Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for Season 2 of The Capture.
The second season of the thriller The Capture, streaming on Peacock, continues to follow DI Rachel Carey (Holliday Grainger), as she finds herself deep in another twisted conspiracy involving technology. When politician Isaac Turner (Paapa Essiedu) finds his life being manipulated to a shocking degree, the two work together to uncover the true motives of the organization known as Correction and their shadowy web of deceit.
During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, Grainger talked about how they intentionally set up the possibility for a second season at the end of Season 1, making it hard for the hero to win in a world like this, what most surprised her about the tech aspect of this story, why she enjoyed the dynamic between Rachel Carey and Isaac Turner, and how she feels about the end of the season. She also talked about the upcoming fourth season of C.B. Strike, which is the four-part story of Troubled Blood, and the differences between Rachel Carey and Robin Ellacott, as characters.
COLLIDER: I really enjoyed the first season and was very curious about where things would go in the second season, so I was happy to see what a roller coaster ride it was.
HOLLIDAY GRAINGER: Good, I’m glad.
When you did Season 1, did you know that there was the possibility of continuing for a second season?
GRAINGER: Yeah, I knew that (show creator) Ben [Chanan] had an idea for the second season. It wasn’t fully formed, but I knew that he did want to take it on. It was interesting, when we were filming Season 1, Ben doesn’t always do loads and loads of takes, but we did so many takes of the very last line, which was something like, “When can I start in Correction?” We did so many takes of that, just to play with the ambiguity of it, for where he wanted the audience to start in Season 2. So, I was hooked to see where he was going to take it.
With where things were left in the first season, what were you most curious about? What were the biggest questions you had about Season 2, and do you feel like you had those questions answered with what Season 2 turned out to be?
GRAINGER: Yeah. It’s interesting to see what happens to Carey and Isaac, over the course of Season 2. In Season 1, you’re really left with the question of, “Is she just going to be such a hypocrite and go against all her morals? Is this what happens in the world. Is she going to be completely corrupted? Or is she going to have a steely backbone and be the one that exposes Correction?” There’s so much cynicism in the world that we all want to root for the hero. Ben’s world of The Capture is so honest and so Black Mirror cynical, that you’re just like, “How can the hero win in this world?” It’s interesting, in Season 2, to see Isaac go on the journey that I thought Carey might go on. He is corrupted and bent by power, and Carey’s not. It’s quite interesting to see.
What did you find most interesting, fascinating, or even scary about the tech aspect of this story?
GRAINGER: It really opened my eyes to the amount of CCTV used, especially in London. I had no idea that the CCTV blind spots are so small and that the pockets are really minimal in London. We all know how much there is the potential for us all to be surveilled in our home tech and everything that we have in our day-to-day lives. You just want to turn a blind eye to it. We never read the full print on the apps that we have. We don’t know what app is tracking what, and who’s filming what, and who’s listening to what, because we don’t really want to know. What’s great about The Capture is that it makes you question that. It makes you go, “Do I really not want to know?” It leaves you questioning not only what you see, but your own security.
People don’t like to think about the fact that any one of us, or all of us, can be traced through our phones at any time.
GRAINGER: Yeah. What’s funny is that sometimes I’ll hear people talk about Season 2 of The Capture and I feel like there are two camps. Some people are like, “Oh, my God, it’s so real. It could happen to you. This could be happening.” And some people are like, “Oh, it’s so farfetched. That will never happen.” I’m always like, “Oh my god, you have no idea.” We have advisors on The Capture, and it’s quite scary, speaking to them about how plausible everything is.
Would you say that your character is calm under pressure, or is she just good at pretending to be able to keep her cool even if that’s not how she’s feeling?
GRAINGER: I’d say a bit of both. She’s someone whose brain cogs work incredibly fast. I think the more pressure that’s on her, the faster her cogs work. In a sense, she’s always trying to be two steps ahead of any situation she’s in. But her level of anxiety is all internal.
There are two terrifying aspects of this story to me, how someone could not only create a deep fake of another person but also do it in real-time, and then the ability to just make people invisible from cameras so that even if you’re watching something, you don’t know what’s coming. How did you feel about both of those aspects of the story? Did that just completely freak you out?
GRAINGER: Yeah. We all want to believe what we see in the news, watch on the TV, see in newspapers, or whatever it is, but if we don’t know whether to believe what we’re seeing, having to second guess everything is really disconcerting.
What was it like to get to explore the dynamic between Rachael Carey and Isaac Turner, this season?
GRAINGER: I love the journey that Isaac and Carey go on. For Carey, it’s a journey of trust. They both start from a place of completely mistrusting, and then because they recognize themselves in each other, there’s an immediate bond and a trust there. At the beginning, Carey trusts no one and is completely mistrusted in her workplace. She puts all her faith in Isaac, and it’s broken. That’s the most heartbreaking. The scene with her and Isaac, where Isaac denies that he has knowledge of Correction and their pact, I always feel like that’s a mega relationship breakup scene. It’s the idea of a long-term relationship coming to an end because it’s that level of gut-wrenching. She built this trust, and then it’s whipped out from under her, which is proof that she can’t trust anyone.
By the end of the season, do you feel like the actions Rachel Carey takes really allow her to regain control of her life? To me, it felt like she was trying to take back what had been taken from her.
GRAINGER: Oh, absolutely. What’s interesting is that you join her at the beginning of Season 2 in this place of paranoia and anxiety. She’s mistrustful and mistrusted, and for good reason. Her life is in danger, and she is clever enough to forward think and really regain that control back from other people who’ve stopped her. I’d be really interested to see where Ben might take it for a Season 3 if that ever happens. At the very end, you think she’s won, but then there’s the idea that Correction is exposed. What would that do to her life? I feel like she’s battled to get herself to a place of regaining control, and then she’s about to completely lose it even more so because of Correction being exposed. What would that lead to?
I’m also such a fan of the work that you do on C.B. Strike. That’s another great character. What can you say to tease what fans can expect from the upcoming episodes of that series?
GRAINGER: My head is so in C.B. Strike, at the moment, because I just finished reading the sixth book last night, The Ink Black Heart. I just get so absorbed in J.K. Rowling’s writing, as the rest of the world does. The next episodes (Troubled Blood, Parts 1-4) are a cold case. In terms of the Strike-Robin journey, it’s that will they or won’t they. There’s more of the same. You’re still with them on the will they or won’t they journey.
What do you most enjoy about Rachel Carey and Robin Ellacott? What have been the most fun aspects of getting to play both of those characters? What do you think they would think of each other if they were ever to meet?
GRAINGER: I would love to see if Rachel and Robin would get on. The major difference between them is that Robin’s a people pleaser. She likes to be liked, and she’s quite calm and empathetic. And I feel like Carey just doesn’t really give a shit what other people think. Whether or not they would get on would completely depend upon the circumstances in which they met. I feel like they both have ambition and passion for their work, so I feel like, if they were on the same side of an investigation, they would really get on and respect each other. But if they were at loggerheads and trying to hide information from each other, they would hate each other.
Do they feel very different when you play them?
GRAINGER: Yeah, they do. It always feels a lot more high-pressure, doing The Capture. Maybe it’s because you can never quite leave your work at work. As much as Rachel Carey always appears calm and collected, she’s always in a heightened state of anxiety. She’s got so much at stake and so much going on. Playing that is quite difficult because you feel like a bottle being shaken. There’s something much more grounded and open about Robin, which makes it feel easier to leave, at the end of the day.
The Capture is available to stream at Peacock.