Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Shadow and Bone is officially the most popular show on Netflix and a key part of that allure is Ben Barnes‘s seductive General Kirigan. As Shadow Summoner and head of the Grisha’s Second Army, Kirigan carries the weight of the (fantasy) world on his shoulders. When it’s revealed that Alina Starkov (Jessie Mei Li) may be the long mythologized Sun Summoner, Kirigan immediately prioritizes her training. Moreover, he seems to finally have someone to open up to. But as both the audience and Alina soon learn, Kirigan is not all he seems. In fact, he is — SPOILER — the ageless Darkling. The same Black Heretic who created the Shadow Fold in the first place.
Shadow and Bone is a spectacular adaptation of Leigh Bardugo’s novels in huge part thanks to the show’s outstanding cast. From Freddy Carter’s Kaz to Daisy Head’s Genya, every actor sinks effortlessly into the beloved characters of the novels. However Ben Barnes might have had the toughest job. The 39-year-old actor had to not only be a convincing love interest for Alina, but he had to convey the gravitas of General Kirigan’s status. Most importantly, he had to bridge the gap between fantasy villain and broken-hearted boy.
So how exactly did Barnes approach playing one of the most decadently dark bad boys of YA literature? With total reverence. As he Barnes told Decider recently, he used everything from the text to co-star Jessie Mei Li’s height to play with General Kirigan’s layers. Here’s Ben Barnes on all things Darkling…
DECIDER: I’m sure you’ve been asked a million times, but what drew you to the character? There is a massive fan base for this project, were you aware of it before you signed on? Did it make you at all trepidatious? How do you feel the fans are gonna react to your portrayal of the Darkling?
BEN BARNES: So I have some experience with playing characters from books that people have anticipation of how they’re going to be portrayed. I have learned that you can never please everyone. Initially, anyway. I remember when Prince Caspian came out, he’s supposed to be a teenager in the books and I was 24 and everyone said, “He’s too old.” Now I’m playing this character who’s supposed to be ageless, and everyone said, “He’s too old.” I know initially people have these things in their heads of what they want it to be, but I do tend to get cast, particularly in fantasy things quite a lot, which I find extremely flattering. In terms of how people interact with people on the internet, that is one of the more flattering things I enjoy that people do.
I think that he is an ambiguous character and he’s a mysterious character. My aim was to keep him ambiguous and mysterious, and to keep some of that sort of gray territory between the dark and the light that he navigates. I was drawn to playing a character that is sort of the most powerful character in the universe. I think that is appealing to people to watch the watch dynamics of status between characters and scenes. But he’s also a somewhat problematic character because he does end up sort of abusing that power for his own agenda.
I need to find the war in him. In the way that the Shadow Fold is this dark, shadowy thing, which has these sort of bristling lightning, acts of light through it, I want him to be the human version of that. I think that when you’re intrigued by someone, then you’re kind of drawn into them, but it is something that is problematic to me and I understand that. But there’s sort of this reclamation of it: I choose to engage with someone who is problematic knowing that they are. I’m able to assert my independence and say that.
How excited were you to get to the Darkling’s Episode 7 backstory? It’s not in the books. Did you get it before you started filming, were you kind of privy to where the show was going with him?
When I started filming, I knew there was going to be some kind of expression of his past, but I thought it’s going to be something closer to what is in “The Demon in the Woods” short story. He is going to be a little boy in it. It would be more empathy maybe, because he’s a boy and he doesn’t know any better. You can sort of understand why he’s got to where he’s got to. Very much like in Westworld, you saw the abuse of my character [Logan Delos], or like in The Punisher, where [Billy Russo] has been in the boy’s home. And you sort of understand them a bit better, even if you don’t condone their actions.
I think it was interesting to have me do it and have it be something that’s later because the creation of the Fold is such a big part of the story and so representative of all of our demons that we have to kind of negotiate with. We have to go through the Fold not around it. You have to go through in order to find the peace and to find where you feel like you belong. That goes for all the characters, but it does go for him as well. He hasn’t found peace in himself in a very long time.To be able to imagine this man has been alive [for so long]…we know how many loves he must have lost. We know we know what he must have sacrificed to maintain his belief in his ideology.
I think that goes some way to help you understand the mystery and enigma that he is, even if it leaves you on the other side of being able to forgive him.
Yeah, I mean one thing I was really shocked watching you play him is that you imbued him with a kind of loneliness.
That was really important to me from the offset, that you have to understand him.
I was rewatching some of your scenes with Jessie [Mei Li] today. Yes, you can see the Darkling needs Alina’s power, but it seems like he personally also wants her as a companion. Can you talk about trying to make that balance work and how did you approach it?
I mean, the two things that I would say I was keen to contribute was I thought that if he’s this ancient and he is abusing this power…How does she have agency in this situation? How is it not just a pure manipulation? I mean, the worst thing he does in the whole season to me is find out about that she loves irises from Mal (Archie Renaux) and then he immediately gives her those flowers. It makes me feel sick to watch him do that because I like playing characters that don’t lie. He can manipulate, but lying is something makes me feel sick in general.
So I think that that is the moment which is the most sickening to me. Which is strange because he slices people’s heads off and stuff. [The iris ruse is] just disgusting and it made me want to boo myself. So my job here is to give as much of the real me as I possibly can.
We added the fact that Alina is the one that kisses Kirigan. She makes that move. Whether he drew her into wanting to do that or not with his loneliness and his power and all that stuff… Baghra (Zoe Wannamaker) says, “Did he give you a little glimpse of the boy inside?” And so I wanted to make sure that was there, but also, you know, I wanted to bring something of myself to the warmth of it. I actually wanted the moment before [Before Baghra says that about him] to be the sweetest moment. So they kiss. Then I walked up out of the frame that was on Jessie and then just walked back in to give her another little kiss.
He just wants to and you know that’s not a manipulative part. There’s something about the organic-ness of that just came from my idea of wanting to do it. That makes it real. Hopefully you experience it as not part of the manipulation… like the irises! I did that because it says I have to in the script. You see what I mean? When I was watching it, I did feel myself in the episode kind of going, “I don’t want to play him anymore. I want to play somebody you root for!”
Speaking of those kisses, there is a height difference between you and Jessie. She comes across so tall on screen and the camera angles, but there is a gap. Was that ever a physical issue when you’re choreographing those scenes?
No, it’s something that the Darkling would use. So it was something that I used. One of my favorite moments actually in the series is where Jessie kisses him. I knew the next line was, “Not many people take me by surprise.” I thought that was such a sweet thing to say.
Very much like how the moment in which you find out he’s “not what he seems,” I wanted to put the sweetest moment before that. If I’m going to have a sweet moment, like, “Not many people surprise me” — which is a very kind of sweet, endearing moment — I was like, “Between the kiss and that line, there needs to be something a bit threatening.”
So if you notice, I blocked the scene so I sat down on the desk. When I’m sitting down at a desk, we’re the same height and she kisses me. And then before I say that line, I stand up. Yeah. Then I’m like a foot taller than her. I’m looking down at her and it’s like, oh, what’s he gonna say now? Then he says this sweet thing. So that’s how I was able to sort of build the mystery of him.
Shadow and Bone Season 1 is now streaming on Netflix.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
