The Letter for the King star explains what makes the new Netflix show unique
Gijs Blom says that the drama's focus on younger characters ensures it stands out from other recent fantasy shows
There's been no shortage of fantasy films and TV shows of late, and new Netflix series The Letter for the King is the latest series to capitalise on the renewed interest in the genre brought about by the huge success of HBO juggernaut Game of Thrones.
And despite plenty of competition, one of the show's stars reckons that that the six-part series can stand out from the crowd - due to its unique focus on younger characters.
Gijs Blom, who plays the primary antagonist on the show, exclusively told RadioTimes.com, "We focus on children, but we take the approach from a very serious way just like things like Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones.
"So we have the same production values while at the same time it's a very much a children friendly, family friendly show. We take it very seriously while keeping it suited for a younger audience."
Blom added that it would have been "weird" to have a show about children without making it suitable for a younger audience, and reckons doing so ensures a unique perspective can be offered.
"I think our story is very much about young children travelling through a broken adult world and fixing it along the way," he explained.
"They actually have the right answers to right what has been done wrong, because they act out of their heart instead of their mind - so they do what they feel is good instead of what they're being told is good.
"So I think it's very important for an adult audience as well as a young audience to watch, and that's why it's a family show, it's suitable for everyone."
Blom's character Prince Viridian is a pretty formidable figure - who spends much of the series attempting to pull off a very malevolent scheme - but playing such a sinister villain was not something that came naturally to the Dutch actor.
"I was the main villain of the series and I do not consider myself villain material in my own life, as no one should," he laughed.
"I don't think I'm very intimidating and I'm not considered a scary guy at all so it was very challenging for me to try to become scary.
"I think that the biggest challenge was that I thought the only way I should succeed is if I just don't try too hard to be evil, just let the material be the material."
"But that was a challenge because sometimes you want to [try too hard], because that's what you're familiar with when you watch other shows - you're familiar with scary guys acting scary."
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The Letter for the King is streaming on Netflix from Friday 20th March
Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
