went online and found, like, very graphic stories being written about you and a coworker being written by strangers, wouldn’t you be a bit freaked out by it? Even a coworker of the opposite gender, it would be weird.
Thanks for posting the interview up.its a great interview. can’t wait for season 3.
Colin Morgan is so lovely. He seems really genuine, and he’s quite talented. And good for him, not reading the internet, it’s a nasty place.
I can see why he’s not embracing the slash as much– it’s very different for the person who’s the focus of all that attention and speculation than the person who’s doing the speculating. I am a slash fan (and a Supernatural fan) but I thought he was very polite about it. Personally, I don’t think slash should be brought up to the actors unless they mention it first, because it’s incredibly awkward.. at least they didn’t mention RPS, though.
We’d love to have Colin here in the States for a bit!
I’m with you Lea. First of all, it pisses me off when anyone acts homophobic in anyway. I actually had an uncle who was gay. Your whole comment there was good.
Supernatural fans scare the living shit out of me. If it’s true that Jared and Jensen accept the whole slash thing (which is very messed up by the way because hello, they play brothers on the show!), no wonder the fans are so obnoxious - they’re so spoiled.
@Tamara: Careful there, I can here you judging Colin as ‘homophobic.’ Tut tut tut.
And he didn’t say the fans were sick, he thought it was hilarious and weird.
Uuh Boomm…what are YOU talking about?!? They would never say anything like that. And besides I have not heard anything about that. It was probably someone online pretending to be them. People do that you know.
“Supernatural” is one of the best shows ever!!!
What the hell are you people talking about, padalecki and ackles being comfortable about the slash thing??
Really???? You must be living in the past because these two idiots changed their minds about slash and did everything they could to erase the slash and gay friendly fans from their precious crappy show.
I was a fan of supernatural and of both actors, but I stopped watching when the show became all about crappy het romance, and horrific storylines of sam against dean over and over and over again.
They said more than once that slash fans are disturbed people with a sick mind, so stop praising these two idiots.
I don’t watch Merlin but I’m getting very sick and tired of actors playing gay subtext in the first season of their shows and then pretending it was all in the fans sick heads and be all bothered by this.
And generally this happens when their shows become crap.
To those thinking Colin is being homophobic or uncomfortable about the situation I think look at it from his POV… You’re pairing him up with a guy he’s obviously very close to. They’re very good friends as declared by both he and Bradley James. It’s probably a little weird getting asked whether your hinting that they appear to be gay when they’re acting. Which I think is what Bradley was saying when he mentioned he didn’t ship Arthur/Gwen.
I don’t think he thinks your freaks because you pair them. I didn’t see the word ‘freak’ or ‘weird’ written anywhere in any interview. I think he justs doesn’t want to read it, which is fair enough. How many of you want to read fanfictions based on someone you PLAY having sex with someone your best friend PLAYS?
Also… Colin has played Gay before so I doubt he finds anything wrong with anyone being gay.
Saying this though… I’m a Arthur/Merlin shipper as well. I think both actors are amazing and they’re both gorgeous so they’d make a very lovely couple. :P
Colin you are an amazing actor and I think that Merlin is such a brilliant show and that it should go on forever! Merlin is what makes saturday nights worth it. I am missing Merlin right now and can’t wait until it’s back on and i can enter a wonderful world of magic and danger. Colin you make the show with your wonderful acting skills and beautiful smile.
Colin Morgan, this American girl loves your work very much. :) Rock on.
LOL most slash fans are creepy, true fax. I know, because I’m a slash fan. Do you know how many “I’m going hell for this” comments I’ve seen?
But enough about slash. Seriously, there are a lot of things to comment about this article other than the gay subtext.
How can he buy peanut butter online and avoid the internet like the plague is what I want to know right now.
Jared and Jensen are AWESOME!
they are so open and loyal to their slash fans.
Well said Tamara. I also one of those slash fans.
Colin Morgan WE LOVE YOU!!
Is it me or Colin Morgan always seems uptight and uncomfortable about this Merlin/Arthur gay-subtext questions. Why?
Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE this show. I am huge fan of this show. Bradley James(Arthur) and Colin Morgan (Merlin) have such incredible chemistry together. Also add this Merlin’s “coming out” subtext. Also both have One destiny. Also both cares deeply about each other and ready to sacrifice each for another. I found their relationship so sweet and beautiful. Would call it Iconic.
And I totaly understand why people start seeing and reading things into it. (TBH I am one of those people, haha)
But in this interview and one from last year Colin Morgan sounds like he is slightly uncomfortable about all this situation.
(In previous interview Colin also mentioned same thing, that he doesn’t checking internet Merlin related material, because he don’t want to find some possible disturbing fan staff from people with sick imagination.) Personally as a fan of this show I felt missunderstood and offended. :((
So imagining deep romantic relationship of these fictional heroes(same gender).. Is that disturbing and freakish?! is that sick?
Recently I watched interview of Jared Padalecki (who plays Sam Winchester) and
Jensen Ackles (who plays Dean Winchester) in Supernatural. (Another slashfandom phenomenon.)
I Loved how both of them feeling so comfortable and humorous about all this slash, gay subtext of the show situation. They were just laughing and having fun with fans. They wasn’t ignoring or pretending that such thing doesn’t exist or that this is disturbing and sick.
In the name of slashfans.
Colin Morgan Please do not ignore us! We love you, We love this show, We are most loyal fans of Merlin… and trust me We are not freaks.
<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3
P.S. Sorry for my english
can I add my sign to your slashfans petition Tamara?
can I also add as a gay person
Colin morgan we are not freaks:)
personally i love gay-subtext of Merlin, it so sweet and pure… yours character Merlin and Arthur relationship so beautiful and interesting.. don’t be afraid of that gay subtext… it just a fun
love ya
Just because they don’t play it, doesn’t mean they’re afraid of it. That gay subtext may be there, even if it’s not intended. As an actor, I know that there is subtext that you as an actor have an obligation to play, as well as subtext that may or may not be visible (or intended), but you’re not playing it. It’s not that it’s being avoided, it’s just not that it’s angle you’re taking.
Brilliant interview!
Colin is brilliant!!!
He was sooo nice and lovely when I met him last November!!! :D
Thank you for doing this interview and asking him my question! (if you did - I’m writing this first before I read it since I’m on a time limit :P)
Love Hannah :D (shootingstarson(mars) on Twitter