It has been nearly 30 years since Pierce Brosnan was at the head of a TV series, but he's been tempted back by Western series The Son. So we, somewhat naturally, had to ask him about it.
A multi-generational epic tale of America's birth as a superpower through the bloody rise and fall of one Texas family, The Son (based on the award-winning novel by Philipp Meyer) sees Brosnan as McCullough family patriarch Eli. As a child, he was kidnapped and raised among the Comanche Native American tribe and applies the brutal Comanche worldview to his business dealings. He was born on the day Texas became an independent Republic, earning the nickname 'First Son of Texas' and is a relic of the Wild West, uneasy with the inexorable taming of Texas and the uncertain future of his legacy.
Which is part of what appealed to Brosnan. "The job came out of left field, I thought I was going to Russia to make a movie, but as happens with more frequency these days the movie fell apart, and this wonderful job landed in my lap," he says. "I had been aware of the book, bought the book when it first came out, so I knew the story and the mythology of it. What was really captivating and enticing was that Philipp Meyer, the author of the book, was also writing the episodes, so he was very hands on."
Given the societal shift chronicled in the story, he also appreciated the chance to explore it properly, and to dig into the levels. "The themes are greed, family, and the struggle of the times of a man who’s an archetypical American hero in a changing time," explains the actor. "He was a cattle baron and now he wants to go into the oil business. So he’s someone who is forward thinking and has a ruthless ambition for getting what he wants. There’s a duality to the character in the sense that he was abducted by the Comanches and brought up by the Comanches, so he has the psychic and emotional wherewithal to traverse the two worlds that he lives in."
And though it is set firmly in the past, Brosnan can't help but find parallels with today's climate: "It’s very current, it’s very relevant, the borders that we still take issue over and a president who now is trying to pull asunder the good work that has been done by past presidents. There’s an ego to the character of Eli McCullough which is quite overpowering and could be very dangerous within future stories that you will see in the show."
The Son will start on AMC UK, available exclusively on BT, on 16 April. You can get a taste of the show via the trailer below.
(US viewers, head here for your version{