Grace

Colin Morgan got to meet up with Jane Casey at HarperCollins Ireland’s Big Book Live event in Dublin on May 14th. Jane Casey wrote The Killing Kind book, in which Colin starred as the leading role in the TV series adaptation

Transcribed below

Fame was 'a bit of a shock to the system' - Colin Morgan on his rise to stardom, new movie and writing his first book

Colin Morgan went from little-known theatre actor to a major TV star in the space of three weeks. Here, he tells Chris Wasser about his love of cinema, why he still keeps a low profile and why he's excited and nervous ahead of his debut novel

Colin Morgan is a bit of a mystery. Or at least that's how it looks from the outside.

A quick google will tell you the Northern Irish actor keeps himself to himself, and you won't find anything concrete about personal relationships or favourite hobbies. You certainly won't find him anywhere on social media.

The Armagh man, best known for playing the title character in the beloved BBC fantasy adventure series Merlin and a robotic fugitive in Channel 4's Humans, is living proof that an internationally renowned performer can enjoy a successful career without sacrificing their privacy.

That being said, the initial burst of fame took some getting used to.

“I suppose I didn’t really adjust and probably still haven’t,” Morgan says. “I think I was so used to theatre, where you go in, you do your graft and you go home.

“And over the whole course of a [theatre] run, even if it’s a three-month run, say with 600 or 800 people every night, whatever that total number is, it doesn’t even amount to a one-night viewership of an episode of Merlin, which I think was close to 10 million on the first night

“Bear in mind, we were still shooting the end of the first season when it started airing in 2008, and we actually weren’t even in the country. We shot part of it in France, so we left to film this thing and we returned essentially having had 10 million people see your face for three weeks. That was a bit of a shock to the system, for sure.”

Acting, says Morgan, is a part of his DNA. It always has been, and he remains entirely uninterested in the celebrity side of things, preferring instead to keep a low profile.

“Yeah, definitely, and I’m definitely on this planet to be [an actor], and anything that gets in the way of providing those things to the world – the stories, these characters, these forms of entertainment – is a distraction to all that, I believe. Of course, people want to know more about other people’s lives, but you know, I’m not that interesting,” he says, laughing.

Morgan, I believe, is being humble. His trajectory from teenage theatre lover to award-winning actor has been full of surprises.

In 2007, he made his London theatre debut at the Young Vic, playing the title role in an adaptation of DBC Pierre’s Booker Prize-winning novel Vernon God Little. The following year, Merlin launched and the series made Morgan – then something of a screen newcomer – a household name.

In time, Morgan moved to film, and the actor finally secured a big-screen role worthy of his talents playing the part of a mouthy troublemaker named Billy Clanton in Kenneth Branagh’s Oscar-winning 2021 drama Belfast.

In 2024, he fronted two hit television shows in Ireland: The Boy That Never Was and Dead and Buried. Does he ever rest? Maybe, but he enjoys a challenge and loves the work – it’s been that way ever since he told his mum (a nurse) and dad (a painter/decorator) that he wanted to act for a living.

“I think any parent who hears their kid say, ‘I want to be an actor,’ panics,” he says. “Because, of course, it’s not reliable. It’s flippin’ tough, it’s very competitive, it doesn’t guarantee anything, and it seems really unstable. It is all those things.

“But what I will say is that if it is part of your DNA, nothing and no one will be able to convince you otherwise because you just don’t see a plan B for yourself. I didn’t. I was quite determined on that front. Luckily, I had parents who let me do that. They were incredibly supportive, and still are.”

If you don’t try, says Morgan, you’ll never know, and he kept this in mind when he auditioned for a place at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama more than 20 years ago.

“I remember I got the boat over from Belfast with my mate, and the audition was going really well. I think it starts at about 60 or 80 people, and at each stage, fewer people are kept. So it ends up with about six people and I hadn’t anticipated being there that long – they wanted to keep me for the last round, but I had to leave early to get my boat.”

The following morning, the phone rang and Morgan was offered a place for the next term. “I remember walking downstairs and being like: ‘I just got accepted into that drama school I auditioned for yesterday.’ And so, I had all this money saved up from working in a cinema and doing various other jobs to go travelling – and that ended up going towards drama school.”

Morgan returns to the old cinema job – in a fictional capacity, at least – in David Gleeson’s charming Irish comedy-drama Once Upon a Time in a Cinema

Billed as a “love letter to the cinema experience”, the film is set in 1980s Ireland and tells of a cranky cinema owner named Earl Clancy (Morgan), who hasn’t yet figured out a way to tell his staff (Niamh Cusack, India Mullen) that he’s selling the only picture house in town to a dodgy politician.

On the eve of the big sale, Clancy experiences the Friday night from hell. Thankfully, there were fewer of those when a teenage Morgan worked part-time at an Armagh movie theatre

“It was a brilliant way to grow up,” he says. “As a teenager and as a lifelong fan of stories and movies, and immersing myself in those worlds, to land a job in the cinema, it’s kind of a no-brainer, really. The fact that you got paid for it was a bonus. But what happens in the cinema stays in the cinema,” he jokes, “and there’s stories that I probably can’t tell in an interview.”

Shooting the film in a real theatre – the old Royal Cinema in Limerick – added to the experience, I’m sure. “A hundred per cent. I think the last time it screened a movie was back in 1986,” he says. “It’s mad to think that place closed the year I was born, and there I was, 40 years later, shooting something in it.”

Indeed, but that’s not the biggest twist in the Colin Morgan story. He’s set to publish his debut novel, a promising coming-of-age tale titled The Ballad of Ronan McCoy, this June.

“I had this nugget of an idea for a story that I wanted to tell and so, yeah, I just started scribbling away, and eventually got the bravery – which, I’ll be honest, was a whole new level of bravery than I was used to – to send it to an agency to say: ‘Hey, is this something?’

“And they thought it was, and now it is. I’m excited and I’m nervous. But it’s just another form of me putting another story out into the world. It just so happens, this one is my own.”

Our first look at Colin Morgan in pirate garb, filming on the set of The Emperor’s Stone! 🎬

Colin Morgan and Alice Troughton with the cast & crew of The Emperor’s Stone. Filming started yesterday in Palermo, Sicily

Colin Morgan’s debut novel, The Ballad of Ronan McCoy, releases this summer and I was lucky enough for the chance to read an advanced proof last year in exchange for a review. I remain immensely grateful and honored for this opportunity, especially to Caroline with HQ Stories publishing for this lovely offer 💚

The Ballad of Ronan McCoy truly encompasses such an incredibly stunning story and easily became my favorite read of the past year. I read it the first week of December, really taking my time to absorb Colin’s storytelling in all its details, feeling the emotions each of the wonderfully unique and authentic characters experience throughout the story. I found his writing to flow at such a comforting pace, not slow, but not too fast either, progressing effortlessly and captivatingly.

Told from the point-of-view of Brendan, it’s a story of his friendship with Ronan, one that experiences unimaginable highs and lows, anomalous to the lives of regular teenage boys, whilst the adjacent characters in their lives play interesting roles garnishing their relationship in touching ways, bringing together two families to rely on and support one another. With the lens focusing through Brendan’s life, we see him juggling this altered reality alongside the regular trials of a teenager on the brink of adulthood - exams, romance, career choices, learning to drive, finding his own identity and more. The story is elevated through the relationships that grow as he tackles these issues

Colin demonstrates an extraordinary talent in making all of these characters feel so heartwarming through varying personalities and traits, even the ones who sway a bit more towards the unpleasant side. Every relationship dynamic developed through fleshed out conversations and moments, gratifying growth and satisfying endings for each of them.

My favorite dynamic was obviously Ronan and Brendan! It’s an exceptional friendship built on a genuine bond, with the ability to communicate joy and resilience through silence. But I found myself genuinely relishing the dynamics Ronan separately had with other characters as well, like Jennifer Beattie and Gerry Feeney; whether it was playful banter or fatherly figure dynamics, all of the complex relationships in the book were explored with remarkable finesse and portrayed with such honesty. I also simply adored the McCoy family; their bond exhibited so much love, patience and care with one another that extended from the page with such tenderness.

It’s a very heavy book however, dealing with grief, depression, and more in delicately intricate ways. It will devastate you and break your heart, yet leave you with a consoling and comforting warmth. I never expected anything less of Colin considering his film and TV choices and the characters he continuously opts to portray. He touched on these subjects in such a beautiful way that this book felt like a form of therapy for dealing with my own grief, providing glimmers of light in the darkness of despair. It’s also a story providing much needed representation that’s lacking in media, which could help many people navigate similar situations in their lives

I do want to confirm however, as an early reviewer on here already stated, that this is not a queer story, as I know the majority of the fandom still assumes so and I don’t want anyone to feel queerbaited. However, this story of friendship remains so tender and loving <3

There are several personal touches of Colin throughout that I appreciated - Brendan and Ronan were born in 1986 and live in Armagh, for instance. And the fact that Brendan washes cars at funeral homes, while Colin has said he and his brother did the same thing to earn money for Drama school. I noted at least twenty other things and I can’t wait to see which ones you guys notice, maybe some I may have missed.

One scene in particular transpired in such a way that you can see Colin’s background in film seep through - he describes it through camera angles and the subjects of its observations. It played out perfectly, concocting vivid imagery… perhaps alluding to a hope for a film or TV adaptation 👀

Colin possesses such a fantastic sense of humor in his writing as well, as we all have observed, and I really enjoyed his subtle humor throughout the story, like

“‘Has it stopped?’ Ronan asked, crouching down low to gaze up my nostrils as if calling into a cave and expecting to hear an echo back”

(Cave reference for the fandom… IYKYK)

I related the most to Jennifer, but all the characters resonate so well and leave such a lasting impression on your heart ♥️

I can’t wait to read the final version of this book! It’s such a special story that will have you laughing and crying throughout.

To close out, here are a few of my fav quotes:

1. “Every word of a person’s own story is like a beat of their own heart”

This perfectly describes Colin’s book for me. It’s such a privilege to get to read the way he tells stories

2. “I don’t plan on growing up”

A very familiar quote conveying Colin’s own sentiments

3. “Men who couldn’t help but look at the mess above and immediately try to make sense of it, make meaning, because it’s hard to sit beneath all that mystery up there and feel so small down here”

A powerful reflection on humankind and our quest for finding meaning in all things inexplainable

4. “In case you change your mind and want something a little more than ‘just the black’.”

5. “He was missing out on things and I was just simply missing him.”

Two very emotional punches that are incredibly impactful within their respective scenes

6. “That’s the English way of doin’ it, and the less said about them the better”

🤭 Officially sealing its place as a proud piece of Irish literature!

There are a lot more but that seems like the best way to close this out!

I drew Merlin longer than background itself 😭

Anyway