Keeley Hawes has revealed that playing a contract killer in Prime Video's The Assassin left her with "quite dark thoughts". The actress, known for Spooks and Line of Duty, returns for the second series of the darkly comic thriller.
Hawes plays Julie, a hitwoman pulled out of retirement when her past puts her and her estranged son Edward, played by Freddie Highmore, in danger. In an interview with the Radio Times, the 50-year-old confessed the role affected her mindset.
Dark thoughts and a perimenopausal Bond
"I do have really quite dark thoughts about people that perhaps I didn't have before – like if someone's on a video call on the train. That could also be my age. But I'm blaming Julie as well," she said.
Hawes, who turned 50 this year, said it felt empowering to play a character her on-screen son describes as "a perimenopausal James Bond". She added: "It's written by two middle-aged men [Harry and Jack Williams], and they get it. In terms of the big set pieces, I'm having a ball. Julie's a bit fitter this series, so there's less groaning when I get up off the ground. But she's no gym bunny. I'm still a woman in my 50s."
Biggest stunt work yet
Filming the first series took place mainly in Athens, Greece, where cast members spoke about gruelling conditions in scorching temperatures. Hawes, married to Succession star Matthew Macfadyen, said she took on major stunts. "This is some of the biggest stunt work that I've ever done," she disclosed.
In series one, Edward learned that Julie, who raised him, was not his biological mother and had taken him in after killing his father during an assignment.
Series 2 synopsis
The synopsis for season 2 reads: "Hitwoman Julie and Edward reluctantly team up once again, when Edward's dream honeymoon with Kayla is hijacked by the arrival of a mysterious new threat."
It continues: "Plunged back into a world of international crime, kidnapping and high-speed car chases, to survive the job and mend an already fragile relationship, they'll have to take down Spain's corrupt underworld... and hopefully not each other first."
The Assassin season 2 releases on Prime Video on Friday, November 6.
