They've survived a deadly virus, which nearly wiped-out humankind, and they've formed a new family of friends -- they sound like the lucky ones, but they're not.
Every time something goes right for the Survivors, something terrible emerges to destroy it all: In the second season alone the group has faced kidnappers, killers and labour camps. Sarah's sudden death last week has only worsened the situation, and the rest of the grief-stricken survivors have little time to stop the mutated-virus before it infects them all -- in fact, the series finale airs this Tuesday, at 9pm on BBC One.
To find out how this season might end, we caught up with actor Phillip Rhys, who plays Sarah's boyfriend Al…
TV.com: Last episode Sarah died. How's Al going to cope with her loss?
Phillip Rhys: There's a selfless act that he offers up for the betterment of the group: He basically sacrifices himself for the greater cause because they need to test a new strain of the virus and they can't do it with Julie's character (Abby) because she needs to diagnose the symptoms -- she's the only one who's cognisant of what you go through. Basically, what you have is a guy who, from episode one, cared for nothing and nobody, who never really had any experience outside of himself, now you've come all this way within 12 episodes to the fact that he is willing to sacrifice his life for his new, surrogate family.
Yeah, Al's changed enormously over the series. Were you expecting him to become as compassionate as he has?
I had hoped he would: With any actor you want the chance to bring to a role as many colours as you can, and it's true with life that we are complex beings, capable of a host of different emotions. Compassion, we would hope, is one of them, but, we are, more often than not, driven by our own self interests and that's definitely how Al is at the beginning.
He's become quite close to Najid too…
Yeah, reluctantly so! He would have never seen himself in that situation, but, again, it's these adversities that are put in front of you in which you either sink or swim. More often than not these challenges make you better. To be this father figure to Najid he's probably learnt more about himself than he ever would have otherwise.
Now you've talked about Al's self-sacrifice in the season two finale, how's Najid going to take this?
Well, you have that and the potential idea of Peter, another younger character, being introduced, so there's a whole host of emotions that Najid is feeling for the very first time. The fact is, if something happened to Al he would, again, have lost somebody -- the poor kid's lost everything at such a young age. So, yeah, he goes through his own range of emotions as well. But I don't want to give too much away.
All of the characters have been through so much in the past two seasons, who do you think has changed the most?
Yeah, all the characters have. When I look back on all the characters I really believe that Al -- and maybe Robyn's character Sarah as well -- were the least equipped to deal with the virus: we didn't understand the idea of community or sharing. In the same instance though, you can say that Al is the most like the viewing public -- not in the fact that he's selfish, but the majority of us don't know how to make a fire, don't know how to kill wild animals and all the rest of it. Paterson's part Greg is the action guy; Zoe's character Anya is a nurse; Abby just by being a mother has that wealth of knowledge, and maternal instincts; Tom is a man of force, so Al is kind of your Average Joe because he's got limited means at hand to deal with this world. He does, I think, go on the longest journey both internally and externally than any of the other characters.
This season's also been a lot more action-packed than the last. What's that been like to film?
It's been great. I think it reflects on what would happen: there are those who would take the moral course of action and then there would be those that go by the way of the gun, we've seen many societies go that way. Maybe there's a happy balance, I don't know. But working in an environment where there's more action is just fun. You feel like a big kid!
Considering all the violence now in the show, were you surprised that Sarah was killed by a mutated virus rather than in some sort of fight?
No, I think that was the best way. It showed you the world in which we live in; that we're still in danger. We were immune to the first lot of viruses, and now there's another strain: It's changed, it's got stronger, and it's now being carried by the birds so, still, any of us can get it. The fact that it wasn't by a gunshot or by some vehicle is smarter, I think, it was played out and was a slower experience so you get to see how the family members take it, especially Al obviously. As an actor it's much more interesting.
Talking of being an actor; you've done quite a lot of American and British drama. What would you say the main difference was?
Really there's very little difference, at the end of the day whatever you're working on has to be something you're passionate about. The only difference is, occasionally, the climate and the viewership: America's a very large country and it's dictated by advertising revenue, which, of course, the BBC isn't. So even programming can be dictated by that, which is not healthy I don't think, whereas the BBC on the other hand has a duty to make diverse programming for everyone. Sensibility and the amount of talent that's on screen, and behind the camera, is exactly the same. But, as for quality, Survivors is comparable to any of the stuff I've done in the States. This is airing in America right now, on BBC America, so there's an avid audience in the States -- Americans that want British programming. I encounter a lot of Anglophiles.
You're working on some exciting projects in the US at the moment as well. What can you tell us about them?
Well, I'm in a movie with Al Pacino, which he stars in and directs, called Wild Salome. It's based on Oscar Wilde's play and we shot that last year in the Maharve dessert. It's basically a docudrama, like Pacino's film Looking for Richard. That was amazing, he's my heroes and one of the reasons I studied at the Strasberg Institute, which teaches method the way that he studied. The idea of auditioning for him and him responding to that work was one of those magical moments.
Then I have a movie with Spielberg called Tintin, based on the Belgium cartoon. There are some great actors in that: Daniel Craig, Mackenzie Crook and Simon Pegg. That's out next year, using motion-capture equipment like Avatar -- they'll probably make that 3D now! [He laughs] That was bizarre, being directed by Steven Spielberg, I was so nervous on the first day!
But how exciting!
It was great. With both of those heroes of mine, you quickly have to get rid those whole starstruck preconceptions that you might have because you realise that you're there to do a job, as they are. They become your contemporaries, your colleagues, and it's no longer about anything else.
So are you moving away from TV then?
Yeah, I have a movie coming out this year with Melissa Leo, nominated for an Oscar last year, called The Space Between. Now that's a beautiful, simple movie based on the day of 9/11 and I'm the father of a young boy while Melissa's an air-stewardess. It's kind of a road movie; the experiences of these characters around this time. I'd love to do more movies, but I'd still be open to a really good TV show whether that be in the UK or the US it makes no difference. If the character and the script are all strong and those involved are in repute then I'd jump on board, definitely.
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