Prime Video’s great new action thriller show climbs to top of streaming charts

As the show earns rave reviews, JOE caught up with the Hollywood icon who stars in the series.

Created by Harry and Jack Williams (The Missing, The Tourist), the series stars Keeley Hawes (Bodyguard) as Julie, a retired and hilariously irascible assassin now living a quiet, secluded life on an idyllic Greek island.

As her estranged son, Edward (Freddie Highmore, The Good Doctor), visits her for a holiday, Julie finds herself pulled back to her former line of work with the promise of a massive payday.

The subsequent hit does not go according to plan, however, and soon after, Julie and Edward have a target on their backs. As a result, the pair must flee across Europe seeking refuge while also attempting to work out why someone wants them dead.

Alongside Hawes and Highmore, The Assassin also stars Hollywood icon Gina Gershon, best known for her roles in Bound, Face/Off, Killer Joe, P.S. I Love You and Showgirls.

In a scene-stealing turn, she plays Marie, an enigmatic woman with a love of graphic novels and manga, who is introduced in the opening scene of the second episode. Throughout the series' six episodes, we come to learn that she has a big part to play in what is happening to Julie and Edward.

JOE caught up with Gershon to talk about The Assassin and how the LA-born actress came to be involved in the British show shot entirely in Greece.

Our first question, though, was how she feels seeing the glowing response to the series. After all, it earned a perfect five-star review in The Guardian and has reached the top of JustWatch's weekly TV streaming charts for the UK and Ireland.

She tells us: "I've been in America. It's not playing there yet... I'm now in London. It's just nice to see adverts and people talking about it.

"I'm like: 'Yes!' Because I haven't been able to talk to anyone about it because it's just not out [in the States].

"I'm happy for everyone that it's being so well-received. It's so original and fresh. Those guys, Jack and Harry Williams, I really like what they do."

Gershon reveals to JOE that she had been looking for more work in Europe. She cites the culture and work opportunities in Europe as a factor, while also making allusions to the political situation in the US.

"It's tricky in America at the moment. It's good to get out for a while… Just out here [in Europe], everyone seems so much nicer than they do in the States.

"There's a certain civility and a kindness that we seem to be lacking a little bit more and more."

She adds: "I like being in Europe a lot... I want to work here more. I have a lot of friends out here in Europe. Two of my favourite stage directors I've worked with have been from London."

Gershon explains that after she had just gotten agents in London, The Assassin was the first script she received.

She also says that she signed up for the series after only being sent the first episode. This is despite her character not making an appearance in the pilot.

"They only gave me episode one because they were writing it as it was going along.

"Especially with my character, they kind of said: 'Okay, you're not in it at the beginning.' And I said: 'Wait, so who am I?'

However, she was hooked from the introductory episode.

"The first episode that they sent me, I just liked the way it's funny. I think it moves. It's fresh," she tells JOE.

"I just appreciate anything that's original these days, to be honest. I really gravitate towards something I haven't seen.

"Maybe it's the British humour or the way Jack and Harry write, because it's very serious stuff, but there's a very dry humour at the same time. It just seems smart to me."

Fans of Gershon might assume that the part of Marie was created with her mind. After all, she is cool, tough, dangerous, yet also alluring, like many of Gershon's most iconic characters.

This is only partially true, however. It turns out the initial plans for Marie were quite different, but that once the LA-born actress signed on, the writers redesigned the character with Gershon in mind.

She explains: "Originally it was supposed to be shooting in Australia. It had been trying to get going for a few years, and then they finally landed [in Greece].

"So, Marie was really kind of the last person [to be cast]. I think they were going to get someone local. But then my agent pitched me for this. And they were like: 'Would you do this?'

"I was excited. I thought: 'Oh great, I'm going to be able to pull out my English accent,' and… then they said: 'Well, we've kind of rewritten it a little bit.'"

Laughing, she adds: "I started reading it and I'm like: 'Oh, and she's from the Valley. Huh, did you read my IMDB?'

"So, I think they started writing it a little bit with me in mind... I think they were working it out as they went, so I don't know how much they changed.

"You'd have to ask them that. But it's nice, I'll pretend they wrote it for me especially. I don't think it's the case," she laughs again.

One of the most unique parts of Marie is her love of graphic novels, manga and drawing - an element that becomes more of a plot point as The Assassin nears its end.

When we ask why graphic novels hold so much significance for the character, she responds: "It's funny, I asked that same question. I didn't even know what Naruto was.

"So, really, to prepare for Marie, I just watched every single episode.

"She's had a little bit of brain damage. She was in a coma for so long. And she comes out of it, and that's how she processes the world. The way she paints, the way she draws and the way she tells stories.

"Obviously, she's a woman out for revenge… and so she almost can make sense of her life by writing her own story and then making it happen.

"I just think the whole manga stuff, Naruto and all that, it's hero-based. It's always like: they killed the parents or revenge for the brother.

"I think she's becoming the hero in her own story... That's how she processes and gets through with her life now, in her own little world.

"She lives in her own little world, that's for sure... It's interesting to play a character like that."

Gershon is also full of praise for The Assassin's stars Freddie Highmore and Keeley Hawes.

The series has multiple different plot threads set around the world that begin to converge as the show goes on.

On account of this, Gershon only appears onscreen opposite Hawes in the final episode, and she wishes she had gotten more time to work with the British acting heavyweight.

"I've been a fan of both [Freddie and Keeley] for a long time," she tells JOE. "Freddie, he's just a dreamboat. He's just so sweet.

"I wish I had more scenes with Keeley because I really did enjoy working with her. She's funny, kind and professional. So good, easy.

"It's always hard when you kind of pop in and pop out. It's hard to get a rhythm, but then by episode six, at least I had a couple of days in a row, which was nice."

While praising Harry and Jack Williams' writing, Gershon draws comparisons between The Assassin and the independent cinema that helped her make her name in Hollywood.

She says: "Anything that's fresh and original, I really appreciate... I was just in Los Angeles, and every poster and every billboard was a reboot from 15 or 20 years ago, and I thought: 'What is going on?'

"It's harder and harder for independent films, which is kind of what I was raised on, what I've always gravitated towards.

"You really find that in television now. These limited series, they are kind of like extended films."

The Assassin is streaming on Prime Video in the UK and Ireland now.