Ruth Wilson has opened up on what fans should expect from Mrs Coulter in His Dark Materials season 3… and from the sounds of it, viewers should be afraid. Very afraid.
The third and final season of the TV adaptation of Philip Pullman’s celebrated book trilogy has premiered on BBC One, bringing the adventures of Lyra Silvertongue (Dafne Keen) and Will Parry (Amir Wilson) to an end.
The final outing begins with Mrs Coulter keeping her daughter Lyra captive and unconscious, supposedly believing that despite imprisoning her own child, she’s doing it for her own good.
At the London premiere of season three, Metro.co.uk spoke to Ruth about Marisa Coulter’s evolution in the final outing, and why audiences should always second guess her intentions, for those who’ve yet to watch all eight episodes.
Addressing how the show left Mrs Coulter in season two, when she and her monkey daemon shared an embrace, the actress knew that moment was ‘about her coming to some place of self-love and understanding and acceptance of herself’, on top of the fact that she ‘does something for Lyra’.
‘So I think wow, I’ve got to go from killing kids to that?’ the 40-year-old said, recalling how in season one, Mrs Coulter was involved in the operation of severing children from their daemons – in other words, cutting away their souls.
She continued: ‘So I knew the journey was quite huge, I knew this season I’d have to find out a way of playing a goodie. Mrs Coulter as a goodie. And actually it wasn’t as interesting or fun as playing a baddie.’
Laughing over her observation, Ruth acknowledged that it was a ‘challenge’ to play a goodie, as well as without the familiar click-clacking of Mrs Coulter’s signature heels.
‘I wasn’t wearing heels for most of [season three]. That was a challenge, when you realise how much shoes give you in a role and as a character, or those dresses or those sharp suits – they were a part of who she was and how she defined herself,’ she explained.
‘She walked in a room and suddenly I was in flat boots. I was like oh, this doesn’t feel like Mrs Coulter. But it’s another part of her, another side of her.’
Despite the characters in the story constantly being warned not to trust Mrs Coulter, many can’t help but fall for her charms, an effect that some viewers may find they also have through the screen, especially when she’s playing the part of a so-called goodie.
However, doubt frequently creeps in, as fans question whether or not Marisa can ever be trusted, even when she’s apparently on Lyra’s side.
‘I think that’s great. In this season – I realised – the nicer I play it and the more honest I play it, the more frightening it is actually, because you’re still not sure what her agenda is,’ Ruth shared.
‘So I thought actually, that’s even more scary, is someone who seemingly thinks, believes they’re doing it for a good reason, and yet they might still be wrong.
‘I discovered that in this season, it’s quite interesting. No matter what I did, everyone’s going to perceive her as bad. So it was quite fun to play in all those different versions of that.’
His Dark Materials season 3 premieres tonight at 7pm on BBC One and will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
