- Title: 'The Rig' cast reveals the high stakes faced in new Prime Video season
- Date: 17th December 2024
- Summary: EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (DECEMBER 4, 2024) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, IAIN GLEN, ON WHETHER THE ANCESTOR IS THE REAL VILLAIN IN THIS, SAYING: "And whatever the Ancestor (an intelligent microbial lifeform) is, it's about trying to say that this planet and the way it's evolved is more complex and more deeper and needs more profound understanding than we could ever really give it. And we certainly shouldn't take it for granted and we shouldn't abuse it. So in some way, the Ancestor is trying to sort of trying to to reach out to us, to speak to us. So I don't think in any way it's, it's, it's a villain. It's, it's dangerous, you know, and can be threatening. But I think there's a sense in which if we could only understand it more, if only as humanity, if we could just sort of try and try and understand it, then it would be a much more benign force."
- Embargoed: 31st December 2024 13:34
- Keywords: Amazon Prime Video Emily Hampshire Iain Glen Rochenda Sandall The Rig 2 oil rig series television series
- Location: EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND, UNITED KINGDOM/ VARIOUS FILMING LOCATIONS
- City: EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND, UNITED KINGDOM/ VARIOUS FILMING LOCATIONS
- Country: UK
- Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe,Television
- Reuters ID: LVA008653811122024RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:The embattled, surviving crew members of the Kinloch Bravo oil rig return to Amazon Prime Video in January 2025 for season two of showrunner David Macpherson's "The Rig" television series, but face even higher stakes this time around.
Actors Iain Glen, Emily Hampshire and Rochenda Sandall - who play rig boss Magnus MacMillan, rig scientist Rose Mason and pregnant rig medic Cat Braithwaite respectively - sat down with Reuters recently from Edinburgh, Scotland, to explain more, as well as why season two has taken over a year to air because of the "awe inspiring" and "intricate" special effects done in post production.
The first series in 2023 was met with some online controversy "within seconds of airing", said Glen, because it portrayed working in the oil industry. However, opinions seemed to turn full circle after Macpherson's story questioned the prolonged effects of man's drilling on nature, portrayed in the series as 'the Ancestor', a sci-fi-like, intelligent microbial lifeform that affects all on Bravo.
Hampshire added that people commenting online who worked on rigs in real life felt that rather than being "Hollywood" in production style, the series was "really well" done, a testament to Macpherson knowing his subject matter she said.
After season one's devastating tsunami that destroyed the Bravo, season two sees the remaining crew rescued and taken to Pictor Energy's secret offshore facility called the Stac, nestled deep in the Arctic Circle.
Feeling trapped, unless they sign new release contracts given to them by company man David Coake (Mark Addy), they encounter more conspiracies, corporate antics and new threats from the Ancestor in the controversial world of deep sea mining.
Glen joked that Magnus becomes a crack shot with a rifle when he has to "neutralize" a Pictor Energy operative. Hampshire said Rose becomes part of the crew, rather that a corporate mouth. Sandall added that Cat has "deep regrets" at past decisions and her pregnancy becomes "poignant" this season.
The big question throughout "The Rig" is, who is the real villain?
"The Ancestor is trying to reach out to us, to speak to us," said Glen. "It's dangerous... and can be threatening... There's a sense in which if we could only understand it more... if we could just sort of try and understand it, then it would be a much more benign force."
What the Scottish "Game of Thrones" actor found most "enlightening" during his preparation for the role was mining for precious metals and minerals to be used for renewables, which season two explores. It is a "complex little conundrum", said Glen.
"How can you access them without causing further abuse or how can you... move away from carbon to these, but not do the same thing that you did when you were trying to find carbon... That's at the heart of it," he added.
"The Rig" season two that also co-stars Martin Compston, Owen Teale, Molly Vevers, Stuart McQuarrie, Emun Elliott, Abraham Popoola and Alice Krige, airs on January 2 in the new year.
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