Clive Standen reveals the motivation behind Rollo in History Channel’s Vikings:
For Ragnar Lothbrok’s brother, Rollo, there has been plenty of ups and downs within the two short seasons of History Channel’s Vikings. However, the actor that plays Rollo, Clive Standen, reveals some of the motivation behind Rollo’s choices:
I feel that if we were to talk about the 21st century and people who self-harm, who may scar their wrists or cut themselves on their body with a sharp implement, it’s a way of almost taking away from the emotional pain – wanting to feel the physical pain. I feel a lot of the fighting in that first episode when Rollo goes into battle bare chested and beserking – the word of which comes from bare skin – is because he believes the day of his death and his fate was decided by the Gods when he was born. When he touches the knife he doesn’t seem to feel the pain, and so it’s a displacement for him – a way of almost avoiding the emotional pain that he’s feeling inside.
Rollo is a character that is very flawed, Standen relishes the role, one that he reveals will be expanding in Season 3:
Most of the main characters in the show are historical figures and any spoilers you want are all in the history books. The story of Rollo is only just beginning in season three, which we are filming right now, and so there is a long character arc.
While his story may be evolving in the new season, Clive explains how actions have already been set up in Season 1 and Season 2:
I loved putting those little beats in the first season that didn’t necessarily travel anywhere. Rather you were planting seeds for the future, and Michael Hirst is very good at doing things like that. You read something in a script and you think how on earth does this effect Rollo or why on earth am I saying this? Then you start to get the scripts for season two, and you realise that’s something that was probably setup eight episodes ago, and which is now at the forefront of the storyline.
You can read the full interview Clive Standen did with Flickering Myth by clicking here.
What do you think Rollo’s story will be in Season 3 of History Channel’s Vikings? Let us know your theories by commenting below!
Source: Flickering Myth – Return of The Vikings: Brotherhood – In conversation with Clive Standen
(Photo Credit: History Channel, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.)
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