The Last Kingdom: Mark Rowley (Finan) talks improvising on set, character deaths and more

Joining Netflix’s The Last Kingdom in its second season, Mark Rowley (Finan) quickly established himself as an indispensable part of Uhtred’s adventures in medieval England. With season 4 recently dropping on Netflix, we sat down with the Scottish actor for a chin wag about our favorite show.

Rowley began, naturally, at the beginning, talking about the first scene he filmed with Alexander Dreymon (Uhtred), aboard a slave ship in season 2:

"Right from the start, the system is just so fresh and exciting and it was really interesting filming all the slave ship scenes and stuff ’cause we ended up constructing an actual ship for it and then dangling it in mid air.. So it’s like a theme park, right? So unbelievable, you get paid for this. Like one of the fondest memories I have, although I was getting all these water sprayed on us from all sides and all this stuff, and at one point we have to peek through a little hole where the oar is, pretend like we’re seeing land,  we’re seeing England and all that. It’s just this guy, hosing a cigarette. [Laughs]. Luckily I held it together during the shoot.  I think that’s the good thing about it. I realized pretty quickly it’s a fun set to work on."

I like my job, but I have to admit that Rowley’s sounds really fun: “Everyone’s a good laugh. No one takes themselves too seriously, which is really good because it’s like seven months filming in Budapest. So you can build a little family over there. Yes. Really nice to have friends. You look forward to going back there, you know, makes a massive difference…[E]ven until the point of a take, I think you always have to have a laugh sometimes because if it’s too heavy.”

Indeed, while fun and light at times, The Last Kingdom can quickly get serious, with characters fighting and dying on the regular. “To some, the show can sometimes be quite melancholic to a certain degree, because it’s dealing with heavy scenes and heavy subjects. So it’s quite nice just to keep the atmosphere kind of light, because you’ve got 12-hour days and that’s not even taking into consideration your drive in the morning. So it’s quite good to have you on your pals there to brighten up your day.”

Image: The Last Kingdom/Netflix

Speaking of pals, Finan is chief among Uhtred’s band of loyal followers, a group that includes Sihtric (Arnas Fedaravicius) and Osferth (Ewan Mitchell). “So the good thing of a working with Alex is, Alex is elite,” Rowley said. “And I think a lot of people, they dismiss the idea of an elite leader because that’s the person who’s carrying the whole show. And it’s really nice when you have someone who is open, welcoming and to all those other people to maybe have their ideas on set and encourages other actors to try out new things. And sometimes it’s quite real on TV shows, sometimes ego and everything else comes into it. So it’s actually such a blessing in disguise we’ve got Alex as the guy.”

"But everyone cares about each other off set. And I think that those bleed into all the characters. So that’s why some of it some of the scenes especially in season four, you feel as if maybe Uhtred is losing it ever so slightly or is lost, it’s very easy just to act across from my friend. To be there for someone just makes our jobs a lot easier."

Within the group, Rowley has a reputation for being quite the idea man, at least according to Fedaravicius. We asked Rowley how many of his ideas actually get implemented on set. “Probably one of out of a hundred would land, so there are really good odds, I think. [Laughs] I don’t know, I think when you have a creative environment, it’s hard not to come up with new ideas. I think more and more about that, when you see kids play in the park and their imagination going mad; we have a set that looks real or some parts of it are, you know, so it’s so easy to let your imagination just go wild.”

Sometimes, that creativity results in the actors saying and doing things not in the script. It’s not like they’re improvising whole scenes, but Rowley enjoys these small, extemporaneous moments:

"I’d say it’s just us riffing off each other. Yeah, I think there’s always a tendency in period dramas to act in a certain way. And I can’t stand that. I feel as if people back then we’re probably more in touch with their emotions because we’re not stuck behind the phone or whatever, like we can’t hide. Life is too short anyway, we might only live to 40, and that’s considered relatively old.So people are more than likely going to speak their mind to you, you know, as life is that short. So it’s quite liberating, just trying to be free and trying to go against the take, find that truthfulness, you know, and just relate to someone."

On the flip side however, all this free-form thinking can go too far, and the group will have to reign itself in. “Sometimes it can be too casual. And we’ve managed to take out a lot of ‘yeahs.’ Like, ‘yeah, yeah, yeah.’ Because I do ‘yeahs’ all the time. It’s trying to affect the casualness of the takes without making it modern day, but having a feel of everyday conversation.”

Regardless, Rowley believes finding these smaller, unplanned moments are key to the show’s quality. “I think good TV shows are all about relationships and how you relate to the characters…I think people need to watch and go, ‘Yeah, I can kind of see myself in there, I can see a family member, right?’ Even if it’s a different time period, they can still still relate to some degree.”

Image: The Last Kingdom/Netflix

Okay, let’s talk about Rowley’s experience in season 4. We asked him what scene he had the most difficulty filming:

"Oh, the scene where we are hanging upside down, I know it was a short scene, but when you have to get upside down all the time, you start to get a headache. You never want to be that actor to be like, ‘Guys, I’m getting to the end point now.’ You don’t want to be the first one,  especially you’re trying to be all macho. I’m hoping Ewan is gonna say something, because oh my god my head was killing me. I never had to do that before, it was quite an experience."

With the departure of major characters like King Alfred (David Dawson) in season 3, season 4 was a whole new ball game. “I feel as if Team Uhtred is always together, we have our own thing…But we still had Ian Hart at the time, so we still had a big player, as like, the father of the set. You know, he’s always wise, is always on it. It’s amazing to watch his work. He knows himself as a human and an actor so well. It’s so strange when you’re having a conversation with him and then he can switch in seconds to like, ‘oh, my God! My house is burning down and my wife is inside!’ Like where did that come from?”

Rowley is full of admiration for all of his castmates, including Tobias Santlemann, who played Ragnar:

"I loved watching him. He’s like, he’s my favorite actor. I remember watching a scene, and honestly, they must have done about 40 takes. It’s like a war council and he has to be shouting and blah, blah, blah, I think he ends up punching Harry (McIntire’s) character and all that jazz. It must have gone on for like six, seven minutes or something. And he gave it everything, every time. I’m watching him and his voice hasn’t broken or anything. It’s just like a marathon runner. And sometimes it kind of sucks not to watch some really solid performances right in front of you. You know, that’s just a selfish point of view. I mean, I’m getting a show for free. You’re just watching the pals just do their thing and be like, whoa, that is insane."

Basically, Rowley can’t get enough of his work. “I remember when we were ready to start season 2 when all the Swedish lads were here, they loved coming back, they couldn’t wait to get back to set because it was such a fun environment…You don’t get that experience and many jobs.”

Next up, Rowley talks us through Uhtred and Finan’s friendship, embarrassing stories from set, and much more. The Last Kingdom season 4, is currently available on Netflix. Don’t miss it!

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels