Charlie Hunnam’s much-anticipated series Shantaram is right around the corner. The series based on Gregory David Roberts’ acclaimed book by the same name will follow a convicted Australian bank robber and addict, Lin, who escapes from an Australian prison and flees to Mumbai. In India, he falls for a woman while on a run from his past and learning to live in a foreign land. He’s soon forced to choose between freedom and love or face the consequences that come with it. In a new interview with EW, Hunnam spoke about the “radically different” nature of the series and pushing his personal boundaries to play Lin.
When Apple released the first look of the series which showed the Sons of Anarchy star on a motorcycle, fans went crazy, however, Hunnam found it “cheeky.” He reveals that he’s on a motorcycle in the show for “approximately two minutes” and hopes that “people don't get too excited thinking that this is some sort of Sons of Anarchy in India because that's not what we're delivering.” Adding that Shantaram is “radically different and the characters are so radically different."
Hunnam is much loved for playing Jax in Kurt Sutter’s Sons of Anarchy series which ran for seven seasons before wrapping up in 2014. Shantaram marks the actor's first series regular gig ever since, the actor reveals that he was “really a kid” when he started Sons, nonetheless, he’s a “different person” now. “I'm north of 40 now, and I've been taking stock of who I am and who I would like to be, and the work that I do is certainly an element of that,” he said. He further revealed that it was an important step for him to challenge himself, and it was rewarding to push himself out of his comfort zone for the new series. “I've never worked as hard on anything as I've worked on this, so I'm nervous and just really excited to see what the reaction will be."
The actor praises the story to be a “grand, sweeping, wildly romantic love story.” But for him personally, he was excited to explore “this conflict between what I call the kingdom of God and the kingdom of gold.” He divulges, “Lin finds himself in India on this concurrent journey of spiritual awakening whilst also getting pulled deeper into the realms of organized crime.” Lin’s inner conflict of walking on a path of spirituality and "rising through an organization that's ruthlessly capitalistic at its heart” is something that also really excited him about the project. Though he reveals that Season 1 barely scratches the surface of the story, he adds:
If we're lucky enough to get a second season, that is when that really will become the central story point. We take Lin into the world where he gets exposed to both of those elements, but the choice between the two, the conflict between the two, doesn't really become apparent until later.
The first three episodes of Shantaram premiere on October 14 on Apple TV+ before moving to a weekly release. Meanwhile, you can check out our conversation with Hunnam and George MacKay on True History of the Kelly Gang below: