Ahead of his new Netflix thriller series Fool Me Once landing on the streaming platform on New Year's Day, we caught up with Dublin actor Emmett J Scanlan to find out about working alongside Michelle Keegan, what he thinks about the possibility of Kin returning, and why he always likes to have a bottle of fizz chilling in the fridge.
Emmett J Scanlan considers himself a "hopeful guy". Ever positive and earnest, the Dublin star has translated that optimism, along with a not-inconsiderable splash of talent and hard work, into a busy, varied and rewarding acting career.
The Clontarf-raised actor had his big break as the anti-hero Brendan Brady in Hollyoaks in 2010. He was in the iconic soap role for three years, appearing in a whopping 340 episodes, and it was also where he met his wife, fellow actor Claire Cooper, with whom he shares two young children. You would forgive him if he wanted to prolong the reliability that comes with a gig like that, but Scanlan isn't afraid to push himself out of his comfort zone. In fact, he makes it part of his personal mission. Since leaving Hollyoaks in 2013, he has appeared in a host of must-watch TV shows, including the acclaimed Jamie Dornan-starring BBC serial killer drama The Fall, the Steven Knight-created period crime drama Peaky Blinders and the hit RTÉ crime drama Kin.
Speaking to RTÉ Entertainment from his home in England, the 44-year-old actor laughed when he was asked about the likelihood of Kin coming back for another season. The third run of the hugely popular show, in which he starred alongside "muscular talents" such as Charlie Cox, Aidan Gillen, Ciáran Hinds and Clare Dunne, was put on hold after its production company went bankrupt. Fans are calling out for more Kinsella family drama.
"Yeah, I know!" Scanlan said. "It's the one of the main things that I get asked. I was really delighted that BBC bought season one and that Britain has gotten to see it. The response from where I live actually, in Britain, has been nothing short of absolutely remarkable.
"I had a feeling that they would take it into their hearts as well as their homes. They've given it so much love and respect like the Irish people have back home.
"And in answer to your question. Do I think there'll be a season three? You know, I've seen great shows disappear. And I've seen not-so-great shows continue to thrive. So this industry is hugely unpredictable."
He continued: "I hope there will be a season three, I really do. That's kind of the energy I like to marinate in anyway. I'm not a negative person. I genuinely have no answer whether it's gonna happen or not, but there are rumblings around the place, positive rumblings, where it might find a new home, it might find a backer and it might go into a season three.
"It certainly has the potential of going to season three and maybe four, who knows what will happen. When the credits rolled [at the end of the second season] I thought, 'It can't end like that'. So fingers crossed."
Scanlan plays Jimmy Kinsella in the moody and stylish crime drama. He is a criminal gang member who loses his innocent son in the crossfire of a gangland war. The actor admitted that inhabiting the complex role brought him to "a very vulnerable place".
"I think acting is quite a vulnerable art anyways at the best of times. And Jimmy Kinsella wasn't necessarily the easiest character to play," he shared. "But the material that I was given was something that would make me salivate - it was a challenge. My thinking is - find out what scares you and go live there.
"When I get to do parts like that, I do them because they scare me and when it doesn't scare me, I'm probably doing it for the wrong reasons. There's no expansion, there's no growth. I really enjoy playing Jimmy and if I was given the opportunity to come back and do it again, I wouldn't think twice."
Scanlan was equally enthused about his latest project Fool Me Once, the eight-part adaptation of American mystery writer Harlan Coben's suspenseful novel in which he stars alongside Michelle Keegan, Joanne Lumley and Richard Armitage. He previously collaborated with Coben on the Netflix series Safe, and with the show's producer Nicola Shindler on ITV's Butterfly, so when the writer emailed him the offer to play Shane Tessier it was a no-brainer.
"I didn't need to read the scripts, I just needed to read his name on the email," Scanlan said. "The only thing better than working with people you admire is being invited back to work with them again and again. I knew by saying yes that I was in ferociously safe and collaborative hands.
"I know what they like to make, I know their ridiculous, inspiring ambition and the joy they get out of making it. And the joy I get out of being on their sets. It's top class entertainment for the people and, apart from all of that, loyalty demanded that I said yes. And when the scripts started coming in from a slew of great writers, I knew I'd made the right choice."
The Irish star shares some great scenes with Keegan who leads the show as Maya, a former solider trying to come to terms with the brutal murder of her husband, Joe (Richard Armitage). Scanlan said their chemistry came easily.
"She's a beautifully generous human being onset and offset," he said. "Very open and available to play, to dance, to collaborate. We got on really well. We just clicked right off the bat and it was just a great experience to dance with her, to go toe-to-toe with her. And she's a fantastic actress."
He promised there would be plenty of "twists and turns" for viewers. "The beauty of Harlan's shows is that he kind of suggests that everyone is a suspect and nothing is as it seems", even for his character Shane Tessier.
"Take Shane, he's Maya's best mate. They were platoon mates. He's a military guy, he's a soldier to his core, just like Maya is. He's got an incredibly rich relationship with her daughter Lily, so he comes across like a nice guy, but you have to remember that it is Harlan Coben's world, like I said before, nothing is as it seems."
The show lands on Netflix on New Year's Day which the actor said is "perfect timing". "When you're nursing that hangover, I know I’ll certainly be nursing that hangover. I’ll probably be watching my soul leave my f***ing body," he laughed.
It's been a wildly busy period for the actor creatively, and he says he feels "insanely grateful for the journey that I've been on and in the last four or five years".
"It's been quite a remarkable journey, I have to say. My favorite thing about this career is that I get to do it. And not just do it, but I get to work with heroes of mine and being on set, being in the moment and trying to mine out something that's worthwhile, something truthful, that's where the magic happens.
"Endeavouring to do that on a daily basis, I think is my dharma. I have real pinch-me moments, when I was on Peaky Blinders, or when I got to do Derry Girls. And then this summer I've gotten to do a couple of really good things and a couple of really good movies alongside some people that I never thought I'd get to work with. Bucket list moments that haven't been out yet."
The actor has a lovely tradition of keeping a bottle of bubbly in his fridge, and not just to celebrate the big wins.
"It's a tradition that I've had for many years, I always put a bottle of fizz in that fridge for the good news that's coming and the good news that's already there," he said. "And every time I open that door it just reminds me to be grateful for everything, and not just the good news.
"Grateful for the little things, especially the little things. I wish for everybody to, whatever your drink is, for everybody to have a chance to do that."
Fool Me Once lands on Netflix on New Year's Day.
