[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Rebus.]

The six-episode cop drama Rebus, which aired on the BBC and is offered to stream on Viaplay, is the most recent tackle Sir Ian Rankin’s bestselling Inspector Rebus novels, with Richard Rankin as DS John Rebus in present-day Edinburgh. As Rebus’ private life is crumbling round him, he’s drawn right into a prison battle that includes his personal brother, which places him within the place to decide on between defending household and doing his job.

Throughout this one-on-one interview with Collider, Rankin mentioned the place a sequence like Rebus suits in amongst character-driven cop dramas like Luther and The Responder, why he by no means imagined himself taking part in John Rebus, connecting to this recent and authentic reimagining, the genius introduction to this model of the character, the driving components behind Rebus’ generally ill-advised actions, how he genuinely needs to determine issues out together with his household, and whether or not he looks like there’s extra story to inform. He additionally talked about capturing Rebus between seasons of Outlander, the variations between John Rebus and Roger Mackenzie, doing an episode of the sequence Loss of life by Lightning, and the genres he’d nonetheless like to work in.

The place Does ‘Rebus’ Match In With Cop Exhibits Like ‘Luther’ and ‘The Responder’?

Collider: Rebus jogged my memory of Idris Elba in Luther and Martin Freeman in The Responder. It looks like charming males taking part in surly detectives battling their very own demons has develop into its personal subgenre in crime TV.

RICHARD RANKIN: I don’t suppose you’re far improper there. It’s definitely a little bit of a subgenre. It takes itself away from the extra old-fashioned procedural crime component as a result of I don’t suppose they’re that. Luther and The Responder are extra character-driven dramas. It’s much less in regards to the particular person circumstances and extra in regards to the characters and their circumstances.

Is that one thing that you simply have been actively trying to do? Did you deliberately need to be part of this subgenre?

RANKIN: Yeah, however I’m additionally on the lookout for good writing or good characters, for positive. I don’t suppose I ever imagined myself in a world the place I’d be taking part in Rebus, who’s such a widely known character over right here. There have been earlier iterations of the character. So, I don’t suppose I ever imagined that I’d have taken this on or was notably on the lookout for this type of function. I’ve performed a number of cops earlier than. I’ve performed a few detectives earlier than. I didn’t think about myself desirous to do against the law present. However the alternative that this introduced and the potential for it to be a really authentic, very recent, attention-grabbing reimagining, in case you like, of what’s a extremely brilliantly written character from a extremely sensible creator, tailored by a author that I’ve numerous respect for who I feel is immensely gifted, I simply thought all of these issues introduced themselves in a extremely unbelievable alternative that I discovered too good to refuse.

It looks like it’s inherently nerve-wracking to tackle one thing that’s been tackled beforehand and that could be a character identify persons are aware of. Did it assist that he’s a youthful model and a extra modern model and isn’t precisely what individuals have seen earlier than?

RANKIN: I don’t suppose I used to be actually it from the standpoint of what they may or won’t have seen earlier than. I didn’t look again on Ken Stott or John Hannah’s model of the character. I wasn’t positive how according to my thought of Rebus they have been, so I didn’t know the place we have been gonna be according to that. I used to be conscious of the large fan base, however I’ve overcome this factor earlier than the place I got here to the conclusion, finally, that this needed to be my very own course of for me relatively than for the followers. Clearly, I wished to do the character justice, however I wished to do it justice anyway. I wished to do my homework and do issues proper, and hopefully the followers have been gonna respect this character as a lot as they do, by way of their model of it. It was necessary to me to go and have a look at this character and produce one thing that was in line with Ian Rankin’s model of it, however on the similar time, the variation that Greg [Burke] was bringing to it and marry these issues up for me. Him being youthful definitely supplied a a lot wider scope, by way of the potential for the character. We introduced in components from his youthful life, which we haven’t actually seen earlier than and weren’t actually delivered to the foreground, I don’t suppose, like him being a soldier. I didn’t need to deliver an excessive amount of of that in, however within the story and within the books, he makes it by the choice course of for the SES, and I wished to deliver a component of that, not particularly the truth that he made it by that choice course of, however what which means to be an individual who may.

Richard Rankin Loves the Genius First Impression Audiences Get With ‘Rebus’

I really like a great character introduction. The primary time you expertise a personality as a viewer is necessary and people early minutes of a TV sequence can say quite a bit about who the character is and what we will count on from them transferring ahead. With this, we’re actually thrown proper right into a scene and, because the viewers, we’re catching up and attempting to determine what’s occurring and who’s who. After which, you’re instantly at the back of an ambulance attempting to kill a man. What’s it like, as an actor, to have that as a place to begin? How did that inform the character for you?

RANKIN: I assumed it was genius. I assumed it did pages and pages and pages of labor, by way of the person that we’re seeing. That scene was most likely what bought the present to me. I assumed, as an introduction to this character, particularly a personality that you simply’ve seen earlier than or possibly learn earlier than, you haven’t seen this. It does a large number of issues. It units a tone. It tells you what you may count on. It tells you the brink of issues that you simply would possibly see, by way of its content material being fairly violent, however not overly so. It does a lot, by way of informing you of the character. You see him in fairly a darkish means, attempting to kill a person and also you don’t actually know why, however he’s doing it. He’s additionally doing it in a means that means he is aware of how, which did quite a bit as nicely. But it surely additionally helped me by the whole season. I may very well be much more refined and nuanced when it got here to any potential battle with Rebus since you’ve seen him do it, so that you don’t have to telegraph it. I used that and I saved it for moments of him probably simply snapping or breaking, after which I may simply have it come out of nowhere. I didn’t must construct up anger or some inside fury, it may simply come out of nothing, which I feel is extra attention-grabbing. It gave the character fairly an unpredictable temperament, which I feel may be very attention-grabbing and it implies that the stakes are all the time just a bit bit larger. Issues are all the time simply simmering on a stage that brings a sure vitality to each scene that he’s in.

What did you consider John Rebus?

RANKIN: For the longest time, I used to be like, “Ought to we like this man? What’s occurring?” Particularly with the connection with Maggie, I used to be like, “Are they gonna like this man?” It’s all very nicely, having one among your characters behave like this, however your protagonist? Are individuals simply gonna suppose he’s a bit a chauvinist and misogynist who’s a disrespectful man that’s going about doing regardless of the hell he likes? He’s not, however you’ll be forgiven for pondering that. There are causes and driving components for every thing that he does, whether or not or not you agree with them. All of it provides to the psychology of this man, which may be very difficult. That’s how we get away with a few of these issues.

Richard Rankin By no means Wished To Outline John Rebus in Black and White Phrases

How do you finally outline him? He’s not an outright dangerous man. We’ve got these on the present. He’s clearly not an outright good man. Is he what we might think about morally grey? Is he simply somebody who makes numerous dangerous selections? How did you outline that?

RANKIN: I attempted to not outline it. I had many, many conversations with Greg Burke, who was the author, and our director, Niall MacCormick, they usually mentioned, “Don’t attempt to outline it.” Life isn’t black and white. Life isn’t like that. Life will get difficult. Folks discover themselves in conditions the place there are solely dangerous outcomes. He finds himself, numerous the time, in conditions like that. Rebus is sort of self-loathing. He doesn’t really feel that he notably deserves a simple route by life or a cheerful existence. There’s one thing in him that’s fairly self-destructive. Numerous it’ll come from his failed relationship with Rhona and his borderline estranged relationship with Sammy. These two issues mean you can see him in a means that you’d by no means ever see him in any other case. You’d by no means see that extra tender aspect that you simply do with Sammy and you’ll by no means see him be himself like he’s with Rhona. It’s the one time you ever see that.

He’s all the time one thing else with different individuals. He code shifts slightly bit, however he doesn’t do it with them. All of it provides to the complexity of this man. He’s fairly old-fashioned, as nicely. He has an old style mentality of coping with sure issues and he doesn’t like modernization. He doesn’t just like the modernization of police drive. He doesn’t like utilizing an iPad. He doesn’t like utilizing these fucking digital issues. He likes a pad and a pen. He hates computer systems and he doesn’t like being within the workplace. These items all add layers and inform how this character is in any given scenario, nevertheless it’s not carried out with out the realms of believability. You all the time imagine the scenario that you simply discover this character in.

There are moments when he says that each one he needs is his household again, however does he need that or is it extra the concept of them?

RANKIN: Rebus all the time needs one thing else. I truly do imagine that he needs his household again. In that second, I do imagine it’s the one factor he needs. I do imagine that, for that second. Whether or not or not that may proceed to be the case, we are going to see. Perhaps he looks like that may deliver him some semblance of being complete.

That is basically a present about relationships. We study a lot about your character by all of the relationships he has. Together with his accomplice, together with his brother, with Maggie, together with his ex and their daughter, and even with Ger Cafferty, we get to see so many sides of him. What did you most take pleasure in about digging into your character by digging into these relationships and having all these completely different relationships with all these completely different actors to discover him by?

RANKIN: It was nice. It was only a fountain of issues to attract from. As an actor, you may’t ask for something extra. You do see many, many sides, many variations, and plenty of sides to this character. There are a large number of variations of this character, which simply helped full the entire thing. You don’t all the time get writing like that, the place you have got all these very completely different voices coming from the identical author. Typically you’ll be you have a look at a script and any of the strains may very well be coming from any of the character’s mouths. We don’t have that. We’ve got very distinctive characters within the present who all really feel like they’ve their very own beating coronary heart, they usually’re all unbelievable actors, as nicely. Being on set with them simply introduced the entire thing to life in fairly an easy means as a result of every thing you require is there for you. You simply want to show up and do your job. That’s improper, you do have to do a shit ton of homework, however you already know what I imply.

This can be a man that appears very tightly wound. Once you begin off by seeing the form of violence he could be able to, you then have to consider the truth that he’s doubtless bottling that up a lot of the remainder of the time. Did that make him extra bodily exhausting to play? Was that one thing that you simply realized about him throughout the shoot or does that hit you when you’re carried out?

RANKIN: You’re bang on, he was very, very tightly wound. He holds himself in a means the place he’s like a coiled spring at occasions. I feel he’s reluctantly violent although. I don’t suppose he needs to be. I feel he simply finds himself with no different outlet apart from to hit or punch or one thing. And likewise, given his earlier life within the military and all the remainder of it, he has that in him anyhow, inherent in him. There’s this instinctive response the place that’s the answer. I feel it comes from a unconscious place the place he’s regretful, probably, about that. I suppose it is a little more tiring as a result of he’s only a bit extra weary. The world is only a bit heavier for him. There’s that line when he’s going up the steps with Siobhan when Siobhan says, “Do we’ve to go up the steps? Do we’ve to take this route?” And he says, “Life is meant to be troublesome.” I assumed that line, in itself, is only a sensible piece of writing that sums him up. That additionally sums up the best way that he needs different individuals to see him generally. He’s like, “You need to take the exhausting route. Life’s not alleged to be simple. Not on this metropolis, not in our job. Suck it up.” And he does. He will get on with it. That simply actually knowledgeable the character in a extremely fairly intelligent means.

Richard Rankin Explains the Challenges of Juggling ‘Outlander’ and ‘Rebus’

You shot Rebus between seasons of Outlander. What was it wish to commute with that? What was it like to depart Roger behind and play this character, after which go away this character behind and return to Roger? Did you discover yet another difficult than the opposite?

RANKIN: Roger simply lives in me someplace. It’s been such a very long time. I’ve been with that character for about 9 or 10 years, or one thing. I keep in mind going again to Outlander in Season 3 and Season 4 and going again to all my journals and my notes and my character work and my accent work. After which, from that time on, that a part of myself as a result of one thing I may swap on and off. Rebus was fairly a bit completely different. He’s a really, very completely different man. You couldn’t actually get a lot farther from mild-mannered, humble wee Roger Mackenzie, may you? That takes a specific amount of shift. And since it was a brand new character, it’s a must to keep sharp and it’s a must to keep on prime of these character selections that you simply’ve made, with that fixed rigidity, and that fixed simmering of one thing below the floor. You simply must be a bit extra kind of centered, in any other case you could possibly simply very nicely find yourself slipping into that unconscious taking part in of say Roger. You may simply end up fairly simply setting into these mannerisms as a neater day. You simply must be a bit extra vigilant about your character if you end up new to the character.

After I watch the primary episode, I see what I’m doing in it. I don’t notably like the primary episode, and I don’t thoughts saying that. I don’t prefer it in relation to the remainder of the sequence. It’s nonetheless brilliantly written and everybody’s actually nice in it, however I can see what I’m doing, and I don’t like that. However actually, from the beginning of episode two onwards, I used to be like, “There’s Rebus. That’s the man that I wished to play. That’s the man that I wished to deliver to the display screen.” From then on, I relaxed a bit and thought, “It’s all proper. I feel I did it.” However the first time I watched episode one, I used to be simply sinking into my seat pondering, “Oh, shit, I’ve missed the mark right here,” apart from that nice opening scene, which I assumed was simply sensible. I feel you simply have to be very vigilant. Once you’ve come from taking part in such a long-running character, it’s simply as a lot due to that, you compromise into that being your working day. There’s a hazard of doing that.

It positively looks like there’s extra of Rebus’ story to inform. Have there been conversations about one other season and about telling extra of his story? Is that one thing everyone would need to do?

RANKIN: Yeah, I feel so. There are countless potentialities with Rebus. The world of Rebus is big. As a result of we’ve contemporized it, there’s an countless variety of tales that may be informed with these guys. And I feel everybody had such a great time doing it. All of us actually, genuinely received on very, very nicely. I feel the solid are extremely gifted. I feel everybody would love to come back again and revisit it, and hopefully that’s one thing that we’ll get an opportunity to do, additional down the road. I feel we’ve barely scratched the floor. I feel we’ve received a methods to go but.

One of many issues about success and a focus as an actor is that alternatives develop into doable. Together with presumably one other season of Rebus, have you considered what you need to do subsequent, particularly now that you simply’ve formally completed capturing Outlander? Is there a dream challenge or a style that you simply couldn’t do due to on a regular basis constraints you had with Outlander, that you simply’re hoping to do now?

RANKIN: I did an episode of a factor only in the near past, that I filmed in Budapest. I used to be very fortunate to have the ability to squeeze that in. It was referred to as Loss of life by Lightning, the place I used to be working with Michael Shannon, Nick Offerman, and Betty Gilpin. We’re all in a scene collectively. I most likely shouldn’t go into an excessive amount of element, however I keep in mind standing there pondering, “That is fucking nice. That is sensible. These guys are unbelievable.” I really feel like I’m resonating in a means that I possibly don’t all the time get the chance to. I felt like I used to be in my component and I felt that we have been all taking part in off of one another and it simply felt actually thrilling. I actually, actually liked it, and I assumed, “That is the form of factor that I need to be doing, simply working with good individuals doing good tasks with a great crew. I don’t know that I essentially care what that’s. I don’t know that I essentially have to do a particular style. I do love sci-fi although, I’ve to say. And I truly need to do a Western, now that you simply’re asking.

Rebus is offered to stream on Viaplay on Amazon. Try the trailer:

Watch on Prime Video