Otto Farrant on the 'dark undertone' of spy-thriller series 'Alex Rider'

The series, adapted from the Anthony Horowitz novels, premieres regionally this month on Starzplay

Otto Farrant learned Krav Maga, took up climbing and snowboarding lessons, and worked with a personal trainer in preparation for 'Alex Rider'. Starzplay

It took six months of intensive training for Otto Farrant to develop the skills necessary to play teenage super-spy Alex Rider in the eponymous TV series.

The British actor learned Krav Maga and took up climbing, as well as snowboarding lessons and sessions with a personal trainer in preparation for the role.

"I'd done some snowboarding before but otherwise, these were all new skills I had to pick up," Farrant tells The National. "We had to do a lot of climbing, because, as you'll see in the series, I had to climb some buildings."

Based on the novel series by Anthony Horowitz, Alex Rider tells the story of a teenager who is recruited by the UK Secret Intelligence Service after his uncle's death to infiltrate a dubious correctional academy that caters to the children of the rich. The show, which was released in the UK last year, is regionally premiering on Starzplay on Monday.

“What I think the show does well is that you get an emotional journey as well as the journey of Alex as a spy,” Farrant says. “He has all these skills, but he is still inexperienced. He’s learning on the job.”

While the show does try to stay true to the events in the original source material, Farrant says the show runners also aimed to breathe new life into the story.

“We aged up the character a bit and we made the show darker and grittier,” he says. “We really wanted to make it so that anyone will be able to enjoy it. There’s definitely more realism and a darker undertone.”

While Farrant has had supporting parts in a number of productions, including the 2013 historical drama miniseries The White Queen and the 2016 BBC adaptation of the Leo Tolstoy classic War and Peace, Alex Rider marks his first leading role.

“I’d never done anything quite as intense,” he says. “There was the physical aspect of it, trying to get the stunts right. Working hard to get fit for the role. It was a challenge.”

However, Farrant says he was up to the task and, if anything, the challenge made him realise how similar he was with the character he was portraying.

"I definitely have his vulnerability and his sensitive side," he says. "But Alex is also very determined and when he sets his mind to something he does it and I've always been a bit like that. I throw myself at something a 100 per cent."

Farrant adds that there are some glaring differences between him and Rider. For one thing, Farrant can't speak five languages. He doesn't see himself as a violent person, either.

"I probably couldn't beat someone up in a fight," he says, "that became clear to me during the Krav Maga training."

Besides the training required to take on the role, Farrant says he also went back to some of his favourite spy thrillers, to find out what it was about them that made them so memorable.

"I watched lots of Bond films, as well as the entire Jason Bourne series," he says. "I also watched Sicario, which is about a woman who's inducted into a sort of world she doesn't know about."

Farrant says he's pleased with the way people have reacted to the show since its release. Though critics almost-unanimously praised Farrant's performance, the actor says his favourite messages are the ones he gets from his friends and family.

“It’s the nicest thing,” he says. “They tell me they’re looking forward to watching the next episode and that it’s giving them a bit of joy during the lockdown.”

In fact, Farrant says the first person he told about landing the starring role in the series was his father. “I called three people,” he says. “First my dad, then my best friend and then a friend who helped me prepare for the audition. When I told them there was this silence down the phone. They were like, ‘What? you got the role?’ My heart was in my chest and it was just amazing.”