Three Pines star Alfred Molina explains big change series made from books
Molina plays Chief Inspector Armand Gamache in the new adaptation of Louise Penny's book series.
In his new Amazon Prime Video series Three Pines, Alfred Molina plays Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, the detective created by author Louise Penny for her long-running and best-selling series of mystery books.
When watching the series, fans of the books may be surprised to see that Gamache speaks with an American accent - despite Penny's suggestion in the books that he speaks an English accent, mirroring Molina's own.
Speaking exclusively with RadioTimes.com, Molina was asked about how a decision was made on Gamache's accent for the upcoming series.
He said: "We went through all kinds of thoughts about it. I felt that I didn't want to try and do an accent that was completely foreign to me. I thought there's no point doing a French Canadian accent. A, it's a very hard one to achieve, but also it would suddenly become a thing."
Molina acknowledged that this differed from how Gamache is described in the books, saying: "In the books of course, Louise suggests more than once that because of his education at Cambridge he speaks English with something of an English accent."
However, Molina explained the decision, saying: "As we were kind of doing the bartering between 'How do we turn the book into a piece of television without losing too much of the book?', I think the decision was a very practical one.
"It was, 'Let's give him a kind of mid-Atlantic accent that's going to fall easily on the ear and it's not going to make people kind of go, "Where does he come from?"' That was one less obstacle to place in front of the audience and its willingness to suspend disbelief."
The first season of Three Pines comprises eight one-hour episodes, with every two episodes adapting another of Penny's books. There's also a mystery which runs across the series and sees Gamache come face to face with both the failings of the institution he represents and his own demons, as he uncovers the dark truth behind the disappearance of 18-year-old Blue Two-Rivers.
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Molina also spoke with RadioTimes.com about the prospect of his Doctor Octopus appearing in the MCU once more, after his character made an appearance in 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home, 17 years after his debut in Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man 2.
The actor didn't give anything away, but instead simply said: "I can neither confirm nor deny."
Three Pines will arrive on Amazon Prime Video on Friday 2nd December 2022 – you can sign up now for a free 30-day Prime Video trial.
If you’re looking for something else to watch in the meantime, check out our TV Guide or Streaming Guide, or visit our dedicated Drama hub.
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Authors
James Hibbs is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering programmes across both streaming platforms and linear channels. He previously worked in PR, first for a B2B agency and subsequently for international TV production company Fremantle. He possesses a BA in English and Theatre Studies and an NCTJ Level 5 Diploma in Journalism.
