To coincide with the debut of the new
Inhumans trailer at
San Diego Comic-Con yesterday, much of the cast attended a panel for the show to discuss the finer details of the series.
Iwan Rheon, who portrays
Maximus in the series, admitted that he was nervous to take on the role out of fear of being typecast, as he initially felt the role might be a little too similar to his role as Ramsay Bolton on
Game of Thrones.
“My fear was I’d be doing the same thing again,” Rheon said.
“It’s that fear of being typecast and you just end up repeating yourself, but as we discussed it more and more, I realized that wasn’t at all what we were trying to create with the show.”
Rheon also revealed that Maximus is undergoing a big change for the series; unlike his comic counterpart, who possesses some deadly mental powers, the terrigenesis process will leave the character powerless and devoid of Inhuman genes.
“[He’s this] young man who went through terrigenesis and he became nothing,” Rheon explained.
“In this society, which is all about what power you have, he’s the lowest of low. The only reason he’s not working down in the mines is because he’s the brother of the king — even though he feels like he’d be a much better king — and he’s a man of the people.”
It's this feeling of existing in a lower class that causes Maximus to believe that things would be better under his rule, leading to tension with his brother and king of the Inhumans,
Black Bolt. Rheon maintains that while his character is an antagonist, he wouldn't refer to him as a villain.
“[We] try to show the side of him that he’s trying to genuinely change the world and try to help out the people who he believes are living in terrible conditions in the caste system. He believes his brother is not doing anything, so he believes he has to do something himself. He’s perhaps more of an antagonist than a villain. It’s just two opposing ideas. He’s a passionate politician who wants to change things for the better for the people — and maybe for himself."
“In a way, he’s a revolutionary and a forward thinker,” Rheon continued.
“He genuinely thinks he can change the world for the people. He’s ruthless. He believes that in order to make this happen, these are the things he has to do. He loves his family, they’re the only family he has, it’s a lonely world, but his belief in what he’s doing, he thinks it’s right. He’s just trying to stop suffering. The costs of the decisions that he makes really starts to corrupt him. It’s a very Shakespearean type of story.”
What do you make of the changes being made to Maximus? Let us know your thoughts in the usual place. Marvel's
Inhumans premieres in IMAX on
September 1, and everywhere else on
September 29.
The Inhumans, a race of superhumans with diverse and singularly unique powers, were first introduced in Marvel Comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1965. Since that time, they have grown in prominence and become some of the most popular and iconic characters in the Marvel Universe. “Marvel’s The Inhumans” will explore the never-before-told epic adventure of Black Bolt and the royal family.