“Everything that happens could potentially happen”: Holliday Grainger, Lia Williams, Ben Chanan, Ben Miles, Killian Scott and Rosie Alison on The Capture season three

It’s been four years since the second season of The Capture aired, and its exploration of the acceleration and misuse of AI is more relevant than ever. Following a world exclusive screening at the Soho Hotel in London, its stars and showrunners sat down to discuss its much anticipated return.

Reprising her role as Rachel Carey, who has been promoted from DI to Commander of Counter Terrorism Command, Holliday Grainger came into the third season completely in the dark. “I only read the scripts as they were coming in,” she revealed. “I didn’t ask Ben anything, so I was shooting the scenes with Killian, and I had no idea who he actually was! … I really enjoyed the not knowing.”

The role of artificial intelligence has changed significantly since the second series aired in 2022; now, for better or worse, it’s becoming a ubiquitous part of our lives. Accordingly, creator Ben Chanan was asked whether he felt the series’ exploration of a society increasingly reliant on AI was prophetic. “It’s just constant guessing, really, where we’re gonna be when it comes out,” he explained. “You know roughly how long it’s going to take to make the show…You know, it’s just like, are we ahead of the curb or behind it?… You don’t want to be so ahead of it that it seems futuristic or sci-fi. It’s not sci-fi; it’s just everything that happens could potentially happen.”

Ben Miles, who returns as Commander Danny Hart, praised Chanan’s ability to apply nuance when fleshing out the intriguing character. “It’s a joy to play because you just play the character Ben’s written and it’s very, very complex,” he reflected. “Some days he does good things and some days he really messes up and does things for kind of selfish reasons…The relationship with Carey is great because he admires her and he wants to help her, but he also foolishly sometimes thinks he’s the guy who’s going to be her saviour.”

Playing the morally ambiguous Gemma Garland, Lia Williams shared similar sentiments regarding Chanan’s multilayered approach to character development. “Ben is so deeply researched with his writing,” she said. “But then as he’s got to know us over time, he’s kind of developed the characters into a sort of deeper, more complex place with each other…which for actors is an amazing privilege.”

A new addition to the series, Killian Scott plays a mysterious newcomer whose role is strictly under wraps. Asked what he can reveal about his character, he quipped, “It feels really obnoxious, but honestly, literally nothing!” He could, however, divulge that he was delighted to join the lauded series. “It was one of those things where at the very end of the shoot I realised this is a dream role,” he stated.

Producer Rosie Alison addressed the sociopolitical significance of season three coming out at this particularly volatile point in time. “You just won’t believe how prescient it is and how much we discover that Ben is writing the live narrative of our time. It’s delicious how spookily resonant you will find it as the series goes on,” she said.

Grainger agreed, enthusing, “I really enjoyed that…I’m completely hooked!”