3 days ago
'MobLand' stars Pierce Brosnan and Anson Boon tease what the future might hold for their characters after season 1 finale
Pierce Brosnan and Anson Boon share their thoughts on what they hope the future might hold for their MobLand characters.
The two performers also share their differing takes on who really runs the Harrigan empire.
With the finale setting up fresh threats for a potential second season, Brosnan and Boon speculate on who among their criminal clan they should fear article contains spoilers for season 1, episode 10, "The Beast in Me."
Following 10 episodes filled with butchered body parts, booby-trapped cars, and more corpses than you can shake a buzzing chainsaw at, it's a little surprising both Conrad Harrigan (Pierce Brosnan) and his grandson/son Eddie (Anson Boon) survived MobLand's entire first season unscathed.
But like any good crime family worth its weight in cement shoes, the Harrigans aren't wasting time counting their lucky stars, but are anxiously moving onto their next big score. With that in mind, Entertainment Weekly spoke with both Brosnan and Boon about what the future might hold for their characters, who the most dangerous member of their dysfunctional clan is, and, most importantly, who really wears the pants in the Harrigan household.
Addressing that latter query, specifically whether Conrad truly believes he is in charge over his his wife Maeve (Helen Mirren), Bronson quickly sets the record straight: "Yes, of course he does."
But he also stresses there's much more to the Conrad-Maeve dynamic than a simple pecking order. "It's kind of a malevolent, merry dance that they've played all their lives. They both have a passionate lust for the dangers of life, and they repeat the same toxic dance that has now reached a point that it's out of control."
He continues, "But he trusts no one, and he certainly doesn't trust her. He may say that he does…but he loves her. They love each other."
While Boon credits Conrad with being as "successful" as he is "formidable," his character's unique relationship with the family matriarch ultimately sees him placing her at the top of the Harrigan hierarchy. "She's really stirring the pot, and Eddie is the only one who's given a front-row seat into the inner workings of what she's doing. Maeve is absolutely pulling the strings and twisting this family at every turn."
Maeve's powerful position – coupled with Eddie learning she's not actually his grandmother in the finale – also makes her one of the series' scariest characters, according to Boon. "He's related to her in the same way that Seraphina [Mandeep Dhillon] is, and look how she treats Seraphina. So what is she gonna do to Eddie? Does he continue to trust her or not?"
Given Maeve and Conrad's quite different, though equally complex, relationship, Bronson sees his on-screen wife as less of a threat than his conniving offspring. "They're all time bombs waiting to go off. Kevin, [Paddy Considine's] character…he's got so much venom in him, so much hate. I think Anson is pretty lethal, pretty badass. But they're all ruled by hate, self-loathing, narcissistic, mangled lives."
As Boon points out, Harry (Tom Hardy) also has Eddie's number, a fact that could see him looking over his shoulder as he claws his way up the crime family's food chain. "I think it really scares him in that scene, when [Harry] confronts Eddie about him sleeping with Gina. That one little line that he gives at the end, where he says, 'Yeah, you're gonna run this family one day. And when you're on that cliff, I'll be right next to you and I'm gonna push you off,' That's more terrifying than any punch ever could have been, so I think at that moment he's most scared of Harry."
Torn between who future-Eddie should fear most, Boon continues with a chuckle, "But then the level of confusion he has towards Maeve when he finds out he's not related to her, but she says they're gonna be the king and the queen…I think that is absolutely terrifying as well. It will be interesting to see what decisions he makes."
Of course, fans will need to wait for a yet-to-be-announced second season to find out who'll be gunning for who. If a follow-up season plays out anything like the first blood-soaked batch of episodes, Brosnan believes no one is safe. "You never knew where it was going. Near the end, we were just waiting for the scripts to come in. They would come in really close to the wire, so it was always a surprise to see who was still in the picture."
The actor has no insight into possible future storylines – or violent exits – but won't rule out Conrad occupying a body bag. "I think it's entirely possible," he says with a laugh. But based on Conrad's crotch-grabbing, season-capping strut, Bronson believes his character is looking toward a brighter outcome. "The future is golden for him. He's gonna get out of prison and hunt down the little s—bags who did him injustice."
Boon's character's future is more uncertain, especially seeing as Eddie disappeared from the Harrigan safe house around the finale's midpoint. But the actor has an idea of what he hoped happened to him after almost murdering his mum. "What he needs to do is go for a long walk in that forest, while he's working his way away from the safe house, and just clear his head and try to work out his next move. Is he gonna trust Maeve, like he has done for the whole of his life?"
Regardless of what Conrad and Eddie's futures hold – and who they should fear most – Brosnan enthusiastically replies, "100 percent, absolutely!" when asked if he'd be game for reprising his role for a second season. "It's so much fun," he says. "It allows you to play so many different levels." And speaking collectively for the cast, he concludes – like a true Harrigan – "I think everyone's in it for the crack, as they say in Ireland!"
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
