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Tom Burke Talks Acting, “Strike”, Before New Season (With New Trailer!)

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With a new season of Strike, the television adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s crime series, on its way to the BBC on February 25, there’s new publicity popping up. This season adapts the third book in the series, Career of Evil, and if this new trailer is any indication, it’s going to be quite the nail-biter.

 

 

Meanwhile, in anticipation of the new season, star Tom Burke sat down with the Sunday Times to talk about the show, meeting J.K. Rowling, his career and – how much women seem to love him?

It all seems a bit bemusing to Burke. “I don’t feel like a pin-up. I know people think I’m handsome or whatever, and that’s great…but I’m very happy sitting in the middle ground. What’s the word they always use to describe me … Rugged. I’m quite happy being rugged,” he said.

But beyond that, Burke seems enthralled by the chance to play Rowling’s scruffy detective and excited for what the third installment in the series brings. When reading the book Career of Evil, he says he found something “delicious” about it. “There’s something there, isn’t there? It’s palpable…I’d be happy to do this for so long. I’d love to grow old playing this part,” he said.

His wish just might come true, if the information revealed by his co-star Holliday Grainger turns out to be accurate. “I can’t remember how many I’m contracted for, but I think there was an idea that there might be seven [books] written. But I don’t know if that’s a ‘definite’ or a ‘might’. So therefore, I might be optioned for six or seven. Five, six or seven. But I think they’ve always been quite clear that they’d never want to write one without basing it on a book. And they’re pretty spread out unless Jo [Rowling] just doesn’t sleep ever. She’s pretty busy.”

He also spoke about Rowling’s presence on the set of Strike for read-throughs and occasionally during shooting. Her presence on set was enough to “stiffen the sinews” of Burke and Grainger. “With actors, Jo says what they need to hear and not a word more. You have to listen carefully. But she is only involved up to a certain point. Then it is very much our thing to get on with. I think she enjoys watching it and being surprised. We have had good vibes from her,” he told TV Times.

It’s not the first time the actor has attempted to become immersed in J.K. Rowling’s world. Back in the day, Burke auditioned to portray one of the Weasley children in Harry Potter. “I think it was the part Domhnall Gleeson played. When they said I hadn’t got it they went ‘they’re going more Weasley’,” Burke recalls, explaining to Radio Times that he was gutted “because it was just in at the end and I thought ‘this would be nice’ and then it was gone.”

Speaking of Rowling, the author spoke with BBC One about the new series. Take a look here!

 

 

Burke also discussed where he would like to see his career go in the future (probably not Hollywood) and also mentioned how he studied the work of his godfather, the late Alan Rickman, in the Harry Potter films to learn how to keep a character interesting.

Speaking to Digital Spy, he also revealed that filming for the next installment of the Strike series may not take place until 2019, since Lethal White is still being written, and that future series could be longer than any of those that came before. “I don’t think it would be until the year after this year. They’re very happy with it, but interestingly enough, the one thing they do feel, if we do more, is it maybe can be spaced out a bit more. That we can fit a bit more in. That maybe that’s where to go next, in terms of the next book. I don’t know anything about the next book, but some people do and they feel like it could be a four-part one.”

As for the chemistry between Strike and Robin, both of the actors playing the series’ lead characters are careful with how they treat the relationship. “The freedom in being able to throw herself into her job without thinking of anyone else, and the excitement of that, and the respect she’s getting from Strike because she’s good at what she does. I think it gets mixed up in her feelings for him,” says Grainger, while Burke appears to enjoys toying with the thought of will they or won’t they, saying, “I think it’s a blind spot. And I think that’s what’s enjoyable about it. I think that’s a really important quality of it.”

Career of Evil will be broadcast on BBC One in the UK starting February 25, 2018, and will be released on DVD March 5. The third installment will premiere in the US, with the first five episodes covering The Cuckoo’s Calling and The Silkworm.

Are you excited to see the newest episodes of Strike? Let us know in the comments what you think of the show!