What attracted you to Gangs of London?

AK: Gangs of London is groundbreaking for cinematic TV and for action shows. What it did with season one in particular with Gareth Evans (The Raid) spearheading, was mix family drama with Asian-influenced action scenes and we hadn't seen anything like it done before on British TV, not this kind of action mixed with a Shakespearean-esque tale of families and power. I've been a fan of Gareth Evans since The Raid too, martial art cinema was dying at the time and he brought it back to life. 

RD: The violence! I literally watched it and my pulse quickened. From the very opening scene with the guy hanging upside down. I got offered the part first, then I watched the show as I hadn't seen it, I'd heard a lot about it but not seen it. And it was the episode with the travelers when they raid their gaff that really got me. It was so well done and I just thought, oh yeah this could be fun. And Cornelius has his feet under the table, he's comfortable and he's sly like a fox so I knew I was in for a good time. 

Was it daunting and/or exciting to join a show so beloved by fans and with such an established cast?

AK: To join a established show in season 3 with a family that has already bonded can be hard, you kind of feel like a bit of an outsider, but that kind of worked as so is my character, Zeek. He isn't affiliated to any gang and I could use that feeling of not quite belonging at the start. It was very exciting for me personally too as especially growing up I'd never seen a character with my ethnicity in this kind of role. 

RD: It wasn't daunting, it was fun! The cast are all blended together and they all know each other so that can be tough as an actor on a personal level but on this everyone was so nice and welcoming and I just hit the ground running.

What did director Kim Sun Hong bring to the table in reference to his Korean filmmaking experience?

AK: Coming from independent Korean action cinema, Kim injects a new energy to keep things fresh on the show. I've never seen a director in the director's chair less than Kim, he's on the floor, he's very hands on, going around every department and very, very passionate. This is his first project in English, first in the West and first TV show and he really cares and it shows. At first his English was very limited which meant how he would direct was very limited – it was almost like, “more angry, more sexy.” [laughs] But over time his English improved. He is also very blunt. One time he came into the Green Room to talk to Lucien (Ed Dumani) and he said to him, ‘that was great. Andrew, bit better.' Then he turned back to Lucien and said, ‘when Andrew first started on Gangs, his acting was 7 out of 10. Now much better.'  And that was just how he was! 

RD: It was lovely to work with a director who didn't really have to tell you what to do, you just understood what he wanted. In film and TV, it's all about the visual language. You can watch a foreign movie without subtitles and know what's happening from what you can see. It's about trust; he trusted me and I trusted him and we just did it. He's bonkers too, he makes us all laugh. We had good fun which you need on a long shoot with cold, wet nights.

The fight scenes in Gangs are brutal yet realistic and scrappy since the characters aren't meant to be trained martial artists. Is that harder to portray when you're trained in certain disciplines?

AK: I'm very lucky to have trained with many amazing martial artists, including jiu jitsu at the Gauntlet Fight Academy and Roger Gracie Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy in London and judo with Bobby Rich. Also kickboxing and MMA with Nick Wood so shoutout to all those amazing guys. You bring different tools to each job, different elements and there were definitely some ‘Ah Sahm Warriorisms' to shed. Working with Adam Horton and the stunt team also helped and Gangs is filmed very differently too. They film up close with the camera right there in your face, whereas other things I've worked on like Warrior, it's much further back. With this being handheld and up close, there was one day on set where I smacked a camera lens hood. I turned around and the camera got too close for its own good and I obliterated it into smithereens, but that was good as it meant my chi was lined up. Adam and the team come to me once the choreo has been sorted in pre-viz, but on Gangs I had a say and it was all very collaborative. It's the actual shooting of the fights which is the hard part especially with cameras getting in my face.

I heard you [Dormer] insisted on that fighting stick, did you want it to be like Negan's (The Walking Dead) bat, Lucille?

RD: Yes! I wanted him to have a very individualistic way of dispatching people that was up close and personal. When you have a gun you just pull the trigger and put put but with a bat you have to really get in there and see the terror in the victim's eyes. He enjoys the violence so it just made sense. And also it just looks like a walking stick, it doesn't look that threatening until you see what he can do with it, until it starts to swing. Then you're in trouble.

Cornelius, Dormer's character, is close to the Wallace's, but not a Wallace. How is he going to prove himself to the other heads of the families?

RD: He will prove himself by showing he will do anything that is asked of him, that he has no morals or problems doing anything and that makes him a perfect foot soldier – and that makes him a pretty lethal weapon. He doesn't have any qualms about following orders either. He's also doing all he can to earn the trust of Billy, to be this great uncle – although really he is a rat.  He's trying to make Billy even more vicious, to mold him so that one day he might even point a gun at his own mum. And he is trying to gain Marion's approval through Billy. Cornelius knows without Billy he's nothing, he would likely be dead so that's the only alliance he is interested in.

There have been so many epic episodes, several with huge, explosive set pieces and the church shootout we see in the trailer from this season will likely be included in that list. Where or what epic showdown would you like to see for season 4? 

AK: I'd like to see Zeek have an epic fight scene as he runs through the streets of London and he just takes out everybody The Raid style on his way to a big meeting the investors are holding, just through the streets all these security guards coming out and then bang, wah, yeah!

RD: It was crazy, that was a real church, real consecrated ground. It felt very strange doing all that and knowing that people would be going to mass there a couple of days later! I think Cornelius should fight the Loch Ness Monster, why not take it just that bit further. We could have a crossover – Gangs of London meets Game of Thrones! As the monster lumbers out of the lake, I could set fire to my fighting stick and take it on!

All 8 episodes of Gangs of London 3 will launch as a box set on Sky Atlantic and the streaming service NOW from 20 March. 

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