Magnus Bruun tells us about playing the lead in Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla

From playing Viking warlord Cnut in The Last Kingdom to lead character Eivor in Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, Magnus Bruun definitely has a sweet spot.

Hot off a successful run as the Viking warlord Cnut on Netflix’s The Last Kingdom, Magnus Bruun recently brought the male version of lead character Eivor to life in Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. We recently sat down with Brunn to talk about it. Enjoy!

On dying as Cnut in The Last Kingdom

To start, Bruun looked back on Cnut’s death from the fourth season of The Last Kingdom, killed by Brida. “I was happy the way it ended,” Brunn told us. “It came full circle, the story of Ragnar, Brida and Cnut. If Uhtred had killed me in the end, it wouldn’t have had that feeling that Brida finally found out that Cnut was the killer of Ragnar.”

"It some of the drafts, it was just a big final battle and Uhtred kills Cnut. It was nice to have this fight with a deep, serious conversation. Cnut is pleading with Brida to stay with him, and kill Uhtred. Which I think would have been the better choice! [laughs]."

But even though Cnut’s time on the show came to an end, Bruun got to take a piece of the series home with him: Cnut’s sword Ice Spite, “Even though it doesn’t have the same meaning as the books, it was and is, precious to me. I think that what they are trying to do, is take as much of the magic out of the show. Ice Spite had this sort of magical feel to it (in the books), and you needed that to save Uhtred.”

On getting cast as Eivor in Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla

Bruun would not stay away from the Viking world for long, as he quickly landed the part of Eivor in Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. According to Ubisoft, Valhalla had the best launch in the series’ long history.

Bruun explained exactly how he landed the part, “Well they were looking for Scandinavian actors, for what I was told was an animated series called ‘The Black Wolf Saga,’ ten episodes, shot in Canada. So I auditioned for it, and they wanted to see me in London for a callback, and then my agent wasn’t sure now what it was, but it was Ubisoft that was making this animated series. So I flew to London and met with four directors of the game, and at that point I was told.”

"They had seen me in The Last Kingdom, but that wasn’t why I was there. I was there because of my voice I found out. They were looking for voices. They sat back with the scenes shot, just listening to the tapes, listening to the auditions, ‘Can we work with this voice? Can you have this voice in your ear for two hundred hours?’"

Apparently, the directors played the tapes for friends and family before coming to their decision. “I’ve never done auditions like that, normally they go for all the acting and what you do, but here it was the tone.”

To add to the strangeness, Bruun didn’t initially audition for Eivor but for Sigurd, Eivor’s older brother. “Until I came to London when they wanted to see me for the lead. Which today, I’m very happy about [laughs]. It’s been such a wonderful and amazing journey.”

Since then, Bruun has gotten to meet a lot of Assassin’s Creed fans. “They are so cool. It’s been so nice to be part of this franchise because of the fanbase. All the people playing the game, they are very cool people. Some of them have played all the games, and the extra games, and the middle games, not only the main titles. Played them several times each. They know so much more than me. I’m a newbie at this!”

On bringing Eivor to life

For Brunn, the most interesting part of bringing Eivor to life was the motion capture work. “I’m playing big scenes but in a big, big hall, in front of a green screen,” he said. “You’re wearing this helmet with four cameras on it for small facial expressions. So when they animate it, they can use the eyes, the nose, all the micro stuff you do, the smile wrinkles and all that. Shooting that has just been so fun. It’s weird though, sitting on a box that’s your horse, but I believe it’s sort like when they shoot the Avengers or other films and series with a lot of CGI.”

The voiceover work, too, was an interesting experience, and there was a lot of it. “I made a promise that no lines were worth more than others,” Brunn told us. “They had to mean something special, even if it’s a throwaway, ‘Hey Sigurd come here!’ or ‘What are you doing?’ When you’re playing the game, and you put on your headphones and you sit there and you’re watching it play, I become the voice. I become your voice, your thoughts. If that’s not believable, and you’re thinking ‘That didn’t taste well,’ you just take off the headphones. I did my absolute best to make this character a human being that you would believe would have these feelings.”

And there’s more Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla on the way in the form of DLC, although Brunn remained mum on the details. “There are many dates that the fans can expect, but I can’t tell you just yet. Sorry guys. It can’t be too long though. It’s coming!”

Finally, we asked the million-dollar question: who would win in a fight between Cnut and Eivor? “It depends on what level you are as Eivor,” he mused. “Cnut is a beast, and he’s a very skilled swordsman, so I don’t know where I would put my money. In my book, they are both heroes, Cnut is the unsung hero of his own saga, Eivor being the hero of the real saga. So Eivor would probably win after dying and reloading three times, ‘That didn’t work, I need to use the big axe. With fire.”

Fire axes for the win.

So where can you find this talented Danish actor next? “The future will bring stuff,” Brunn assured us. “When the world opens up again we will see what happens; for the moment I will keep my cards close.”

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