Charlie Cox on what sets Treason apart from Bond-style spy thrillers

Soon, a triangular relationship forms between Kara, Adam and his wife, Maddy; three people who are trying to expose each other’s secrets, navigate political and diplomatic relationships, all whilst hanging onto their personal lives and those they love most.

Created and written by Matt Charman (Bridge of Spies) and directed by Louise Hooper (The Sandman, The Witcher) and Sarah O'Gorman (The Witcher, The Last Kingdom), the series lands on the streaming giant in time for peak Christmas viewing.

But contrary to what viewers may think after watching the trailer, Cox underlined the fact that Treason is not as action-packed as one may assume – but that's the point. He said: "What Matt Chapman, the writer and showrunner was really interested in, was how someone involved in MI6 and has worked in that area for most of his life, is how it affects the family.

"Despite what the trailer might suggest, because a trailer is a trailer, there's not a huge amount of action in the show, actually. A lot of it is dealing with the relationships with Adam's wife and his children and the pressures for someone who lives and works in that world, especially when they come under fire, especially when there's extreme adversity, how they handle that.

"That was one of the goals, how to set it apart from other shows in that genre."

It's hard to think of the spy thriller genre without some reference to revered film franchise James Bond, but when speaking about Treason, Cox admitted that there are major differences between the two.

"‌I'm now a father to young children and I haven't had children on camera before, so I was really excited about that. So much of this story in the first episodes revolves around the emotional trauma with his [Lawrence's] daughter, so I was excited from an acting point of view to explore that, to see what it was like to be a father on screen and to dive into those feelings and those relationships.

"But if you take James Bond as the pinnacle of spy genre content, what was interesting to me about this was we got to see a little bit more behind the curtain, we got to see some of the quote unquote unflashy elements of what a spy has to deal with, and we get to go home with them."

He added: "We get to go on a date night with them, he puts the children to bed, and he's asked pretty pointed questions by his innocent children at times when he's really quite questioning his own morality."

The series, which also stars Oona Chaplin, Ciarán Hinds and Tracy Ifeachor, drops on Netflix on Boxing Day.

Additional reporting by Abby Robinson.

Treason will stream on Netflix from 26th December 2022. Sign up for Netflix from £6.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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