House of David tells the story of the ascent of the biblical figure, David, who eventually becomes the most renowned and celebrated king of Israel. The series follows the once-mighty King Saul as he falls victim to his pride when, at the direction of God, the prophet Samuel anoints an unlikely, outcast teenager as the new king.
As Saul loses his power over his kingdom, David finds himself on a journey to discover and fulfil his destiny, navigating love, loss, and violence in the court of the very man he’s destined to replace. As one leader falls, another must rise.
We recently got to speak with Samuel actor Stephen Lang (Avatar, Don't Breathe) about playing this historical figure, what drew him to the role, and how exploring House of David's Biblical mythology compared to the work he's done with filmmaker James Cameron.
The screen icon also tells us why he was excited to tick the "Biblical" box on his checklist and shares several fascinating insights into how he approached bringing Samuel to life.
You can watch the full interview with the screen icon in the player below.
You’ve been part of some hugely epic stories in your career, like Avatar, of course, but what was it that drew you to this one?
Well, I don’t know if you know this, but every actor has a mental checklist of genres that one has to be in. My Biblical box had gone unchecked for a long time, you know? I was waiting for the proper Biblical role for me to come along it seems to me. Who knows, if John the Baptist had come along first, maybe I’d be doing that, but I think I was fated to play a Nazarite. In any case, I was asked to do this and it’s a story with which I think we all have a certain familiarity. It’s a story that I’ve always had a lot of thoughts about, and mostly, so much of it had to do with Saul. I remember, even as a boy when we were being taught this story feeling an awful lot of pain for Saul.
I just never quite got it, so they asked me if I’d do the role and I had discussions with Jon Erwin and Jon Gunn, the producers and directors, and we had a long session together where I asked, I think, some good questions and hard questions and they gave really good answers. I came away from that meeting feeling that I was dealing with some very creative and open-minded good people. In fact, that did prove to be the case as we worked on it together. They gave me a tremendous amount of guidance but they also gave me a tremendous amount of latitude in finding the human being here, aside from the historical aura or legendary figure and the icon to really try to find the individual and the man there. That was a great pleasure to go on that particular journey.
Some of my favourite roles of yours are these very formidable, physical characters you’ve played, but Samuel’s words and the knowledge he has are two big places he draws strength. Was that something you were excited to explore here?
Yes, also age has a lot to do with it. Most of the characters who I play and, certainly as the older I get, the older the characters seem to get, but age has never been a primary issue. With Samuel, the age is very, very important to me. You’re talking about a man who is towards the twilight of what has been a very long and influential life among the tribes of Israel. He’s wielded authority for a long, long, long time. To portray the ageing patriarch is particularly…that was a bit of a new challenge for me, along with all the other challenges of basically having a one-on-one relationship with Yahweh, that’s challenging enough! That’s what drew me and just one of the things, aside from the fact it’s just such a marvellous story. It’s such a great yarn.
I mentioned Avatar before and, in that world, you’re working with a mythology James Cameron has created. Here, you’re working with a biblical mythology that’s thousands of years old - does that change your approach as an actor at all when it comes to how you approach your role in helping build this world?
It’s a very good question and it’s a question that perpetually is revolving in one’s brain as they work. What is your responsibility to history here? Well, I think we need to be clear, this is historical! In the fact that this happened. There was David, there was Saul, there was Samuel. This is history. What they are is events. They’re figures and events from 3000-plus years ago. And then what happens is that those events, they don’t mean a whole lot until they really begin to coalesce with legend, with speculation, with imagination, with belief and faith, with the stuff that people who are experiencing the story bring to the story and bring to the facts and events themselves.
So, I feel that we have a tremendous responsibility to tell the story and to be accurate to the spirit that is being spoken of and personified through this book of Samuel I and II. To really capture that spirit and that spirit has many aspects to it. Some of them are violent and raging and some of that spirit is incredibly benevolent and loving. To try to capture as much of that spirit as one can within that one, whether you’re the writer, the director, the actor, the art director, the costume designer, or the hair designer, you have a lot of freedom to imagine. You have imaginative freedom to tell this story.
House of David will be available on Prime Video on February 27.