[Editor's note: The following contains major spoilers for The Gentlemen.]

The Big Picture

• Inspired by the 2019 movie of the same name, the Netflix series 'The Gentlemen' follows Eddie as he inherits a drug empire and explores the dynamic he has with Susie.
• Kaya Scodelario expresses interest in a possible Season 2, focusing on evolving Susie and Eddie's partnership.
• The series showcases intricate character development, exploring the morality of adapting to circumstances to survive.

From creator Guy Ritchie, who also directed the first two episodes, and inspired by the 2019 movie of the same name, the eight-episode Netflix series The Gentlemen is set in the same world of gangsters and aristocrats but with a new cast of colorful and unique characters. When Eddie Horniman (Theo James) unexpectedly finds himself in charge of his father’s country estate, he also discovers a portion of the cannabis empire that’s being run by Susie Glass (Kaya Scodelario) on its property. The two might come from very different worlds, but as Susie brings out the darker side of Eddie, he realizes he just might like it a little more than he expected, if only his unpredictable brother Freddy (Daniel Ings) doesn’t end up getting them killed first.

During this one-on-one interview with Collider, Scodelario discussed the excitement the cast would have to do another season, feeling that there’s still a lot they could do with these characters, what she’d like to see with Susie and Eddie moving forward, why it made sense for their characters to not get romantically involved, wanting to establish Susie as her own person, how the wardrobe influenced her performance, having Ray Winstone play her father, and that scene with Freddy in the chicken suit. She also talked about being open to everything when it comes to projects, even if that includes a shaved head and blue paint, making the Netflix miniseries Senna about the Brazilian Formula One racing legend Ayrton Senna (Gabriel Leone), and whether she keeps in touch with her Skins castmates.

Collider: Like so many people have, I tremendously enjoyed this series. Please tell me that you’ve had conversations about a possible Season 2 because now I need to know what happens to all these characters.

KAYA SCODELARIO: We haven’t had a conversation yet. I think all of us would be really excited to jump back into that universe and explore what could happen next, but as of now, the grownups are dealing with it. We know nothing.

It seems like there are so many possibilities for what could happen.

SCODELARIO: Yeah, definitely. And now that we’ve gotten a lot of feedback on what people enjoyed about it, and we know what we enjoyed filming and the adventures that we could have with it, there are definitely still lots of places that we could go.

What would you like to see in a second season, especially with your character? What would you personally love to get to explore with her?

SCODELARIO: I don’t know. I think something unexpected would be quite cool. It would be interesting to see Susie and Eddie negotiate the more business side of things and the structure of how it works, and we could learn more about how she’s built this empire over time. Selfishly, I’d love them to go abroad somewhere. That would be nice. England was fun, but it was quite cold and rainy. I could see them taking a trip to overseas land.

‘The Gentlemen’s Kaya Scodelario Would Like to See Susie’s Partnership with Eddie Further Explored in Season 2

After ensuring that they were the final bid for the business, they’re tied together. What do you think that means for the future of the business, with everything they’ve been through? Can they have a partnership? Does one of them have to be in charge? How do you see that working?

SCODELARIO: I think that’s definitely what we would explore. What’s interesting about Susie and Eddie is that they do work very well together, even when they are at loggerheads, even when they seem to be on opposing teams or not trusting each other, they have a very interesting chemistry and a very good work dynamic. Whether they like it or not, they would have to explore that a little bit more.

Do you think her feelings or thoughts about him change by the end of the season, compared to what she thinks of him when she first sees him and realizes she’s stuck with him?

SCODELARIO: Yeah, definitely. Susie has worked with a lot of these kinds of people. It’s a regular occurrence for her to deal with the lords of the manors and I think she recognizes immediately that Eddie is different. There is something behind his eyes that tells her that he could be quite useful to her in a different way, and that she could use that for her advantage and to further along the business more. She recognizes something in him that I think he doesn’t realize in himself, at the very beginning, and that’s what she tries to shepherd and mold throughout the season. Obviously, there are times when she’s not sure if she can trust him or not, but she’s also used to that. She’s not naïve, at all, about what his priorities are, but I think she’s very confident that she can manipulate him if she needs to.

'The Gentlemen's Kaya Scodelario Believes A Romance in Season 1 Wouldn't Have Made Sense

It’s really interesting that we go through the whole season without there being a romance between them. Is that something that you would want to see, or do you like the fact that isn’t part of their relationship?

SCODELARIO: It just practically wouldn’t make sense. They’re very busy. There’s a lot going on and I don’t think there would have been time for them to be like, “Hey, let’s go on a date now.” This is something that Susie’s done for a very long time and her business is the most important thing to her, first and foremost. That’s how she presents herself as a businesswoman. That is her focus. There’s an undeniable chemistry between them, and it’s interesting to explore and play with the idea of whether that is romantic, whether that is a power dynamic, or what that could be. But I really like that we kept it business and I think that’s how Susie would have been in real life.

The movie was pretty great. It had such an awesome cast that it made doing this a bit of a head scratcher when the TV series was first announced. But then, you watch the series, and it’s also great and it has its own awesome characters and cast. As you were reading the first script, what sold you on the TV series and the fact that it just works?

SCODELARIO: It was definitely Susie. It was having a female, front and center. It was having a female in the Guy Ritchie universe that we actually have the time to explore, and to see her go from this very powerful, established person to understanding her vulnerabilities and her motivations. Just having the time with that was really great. That’s what’s unique about putting it in a television format. We essentially have eight movies in one go, and with that comes the opportunity to flesh out these characters a little bit more, to have more fun with them, and to enjoy them for longer. I thought that was a really interesting move. Just the structure of the plot works really well in that world. It’s fun seeing how the business works and seeing the adventures they get up to, but there is also this really dark underlying side to it that we get a little bit more time to explore.

Since you typically don’t get everything laid out for you at the start of a TV series, what were you most concerned about when it came to how the series might handle the character and what really reassured you that she would be who you wanted her and hoped her to be?

SCODELARIO: You’re totally right, we had the first episode and that was it. I really loved the pilot and I loved Susie in the pilot. I thought she came across strong, established, and ruthless, but interesting and mysterious. I actually insisted on having a conversation with the showrunners to make sure that she was someone that they also cared about and that they would take care of during the season, that she would still have her own arc, that she would be her own person, and that she would be nuanced and complicated and interesting and funny, and everything in between. I didn’t want her to be forgotten. She’s not a wallflower at all. And they were very adamant that they wanted to give her that and that it was a huge priority for them to keep building Susie up, to really explore her, and to connect her to all these other parts of the series and all these other characters. That was great. That’s what I was after. I wanted to bring a really interesting female role into this universe and protect that, and they did. I’m really grateful that they did that.

For 'The Gentlemen's Female Lead, It's All About the Suits

I have to say that Susie’s wardrobe is to die for. How important of a role does wardrobe play for you? Did you want a say in what it says about her?

SCODELARIO: Yeah, definitely. It’s super important. It’s one of the first things that you put on in the morning, literally. It helps you build the character, from the second you change out of your clothes into theirs. You are imagining how they walk, how they stand, how they present themselves. Are they tidy? Are they messy? Do they coordinate, or do they not care? Have they got other things going on? It says so much about people. And this was a dream for that. It was probably my favorite costume fitting I’ve ever done. Loulou Bontemps, who did the costumes, is a genius. She really thought about it, and we had a lot of space to play. I’ve found, quite often in my career, sometimes male directors don’t engage as much in the female characters’ wardrobe. They leave it up to the costume designer. Whereas for Guy, it’s actually very important and it’s something he knows a lot about, so he had a lot of input in making sure that it’s her armor. It’s how she protects herself and it’s the image that she gives to these people when she walks in the room, that shows them that she’s just as powerful as they are.

We thought a lot about it. We wanted her in suits. We wanted her in feminine but masculine shapes. We wanted her to feel strong. We wanted her to be aware of her sexuality, but not need to use it as a weapon. She’s not ever overly sexualized in what she’s wearing. She’s wearing what she finds sexy for her and what makes her feel empowered. We also played around with the idea that she’s a bit of a chameleon and, in order to manipulate people, she dresses for the occasion. Whenever she is visiting the lords in the country manners, she’s wearing a lot of tweeds, a lot of Chloe boots, and a lot of practical but still hyper-stylish things that fit in with that world. And then, when you see her in the boxing club in London, she’s a little bit more Kate Moss, a little bit sparklier, and a little bit more fashion week.

I love that because, as women, I think that’s something that we do and that we’ve learnt to have to do to present ourselves in a way that we want to be seen. She uses that to her advantage. And then, with the makeup, I had this idea that her eyeliner should be sharp enough to kill a man and she should have this cat eye that was quite intimidating. And then, there were these ridiculously long nails, which were incredibly unpractical for me personally. I’ve got two kids and the job took seven months, but I loved the idea that she has this full set of nails that are perfect at all times. It’s the idea that she’s in charge of all these murders and shenanigans, but she never gets her hands dirty. She has other people do that for her.

Nothing about her feels trendy. It all feels very deliberate and thought out.

SCODELARIO: Yeah, and that was really where we wanted to go with it. It’s not uniform that she came up with. Everything is very thought out. She takes time with it, like she does with her business.

What is it like to have Ray Winstone as your father, playing somebody like this man? What did he bring to the dynamic between your characters?

SCODELARIO: He was awesome. He wasn’t actually cast when I started the job. I didn’t know who was going to be playing my dad. I heard his name get thrown around and I thought, “Oh my God, that’s incredible. We’re never gonna get him. That’s too good. That’s not a reality.” And then, he turned up on set and it was just great. For me personally, I’m a huge admirer of his work. I have been for a very long time. He’s also quintessentially British in such a great way. It was useful for me because then I could mold my accent around his. And then, personally, he’s a really lovely man. He’s got three daughters and he knows how to speak to women respectfully. Getting to just work through scenes with him, it felt like I really was able to throw the ball back and forth with him. My scenes that I shot with him were probably my favorite of the season.

It’s so interesting because we don’t get to see him outside this confined space that he’s in. We have to get so much insight about who he might have been outside of that, just from his mannerisms and how he carries himself in those moments.

SCODELARIO: Yeah, totally, and that’s something we worked on behind the scenes. He ran the business from day one, and she grew up watching him and was always included in those negotiations. He never treated her like his daughter. He treated her as a fellow member of the family, and that’s why she is so empowered. What’s interesting about the show is if you take a step back from the craziness of it all is, it’s essentially a story about families, and the differences and similarities, no matter what your background is. Whether you’re handling money that is generational, or whether it’s new money, or whether it’s criminality, or whether it’s something completely legit, it’s how a family business is run and how that’s passed down through different generations.

'The Gentlemen's Chicken Suit Scene Evolved Into Something Much Darker

What was it like to be a part of the scene with Freddy (Daniel Ings) in the chicken suit? When you’re standing in a corner having to be witness to all of that going on, was it ever difficult to stay completely serious when he was dancing and clucking like a chicken?

SCODELARIO: It’s interesting because the scene on paper, when we first started, was written quite silly and quite goofy. And then, as soon as we stepped in the room and discussed it and realized that it was actually the pivotal moment where you realize that the series can and will turn very dark, it’s actually quite difficult to watch. And Dan was so convincing. He really threw himself into it immediately. And then, it didn’t feel funny. It felt very heavy and very intense. As an actor, to just get to watch your colleague really go there was really special. Dan’s the one that really exerted himself. Me and Theo got to stand in the corner and watch it. It took a very long time to film because it’s at the back end of the first episode and the front end of the second, so we shot it twice as long as you normally would, just to account for different angles and stuff. I was quite worried about Dan, by the end of it. I just put my arms around him to make sure he was okay.

Between that moment, and the hissy fit of all hissy fits that he has at the beginning of the series, and him repeatedly having to get slapped by Theo James, it seems like his role was much more like a marathon that he had to pace himself for.

SCODELARIO: Yeah, definitely. But he’s a brilliant actor and that’s what he does so well. It was really great to watch that and it helped us gauge our performances. There’s a fine line in the Guy Ritchie universe of going too big and it falling into silliness, but then also taking it too seriously and it not working. It’s a very unique path that he lays and it was great to have Dan’s dynamic because that could help us judge where we needed to be with our characters.

I was surprised that Susie makes a bit of an impulsive decision by sending The Gospel to Eddie’s front door out of anger. Do you think she would have done something like that, prior to everything that happened with Eddie? Had we just not seen that side of her yet?

SCODELARIO: I think it’s less about what happened with Eddie and more what happens with her brother. Up until that point, we see Susie in work mode, and she’s very diligent, very in control, and very focused. But what means more to her than anything is her family, so that’s the thing that really rocks her and leads her down this more impulsive path than we’d seen her on before. That was the catalyst for that. We all have a protectiveness when it comes to certain people, whether that’s family or friends or pets. It’s like, “You can fuck with me up to so much, but if you mess with this, then I’m losing it,” and I think in that moment she just loses it.

Early on, your character says, “100% of fuck all is fuck all,” and that feels like a running theme throughout the series because these are people constantly trying to adapt and work with what they have, as opposed to losing everything. Did it feel that way for you?

SCODELARIO: Yeah, definitely. If there is a moral to it, it is that. That’s what the gangsters have done. They’ve adapted to their circumstances, especially in Britain. We are so structured with our class system and we have been, since the beginning of the country. This land was gentried by people, and then passed down to their families, and they were always safe because of the bloodline. People outside of that had to learn to adapt. How do we make our money? How do we survive? How do we get our territory? And the gangsters have figured that out. They know that they have nothing to lose and everything to gain, and they take advantage of those who believe that they have everything and nothing to lose. It’s the dynamic of that, between the two worlds.

When you play someone like this, who is such a fantastic character, does it raise the bar and make it that much harder to find the next thing?

SCODELARIO: No, because I believe there’s good stuff out there. I really do. I’ve always insisted on playing characters that are fun and interesting and complicated and wild. To me, that’s just realistic of being a woman. That’s my experience. I’ve never met a woman who is two-dimensional, so why would I ever wanna play one? It’s just unrealistic. It made me feel like, “Okay, this was really cool. Let’s keep doing some cool stuff. Let’s find interesting things.” I’ve been very lucky in my career that it’s been quite varied, genre wise. I love that. I still want challenges. I still want to learn. I still want to grow. Throw a shaved head and blue paint at me and I don’t mind it. I’m excited about everything and anything, and I’m grateful to be working.

Kaya Scodelario Will Be in the Netflix Miniseries Senna, About the Brazilian Formula One Driver

Do you know what you’ll be doing next?

SCODELARIO: I shot something for Netflix (the miniseries Senna), right after this, in Brazil. My mum is Brazilian. I speak Portuguese. So, we did a Brazilian production about the life of Aryton Senna, who was a Formula One driver who died on the track. I got to work in South America with an incredible South American production, and South American cast and crew. That was a real pinch-me moment for me because I’ve always wanted to act in my Portuguese dialect and never had the opportunity to. That was a real challenge, but really interesting and totally different to Susie, which is what I wanted to do. I think that will be coming out later this year.

Is something like that like terrifying or is it just exciting?

SCODELARIO: Oh, it’s absolutely terrifying. Every job is terrifying, still, and I’m grateful for that. If I ever walk onto the set on day one and think, “I’ve got this,” then that’s not good. As an actor, I think you should always be a little bit terrified because from that comes the adrenaline and the motivation to do the work and to do it well. I really believe in that. I wanna stretch myself. I wanna continue learning. And every year, I get older and I learn more about the human experience, and that can only make my work better.

Like many other people, I first became aware of you and your work with Skins. I often wonder if there could be a project, at some point, that you, Nicholas Hoult, Dev Patel, Jack O’Connell and Daniel Kaluuya can do together. You have all these great actors from the Skins cast and you guys should all do something together, that totally doesn’t have to be related to Skins at all, just because it would be such a great cast.

SCODELARIO: That would be really quite fun. Most of us are still really good friends and we hang out quite regularly, so we get that time together. We’re a really unique group of friends that are actors, in that we don’t discuss work when we’re together. We are just mates and we talk about life, and I really value that. But I do like that idea. Maybe we’ll do a silent movie or something really off brand for the Skins fans and see what happens.

It totally doesn’t have to be Skins related, at all. It would just be awesome to see you guys together again, doing some sort of project together, because it’s so rare that so many cast members from a show have gone off to have such great careers, like you’ve all had.

SCODELARIO: Yeah, I know. It is incredibly rare, and we’re really grateful for that. Most of us are still very close because of it. We were never competitive with each other. We’re all really happy for each other. I love seeing their careers blossom. We do hang out. You guys just don’t get to see it.

The Gentlemen is available to stream on Netflix. Check out the trailer:

Watch on Netflix