Defying Genre with Will Tudor

Working across genre is one of the many challenges that Will Tudor is passionate about exploring. He is not only building his film and TV credits by picking versatile projects but is also pushing him to keep growing as an actor. He has already done sci-fi, period drama, fantasy, and crime and is not planning to stop anytime soon. Tudor has recently been part of two popular British TV shows, Moonflower Murders, and the highly anticipated Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light. Throughout his career, he has acted alongside actor legends such as Lesley Manville, Mark Rylance, and Damian Lewis. His other credits include Game of Thrones, Humans, and The Wheel of Time.

Frontrunner sat down with Tudor to discuss the romanticisation of True Crime through the increasing amount of available content, jumping between two different characters in one show, being the newbie on the set of Game of Thrones, and why less violence and horror films hit harder in the last century than today.

You are getting involved with some great projects. How did you get on board with Moonflower Murders and Wolf Hall?

I’d been lucky last year that two great projects came along very close to each other. They came in as a self-tapes, and I then went in for a further two rounds in person. What was lovely is how different they both are – and getting to do two very distinct characters in Moonflower meant that across 6 months I was playing 3 different characters. I love a challenge and so that was a real treat for me to be able to tackle. Normally with tapes, you don’t have a very long time to prepare but all the roles sparked my imagination, so I enjoyed the auditions immensely.

The popularity of murder mysteries and true crime is on the rise. Do you get the hype and is this a genre that you enjoy working in?

It’s true – true crime is everywhere, and murder mysteries have been perennially popular. I think that any story that involves the viewer in active analysis – that requires the audience to come up with their theories – will have a loyal following. I think it requires more of the viewer, therefore there’s a certain amount of ownership that the viewer can take on a murder mystery or true crime piece – they are invited to solve it along with the detective or protagonist. I get the hype – I was an enormous fan of Serial (the mother of the new wave of true crime podcasts). It’s a wonderful genre to work in as there’s scope for interesting characters, and a lot is left unsaid, which allows the actor to have enormous fun.

In Moonflower Murders, you are playing two roles. What makes it even more difficult is that one of your characters is period and the other lives in modern days. I’d imagine, it’s challenging to make them different, but somehow establish a connection. How did you prepare for this?

The challenge came from having to prepare for both characters simultaneously – however, they are luckily very distinct so I was able to compartmentalise fairly well. I’m a big fan of improvisation and that helped me to understand the characters’ lives independent of each other. Once you’ve worked out the habits and mannerisms, they become much easier to separate in your head. Luckily we shot the two roles one after the other so there were no days where you were shooting one character and then having to jump straight into the other, which helped. Algernon is much more of a “character” so I had fun coming up with the details of the portrayal, whereas Aiden is much more grounded – so that distinction also helped.

Do you think that modern TV and streaming culture and the incredible amount of available content is sort of romanticising murders & cold cases nowadays?

I do – much like how we consume meat, we are separated from the source enough that we can enjoy the product but when one stops to think, the reality is something very different (I should say I am a meat eater though!) I’m not sure how the prevalence of the gruesome details affects us – if you watch any movie from the mid-20th century, you get a sense that we are probably now much more desensitised to acts of violence. Those older movies would show much less, yet somehow, to my mind, they would affect the viewer more. Perhaps there’s something in the less-is-more approach because the horror is more grounded and immediate to our everyday imaginations. Maybe by showing the extremes of the horror of it all, we compartmentalise it, have more control over it, and maybe it no longer horrifies us quite as much.

Acting alongside Lesley Manville and Tim McMullan on Moonflower Murders and Mark Rylance and Damian Lewis in Wolf Hall must have been quite the experience. Do you ever take roles based on what you might be able to learn from your co-stars?

I’ve been extremely lucky with these two projects to work with some of the best actors in the world. I’m always excited to see who else might be on a project I’m joining – you do learn something new from everyone. My ethos as an actor has always been, “I want to learn as much as possible and be challenged.” You learn so much from people at the top of their game. The more work I do, I see how different everyone’s approach to acting is as well – I find that incredibly exciting, that there is no one way to act – it is so personal to each individual.

What are some of the most important things you have learned from actors on (any) set that you take with you on every job?

A lot of the things I take away are the personal moments – how you create a good atmosphere on set, the ways you interact with people. Sets can be a stressful environment, and the people I admired most were the ones who not only set the tone in terms of performance but also brought everyone together. Crucially, those people don’t have to be extroverts – on the contrary, some of the most uniting presences I’ve seen on sets were very quiet, but they set a tone by which everyone could follow, one of respect, creativity, and calm. That’s something I aspire to do on every set:  affect the air around you in a positive, creative way, if you can. Other people would have to say if I’ve been successful at that but it’s something I aspire to!

You have done a variety of genres as an actor, crime, period, sci-fi, fantasy, etc. Why do you think it’s important for you to try so many different things on the film genre spectrum?

The thing I look for most as an actor is to be challenged. I particularly enjoy transformation in my roles, and doing many different genres allows me to do that. It’s immense fun tackling many different types of roles and I love being able to step into a diverse range of worlds. I consider my role as an actor to be versatile such that someone might not even know it was me playing another role. We are lucky as actors in that we get to time travel, jump into far-off worlds, and live many lives. It’s a wonderful thing and I consider myself incredibly lucky that I’ve been able to have a broad career thus far!

Game of Thrones happened quite early on in your career. It must be intimidating to walk onto such a huge set with so many experienced cast & crew around you. Especially on a show, where violence, nudity & outstanding writing take the lead. How did you calm the nerves and what sort of support did you have?

It was incredibly nerve-wracking and intimidating! I had been an enormous fan of the show before I was cast, so not only was my first scene “sans-clothes”, but also I was surrounded by these characters I adored. And as you say, it was a huge set – a show at the top of its popularity. I’ve always said though that all those elements, rather than feeling overwhelming, almost cancelled each other out – there was an excitement and a rolling-unstoppable-boulder feeling to it. I look back now and don’t know how I held it together but I think I felt that I’d do the work, focus on the part that I could control, and then decide to freak out about it later! In terms of support – it’s interesting as this was before the time of intimacy coordinators, however, I was incredibly lucky that it was a hugely respectful set and I felt always comfortable. I was lucky as well that Finn Jones was a wonderful scene partner so the whole experience felt very calm and professional. The cast were wonderful and they were incredibly welcoming to me. It was a fantastic experience.

It’s so difficult to become a working actor and be able to do what you love. Did you ever face these challenges? If so, how did you overcome them and would you do anything differently?

I think it’s always a challenge – the old complaint is that we always have to face rejection, almost daily. You have to do a lot of tapes or auditions before a job comes along, but it does make the jobs themselves very special. Even if you’re someone whose CV seems busy, that can still mean months at a time without knowing where the next job is coming from. Also, the industry is really struggling at the moment and there aren’t as many jobs, and yet there are even more actors trying to get them. For me, the secret is to treat auditions as though they are the job – if you enjoy the audition process, any job that comes out of it is a bonus. I think it’s important to have other focuses that can feed you. Whether that be hobbies, family, partners, or a dog! But it’s a difficult balance to make – the job is demanding in that it is a “lifestyle” job: it sits outside the normality for many people, and requires a lot from you. The only thing I’d do differently is go on holiday more. I’m always concerned that an important audition might come in – but with the advent of taping, luckily, that’s not as much of a problem anymore. Although, sometimes you do have to shut off the email and completely disconnect!

What’s coming for you next?

I filmed a role in a movie called Moss and Freud earlier in the year – it’s about the meeting between Kate Moss and Lucian Freud. It’s going to be a wonderful film and I’m excited to see how it comes out. Other than that, I am back to auditioning and looking forward to seeing what 2025 brings.