Colin Morgan on castmates, guest stars, and season four of Merlin

Yesterday marked the third time I have had the distinct pleasure of speaking with Colin Morgan, who plays Merlin‘s titular character with aplomb, killer instincts, and some supernatural ability to give you one look with his blue eyes that suddenly makes you feel emotions you were previously unaware existed on the human spectrum of feelings. And while I can always wax poetic about what a nice young man he is (seriously, well done on his mother) or paraphrase what he said, what’s the fun in that? You’ve all shown a marked preference for hearing it straight from the man himself, and frankly, I don’t blame you. And so, without further ado, I present to you Colin Morgan on character growth, his relationships with Arthur, Morgana, and Gaius, guest stars, and a few teasers for this Saturday’s finale.

[Ed. Note: Due to the poor quality of the phone connection, my transcription may not be 100% accurate, for which I apologize. I have tried my very best. I also apologize for all the excited typing you hear me doing as I take notes. I did not know my microphone would pick that up. Here’s the audio, if that helps.]

One of the big draws for our readers, and I guess for a lot of Merlin viewers, is Merlin and Arthur’s relationship. Can you tell us how we’re going to see that grow and change over the course of Series 4?
Yeah, I mean it’s  one of the most iconic relationships in legend, and it’s very much about Merlin bringing Arthur to the point where he can rule the kingdom, where it’s fit for him, and he’s fit for himself. And in the fourth season we see them growing apart a bit, actually. There’s a new character called Agravaine, who’s Arthur’s uncle, who [Merlin] realizes very, very quickly is not all it appears he is. Yet he’s Arthur’s right-hand man, he’s exactly where Merlin should be… and it’s about Merlin trying to re-gain that position, to be by Arthur’s side, to get him to make the right decisions. Because things very quickly change and Arthur gets more responsibility. And it’s where Merlin should be, and he’s not there, and it’s about him sort of grappling with the whole concept.

What is your favorite Merlin to play? Is it the sort of clumsy, funny Merlin, or the dramatic Merlin, or the Great Dragoon Merlin?
I would say it’s the variety, that I like, it’s the facets of the character, that’s what fascinates me. I think variety’s the spice of life, and being able to push yourself in all directions – that’s what it is, the complexity that I enjoy the most.

What attracted me to the series was the fact that growing up I read all the different variations on Camelot and the Arthurian legends, and what I liked about it was that this one’s focusing on Merlin’s backstory. I mean Merlin, to me, was always a mysterious character, and I liked that. But also, in seasons four and five will he be taking more of that puppetmaster role that I was used to seeing in the previous stories and the previous tellings of that legend?
Yeah, that’s a big theme, actually, coming up in this season, because that’s  absolutely what Merlin’s driving towards. He’s gaining wisdom and a certain kind of power in that wisdom. Certainly in parts you’re seeing Arthur listen to him a lot more, you’re seeing Arthur in fact change the way he’s thinking, sometimes, because of what Merlin says. And you see the beginnings of that, and that’s pretty exciting. But they’re also growing a little bit further apart, so I’d say Merlin has to work ultra-hard to try and be heard. And hopefully by the end of the season you’ll see that the relationship has come to the point where maybe they’re ready to set rules and set grounds and become a good team to rule the kingdom.

I wanted to ask you about Merlin’s relationship with Gaius in Season 4, maybe you could tell us a little bit about that. And also, what’s it been like working with Richard Wilson in this series?
Richard Wilson is an absolute gentleman. You can speak to anyone on set or any of the cast members, and they’ll have nothing but praise for him. He is a pleasure to work with and an  honor to know.

I’d say the relationship between Merlin and Gaius is one that I love hugely, I think it’s fantastic. What’s great is there’s an episode this season that takes the two of them away from each other for a while. And it’s really interesting to see how Merlin reacts when Gaius isn’t around because maybe you don’t realize how much you needed him until he’s gone. And it’s a really interesting episode about their relationship and the love they have for each other. And I guess at some point Merlin is going to lose Gaius, and he’s not going to be around forever, and it’s just a taste of what that whole part of his life will be like. And really at the minute Gaius is really the only one Merlin can really confide in. So if Gaius isn’t around, life becomes even more lonely.

So it’s a really good relationship, it’s a father-son relationship. Merlin was, you know, he lost a father relationship, and it’s always been missing in his life, and Gaius and him are very much a surrogate father and son.

Have you heard anything about season five? I know you’re going to start shooting in a little while.
Um, season five… We know nothing about it. They keep things so secret from us for quite a while. We only find out really, like, three episodes at a time, so when we started season four, I only knew episodes one, two, and three, and then when we finish those I get four, five, and six. So I know nothing about season five, I only know that season four ends on such an intriguing note that they can’t not do a fifth season. We’d have a lot of very upset people if we ended on that cliffhanger.
You were talking a little bit about how things are going to be changing and getting darker this season, and I’m pretty interested in Merlin’s relationship with Morgana this season. Can you talk about – has Merlin has any regrets as far as when Morgana really needed him, he turned his back on her?
Yeah, I mean, it’s a difficult call, because Merlin has tried a lot to show her the right path, and it became very clear early on that he was told that Morgana would be his downfall and his doom, and would be the one who would be in direct opposition to all his goals and his destiny. And that’s been his most important thing, that’s his focus. And as difficult as it is or has been, he’s had to set so much aside for that, for the future, and for the future of his kind. And if that means sacrificing her, or anyone, as ruthless as it is, that’s what he signed up for when he came to Camelot, that was the deal.

And it says a lot about him as a character, the fact that sometimes your emotions have to be shoved aside, and you gotta do that. And Morgana is definitely beyond redemption, she has chosen that path, and as far as Merlin concerned she’s had her chances. I think if you try to build a fire too much, you’re definitely going to get burned, and I think Merlin’s done building the fire now and is just ready to put it out. And he’s very focused on that this season.

Morgana has built up a huge fear of this figure called Emrys, who is what Merlin’s known as among the Druids. And as she has the image of Emrys, of old Merlin, so throughout the season, whenever Merlin changes into old Merlin, she has this terrible, terrible fear of him. And he doesn’t quite understand it, but of course it’s great from his point of view, because we don’t often get to see Morgana in such a state of distress. Certainly as ruthless as she is, she has a huge fear of Emrys as well, so that’s why we have strong subplots throughout the whole season, too.

When you look at the relationship with you and Arthur, I think there’s always some danger in storytelling when you take a heroic, iconic figure like Arthur and you kind of make him a bumbling fool in the sense that he doesn’t recognize Merlin’s power. Is there any conscious effort to balance that a little bit, to keep Arthur heroic in spite of the fact that we’re trying to build Merlin up as a hero?
Well, I think we see  big changes. And I think it’s interesting, certainly.  Because I think there’s an odd interplay, there. Because we’re in the know, we know that Merlin has magic, we know that he’s the one doing all the behind-the-scenes stuff. But to everyone else there’s absolutely no way they’d suspect Merlin, he’s a servant. So I don’t think there’s any sort  of dumbing down of the character as such. Because we, I think, certainly since Series one Arthur’s grown significantly and is a lot more mature, and he’s certainly leaning towards that king he’s going to become. And we certainly see the [unintelligable], and I think this season’s a lot more tasked with the transitions that characters make.

There is room for two heroes, then.
Oh, yeah, I think so.

Clacked by Julia Hass
on Dec 21, 2011 @ 10:00 EST5EDT