The Bridgerton and Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man stars unpack grief, growth, and their careers.
When Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man actor Jay Lycurgo sat down with Bridgerton’s Hannah Dodd to discuss their work, he likened acting to a roller-coaster ride. “There’s going to be these amazing highs,” he said, “and you’re going up and you’re like, ‘Oh, wow. Look at the sky.’ And then … sometimes you just don’t really know where you’re going to go next.” For the two actors, who in the past year have starred in acclaimed and beloved films and series, there’s little doubt that what’s next for each will be big.
Dodd shared with Lycurgo a bit about what’s to come for her Bridgerton character. “It’s Francesca’s turn [in] Season 5,” she said: Her character will be the protagonist after losing her husband at the end of Season 4. “She’s all on her own and she’s got to work out how to start again, so that’s quite an exciting place to start.”
Lycurgo spoke of his last two projects, the BAFTA-nominated independent film Steve and Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man. In both, the actor worked alongside Cillian Murphy. “There’s lots of flat caps and cigarette smoke and Cillian Murphy looking really, really cool,” Lycurgo said about being on set for The Immortal Man. “One thing I liked were the little details of Cillian being on set, watching the monitor. He’s just picking out little things.”
Between Francesca Bridgerton experiencing immense grief in Season 4 and Lycurgo’s Steve character, Shy, dealing with a mental health crisis at a reform school for boys, both actors have been asked to convey deeply raw emotions. “What I actually struggled with more was the stoicism in some of the scenes where I had to really act like she was fine,” said Dodd. “And by the scene where Francesca gets to crumble, I was so nervous, and it was quite an exhausting day, but it was also like I wanted that release as an actor. … The character deserved it.”
Lycurgo found strength in his fellow cast members and in the purpose of the work. “I think the beautiful thing sometimes about acting is that you get these projects every now and again that really reflect what you’ve been going through,” he said. “It was like, here’s a character that’s going through something so extreme. I’m going to have to lose myself in that. And I felt so safe that I was like, ‘We’re going to do a good job here, and hopefully it can help someone along the way.’ ”