Eternals star Richard Madden spoke out about the complexities of his character, Ikaris, during a press conference for Chloe Zhao’s upcoming Marvel Studios film.
Richard Madden plays one of the leading characters in the star-studded cast of Eternals. His character, Ikaris, has power over flight, laser-eyes, and a tacticians mind, honed sharp through thousands years of experience. He also loves his fellow Eternals deeply, as he explained in the press conference interview.
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I really loved it {playing Ikaris in Eternals}. I’m kind of used to playing lovers often, and to play someone who is such a soldier but is completely driven by love, all his decisions are driven by love and it’s actually him that’s wrestling with that. I’m used to characters who are very focused on their love, and that comes out, and with Ikaris, it’s the opposite of that.
He’s kind of trying to bury that love, because it gets in the way of his duty. He’s constantly wrestling the two, and that’s kind of what made it really interesting to me. To pull out that relationship with all the characters, from Sprite to Sersi and kind of work out what this relationship is, when you’re trying to stick to duty but your feelings get in the way It’s this kind of, eternal soldier, wrestling with that.
-Richard Madden, star of Eternals
Richard Madden is best known for his work on projects such as Game Of Thrones, Cinderella, and Bodyguard. While Salma Hayek’s character, Ajak, happens to be the de-facto leader of the superteam, Ikaris can be seen as the team’s combat leader. As one of the more physically powerful and strategically minded Eternals, his duty has always been to protect and fight for his family of Immortals, and to protect mankind from The Deviants. Ikaris has often served as the audience’s viewpoint into The Eternals’ world in the source material, so you can expect to see him in a sizable chunk of the runtime despite the massive ensemble cast.
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Sersi is historically one of the more popular characters in the comic books, appearing in twice as many stories as her teammate Makkari. A longstanding membership with The Avengers alongside Dane Whitman, AKA The Black Knight exposed Sersi to a wider audience. In my opinion, she may be the most likely member of The Eternals to someday join The Avengers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. A love-triangle between Ikaris, Sersi and Dane Whitman has long been rumored for this project. Madden specifically mentions Sersi, when talking about how love divides Ikaris’ loyalties, lending credence to those rumors.
ETERNALS: GEMMA CHAN DESCRIBES SERSI AS AN EMPATHETIC FREE SPIRIT WITH “A REAL AFFINITY FOR HUMANKIND”
Gemma Chan, who plays Sersi in the upcoming film explained how Sersi’s love in the film differs from Ikaris’ perspective.
Sersi is a superhero, but her powers are not the most obvious or the flashiest, she’s not the best fighter. What she does have is empathy, and a real affinity for humankind and the Earth. She’s a free spirit, and I loved that. That was one of the enjoyable parts about the film, was going on that journey with that character. It’s kind of a coming-of-age, even though she’s thousands of years old. She learns to trust herself and to grow into her own power really, and that was a really interesting thing to explore.
Gemma Chan, star of Eternals
Sersi deeply loves the people of Earth, and the very planet itself. Compared to Ikaris, it seems as though Sersi is much more at peace with her feelings of compassion and care. Perhaps her love for humankind sparks a relationship with Kit Harrington’s Dane Whitman, igniting the same emotional turmoil Madden previously described. Gemma Chan’s new superhero sounds like she could be one of the emotional cores of Eternals. If executed properly, this could quickly turn “Sersi” into a household name.
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With only a few short weeks until release, Eternals fans can rest easy knowing the wait is almost over. Richard Madden and Gemma Chan both sound deeply passionate about the upcoming MCU project, a sentiment which seems to be shared by the entire cast and crew. Whether or not a love triangle between Dane, Sersi and Ikaris ultimately comes to fruition remains to be seen, but these quotes seem to point that direction.
Eternals is directed by Chloe Zhao, and stars Salma Hayek as Ajak, Gemma Chan as Sersi, Richard Madden as Ikaris, Kit Harrington as Dane Whitman, Bryan Tyree Henry as Phastos, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Angelina Jolie as Thena, Barry Keoghan as Druig, Lia McHugh as Sprite, Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, and Don Lee as Gilgamesh.
What did you think of Richard Madden’s comments on Ikaris? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or on our social media!
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