Spoilers for A Discovery of Witches follow.
The third – and final – season of A Discovery of Witches is finally here. And while the central plot focuses on the love story between vampire Matthew and witch Diana, many fans love supporting character Gallowglass (Outlander’s Steven Cree) the most – the likeable, funny and somewhat tortured vampire who waited 400 years for Diana to be born and then dutifully watched over her until she found her true mate.
Gallowglass first appeared in season two, when Diana and Matthew time-walked to Elizabethan London, and he returns in the third season in the present day to protect Diana and Matthew as forces conspire to place them in danger, even though he secretly yearns for Diana himself.
Digital Spy caught up with Steven Cree to discuss the challenges of playing heartthrob Gallowglass, and whether the end of Sky TV’s A Discovery of Witches could lead to a spin-off series for the fan favourite vampire.
Gallowglass is really popular with fans, and many want him to end up with Diana. Why do you think that is?
I think it is partly because in book three, he ends up developing this burning love for Diana, and is also her sworn protector.
Despite the fact he kind of hates Matthew’s father [Phillippe]… he still swears allegiance to the De Clermont family, and despite these deep rooted feelings he still promises to wait 400 years until Diana is born and to look after her from afar, and he does this whilst having realised he has fallen in love with her, but he can never do anything about it because she is mated with his uncle and best friend [Matthew].
I think fans of vampire stuff love that unrequited and forbidden love aspect of stories.
How did you get the role of Gallowglass originally?
I got a phone call from my agent saying that they were casting for A Discovery of Witches, and this was the character, and the description was that he was this physical giant almost, so on that side of things I don't quite fit!
But character and personality wise – sometimes when you go for certain parts, you kind of feel right from the offset, and you might have a good chance because you connect or you might have some natural qualities that lend themselves to that role, and I kind of felt that with Gallowglass.
Certainly, in season two he has that sort of lightheartedness about him, no matter how serious or heavy the situation is he undercuts things with a one liner. He has a really big heart, but also has a very serious and mysterious side to him.
He goes on a really fascinating journey and he has got a lot of different facets to his personality, and the fact that there is a huge unknown element about Gallowglass and what he has been doing for the last few hundred years makes him a bit mysterious.
We get to see a bit more of Gallowglass this season when he is semi-nude, getting his chest-and-shoulder tattoo refreshed. How did you prepare for the scene?
In the six months prior to filming that I was trying to make sure that I could at least service that aspect of Gallowglass because, vanity aside, when you’re getting semi-nude on camera – his physical stature and physical presence is described in detail in the book so I wanted to try and get into the best shape I could.
The tattoo scene was interesting to film. There was a great personal trainer they had got for Matthew Goode, but I ended up stealing him. So this guy, Matt Bowring, is absolutely amazing and he really helped me get in shape for that.
And the day we were meant to film the tattoo scene, it got cancelled about 20 minutes beforehand due to a COVID scare. I had spent the week in the run up to it doing all this mad preparation like eating certain foods and drinking 15 million litres of water and then it got cancelled. And then there was the possibility that we weren't going to be able to film it until after Christmas and I was like 'please, please, please film it before Christmas, I can't take another month of this healthy eating and living at the gym.'
We managed to do it before Christmas but even that day there was a bit of a COVID scare and we had about 40 minutes to film the scene – so it was almost like the tattoo scene was cursed.
Did you train as hard for the previous season?
I trained really hard for season two because I was asked to, and then I am basically wearing a massive leather cloak for the whole season.
I don't think an actor has ever asked the producers more for some sort of nude scene than I did on this – I even offered to spend a bit more of the episode in the tattoo parlour, but it didn't happen.
Was training for the role the biggest challenge for you this season?
The biggest challenge for me – on day one on season two, I put on the wig and costume and I just instantly felt like Gallowglass. But on day one of filming season three, my first scene was with Lindsay Duncan who is amazing, but it was really weird not having my wig!
I had the beard still, and I was in a different costume and I didn't really feel like Gallowglass at first. In season two, he is really lighthearted and joking all the time but in season three he carries a much heavier weight on his shoulders, and to me he is really tormented and conflicted by what is going on regarding his love for Diana, so it felt there was a really different dynamic going on with him.
It took me probably the first week of filming before I felt like I got under his skin again – he's still the same character but there has been a big shift.
What was your final day filming A Discovery of Witches like?
It was freezing. It was one or two o’clock in the morning, I was filming with Alex Kingston, Teresa [Palmer], Olivier Huband and Owen Teale and we were filming on some airstrip somewhere outside Bristol and it was freezing and raining and because we were so cold we were just desperate to finish! I had already filmed the tattoo scene by that point, so when they brought out cheeseburgers and brownies at one point, I had about five cheeseburgers that night.
A Discovery of Witches airs on Sky Max and NOW in the UK. Season 3 drops in full as a Sky boxset on January 7, and then episodes will drop every Friday on Sky Max after that. In the US, it airs on Sundance Now, Shudder and AMC+.
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Sky/Spirit Entertainment A Discovery of Witches Season 2 [DVD]
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Freelance film & TV writer, Digital Spy
Critic and writer Jo Berry has been writing about TV and movies since she began her career at Time Out aged 18. A regular on BBC Radio, Jo has written for titles including Empire, Maxim, Radio Times, OK!, The Guardian and Grazia, is the author of books including Chick Flicks and The Parents’ Guide to Kids’ Movies.
She is also the editor of website Movies4Kids. In her career, Jo has interviewed well-known names including Beyonce, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Kiefer Sutherland, Tom Cruise and all the Avengers, spent many an hour crushed in the press areas of award show red carpets. Jo is also a self-proclaimed expert on Outlander and Brassic, and completely agrees that Die Hard is a Christmas movie.
