While Maia Mitchell and Thomas Brodie-Sangster‘s chemistry is the reason many fans love The Artful Dodger, it took some time for the dynamic to develop.
“I didn’t know Thomas well [before filming]. Before our first day, I had been shooting something in the United States, so I popped over quickly — like, the day after I found out I booked it — had one day of rehearsals and met Thomas,” Mitchell, 32, exclusively told Us Weekly about her early days on the Hulu show. “Mine and Thomas’ first scene together was actually when I’m in my room and I’m taking off the dress.”
Mitchell recalled the “tension” between their characters — Belle and Jack — while filming their first scene. “Thomas and Maia [had] zero chemistry,” she joked. “He’s so beautiful, but I was like, ‘He’s such a gentleman and I’m so loud. I don’t think he likes me very much. Am I talking too much since he’s only speaking when he has something to say?’”
She continued: “Then we did that scene and he became Dodger and it was just palpable. I remember looking at our showrunner James McNamara and being like, ‘We’re good.’ But you really don’t know until you’re both being these characters. The way that he transforms into Jack with all of that edge … Thomas is just such a wonderful actor and such a beautiful person. He is so generous and so great with everyone. He’s the best.”
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Acting as a sequel to Charles Dickens‘ novel Oliver Twist, The Artful Dodger is set in the 1850s and follows Jack Dawkins (Brodie-Sangster), who is a former Royal Navy surgeon trying to establish himself as a respected young doctor. In addition to his antics outside of work, Jack quickly develops a romance with the governor’s daughter Belle (Mitchell).
Season 2, which premiered on Tuesday, February 10, checks back in on Jack and Belle’s star-crossed romance while also introducing a love triangle with newcomer Inspector Henry Boxer (Luke Bracey).
“What I love about Boxer and the way that Luke played him is [that] the temptation for a love triangle is to make the new edition an antagonist. I love that, in this season, we have stayed away from tropes and we’re getting a really nuanced perspective of these characters,” Mitchell gushed. “There is this really rich character development and character-driven story. Especially with the love triangle between Boxer and Belle and Jack.”
Mitchell previewed Belle’s different connections with both men.
“Boxer is sort of the antithesis of Jack. Where Jack is fireworks, passion and a tumultuous star-crossed love, Boxer is calm and sensible. They’re intellectually equals, which is quite stimulating. He also has this really devastating backstory,” she noted. “He plays it with such beautiful fragility that you can’t help but root for him and think that it would be a much simpler — maybe more comfortable life — for Belle. And Jack is really threatened by that.”
She added: “It was fun to walk that line with the love triangle and try to really lean away from anything tropey. We just really get to the crux of who these characters are and for Belle, it is quite empowering because she’s really quite autonomous this season. She’s really looking at her options and prioritizing herself. I love to see a woman doing that.”
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Season 2 ends on a definitive — and hopeful — note, but Mitchell is still holding out hope for more.
“It was a long painstaking wait to hear [about a season 2], so we are very happy to be back,” she noted to Us. “In terms of jumping back into character, the break was good. It’s always nerve-wracking going back. But it’s so easy with our sets and in our costumes, you just really do melt right into the world. But the break was good because I would have needed that circuit break to find a different tone in her, to do some different prep. Especially with the dialect coaches, I was vocally dropping her a little lower and there was a slightly different physicality. Hopefully we get a season 3, and hopefully the break isn’t as long.”
The Artful Dodger is currently streaming on Hulu.
