‘Say Nothing’ Star Anthony Boyle Says He “Felt More Like Me” Playing IRA Solider Brendan Hughes Than Any Other Role

FX‘s new series Say Nothing exquisitely brings Patrick Radden Keefe’s complex bestseller about the Troubles in Northern Ireland to vivid life, thanks in huge part to the incredible performances of its stellar up-and-coming cast. Perhaps the most familiar face to historic drama nerds tuning in will be Anthony Boyle as fiery IRA lieutenant Brendan “The Dark” Hughes. The actor has hitherto drawn notice for his spectacular work on stage, originating the role of Scorpius Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and on shows like HBO‘s The Plot Against America and Apple TV+‘s Masters of the Air and Manhunt.

Say Nothing offered the Olivier-winning actor something unique in taking on a local legend from his native West Belfast: the chance to play the familiar.

**Spoilers for the first four episodes of Say Nothing, all nine episodes now streaming on Hulu**

When we first meet Brendan Hughes, he’s defiantly hurling a molotov cocktail at local Protestant forces. As Say Nothing unfolds, The Dark, Dark, or Darkie as he’s known, is established as the IRA’s most brilliant frontline fighter. When he’s not holding up banks to “liberate” funds for the Cause, he’s targeting random British soldiers or looking out for the well-being of his men.

Two pivotal moments for Brendan comes in Episodes 2 and 4. The final sequence in Say Nothing Episode 2 “The Land of Password, Wink, and Nod” finds Brendan’s identity exposed by a traitor, or “tout.” He is ambushed by British soldiers and nearly dies after crashing through a window and severing an artery. Having his back? The secret mastermind of the Provisional IRA: Gerry Adams (Josh Finan).

In Say Nothing Episode 4 “Tout,” Brendan is devastated to discover that the tout who ratted him out is none other than his long-time best friend Seamus Wright (Frank Blake). Worse still, Kevin McKee (Paddy Towers), a sweet 17-year-old boy who idolizes Dark, 007, and all sorts of spy craft, has also been unwittingly pulled in as a British informer. Brendan tries to find a way to save both men, but Gerry Adams ultimately orders their execution, arguing that they have to put the “Cause” above all. “The men are the fucking Cause!” is Brendon’s heartbreaking retort.

When Decider hopped on a call with Anthony Boyle earlier this week, we chatted with the 30-year-old Norther Irish actor about how playing someone idolized in his hometown ironically was the opposite of a challenge, how real-life bonds with the cast influenced Say Nothing‘s drama, and the status of his next big historic TV drama: Netflix’s House of Guinness.

DECIDER: I’ve seen the whole series. I reviewed it last week. I loved it. I do need to admit straight up top that your performance, this character, Brendan Hughes, awakened something deeply shanty Irish in me. Where I was like, “That’s a man. That’s what a man should be.” That’s how my father used to be, like standing up for his friends and putting himself on the line. So I’m curious, as someone who is from Belfast, what did you know about him growing up and was there anything that you kind of felt intimidated by taking on that kind of personality? 

ANTHONY BOYLE: Well, first off, I feel like I want to go for a pint with your father. He sounds like a legend. 

Yeah, I wish I could, too. He passed when I was a little girl, but, yeah.

What? I’m really sorry. My deepest condolences to you. He sounds like a real cool guy if that reminded you of him.

So like there’s murals of Brendan, I used to walk past the murals of Brendan going to school. On the Falls Road, there’s like murals and that there’s songs sang about him in bars. So he’s a real sort of like iconic figure. So I knew a lot about him. I had watched documentaries about him. I’ve heard stories about him. You know, this, it doesn’t really feel like history because people you would meet in bars were in jail with him. They were in the IRA with him. You know, it’s such a small community in West Belfast that, you know, your taxi driver. My taxi driver last week when I told him I was doing this, said, “Oh, I knew them.” Yeah, we chatted about it. So it’s just a very immediate history. It doesn’t really feel like history. It feels like something still tangible. So I knew quite a lot about him. 

Was there anything that you learned that surprised you in the process of playing him or inhabiting a version of him? 

It’s crazy. I mean, I don’t know. I sort of felt like… I knew quite a bit about him before we started, like I’d watched some docs and I sort of was aware of him as a human being. And I just loved playing him. In my head, like you said, that’s how a man should be. [Chuckling] I sort of felt like, “Oh, this is great.” I felt so relaxed playing him and it just felt like, it didn’t feel like much of a stretch. Like we’d be filming a scene where I’m in a bar and smoking a cigarette and then doing something and then like a week later, I would be in that bar in Belfast, the actual bar, smoking a cigarette, or having a drink. So it felt like the least acting I’ve ever had to do. It’s probably like a more honest performance than I’ve ever given. I wasn’t having to go like, “Okay, I’m playing this guy who grew up in the ’60s or I’m playing this American.” I just was like, “Okay, I walk the streets, I know who this is.” I’m acting opposite Lola, who I’ve known since I was 12 years old. There’s no sort of mental gymnastics or like real sort of emotional work that I need to do to make this believable. 

Yeah, I spoke to Lola last week, and they had mentioned that you guys grew up together. I had brought up to them that I felt early on there was some like really potent chemistry between the characters and I wasn’t sure if that is intentional. And they were like, “No, no, it just because we knew each other.” Did you sense any flirtatious edge between those two characters at any time, or was it strictly business for the cause? 

I don’t know if that was…I mean, maybe. I don’t know. It’s one of those things, isn’t it? Like when you know someone that long and, like, there’s so much history there, you know? Yeah. I don’t know. I don’t know. What did Lola say?

They said that the reason why I felt that was that you guys knew each other and that in that moment, that character sees Dolours for who she is and that you see them for who they are. 

Well, that’s a good answer, isn’t it? Let’s go with Lola’s answer. Because I’ll butcher it and say something wrong. Yeah. 

I want to talk about Episode 4 because that’s an incredible episode.  I keep thinking about the scene between Gerry Adams and Brendan when Brendan argues the men are the cause. That’s been something that’s been in my heart almost this last week with certain world events. What did you make of that debate and how does that affect the relationship between Gerry and Brendan? 

It’s funny you said about, you know, things like being in your heart. I watched Small Things Like These the last couple nights. Have you seen that?

I have not yet. 

It’s a Cillian Murphy movie. You should watch it. It’s just sort of haunted me. And I’ve been thinking of it and it’s been in my heart, thinking about it.

How did that affect me? I guess it’s the real sort of turning point in their relationship, isn’t it? It’s the real sort of turning point in the character’s relationship in  the story for Brandon and for Gerry, it’s this sort of moment of Brendan being all heart. It’s one of those weird ones that you. I never really think of any of them as like important scenes or like as any scene taking precedence over the other and then suddenly you’re doing it and suddenly it’s like the dialogue or the situation just moves you to such a place that it’s elevated. Suddenly you’re like…”What I was saying in that scene? I didn’t feel like I was acting.” Like I felt very connected to the material.

I played John Wilkes Booth and he’s a racist, and you’re trying to connect to the words and you’re “connected” to the words, but it’s like you don’t actually connect to it, you know? Whereas this was like, it just felt like both of our worldviews were in that scene. I just I felt more like me maybe than I had felt in any project I’ve done, really. That scene felt very emotional. You sort of sometimes you get these great moments where you forget you’re like acting. That was a great moment. 

I want to talk about Seamus Wright and Kevin McKee and what was it like working with Frank Blake and Paddy Towers. Because they are both very they’re playing very different sort of tones to the storyline. Kevin obviously thinks he’s in a spy thriller and Seamus realizes he’s going to his death and he’s barely alive. Could you just talk about the the camaraderie and just the characters themselves?

Well, me and Frank Blake are really good mates. We’ve been mates since we were like 24, 23? Seven years. Frank and I went on holiday together in Galway and Cong. We were like 25 and had like the most insane weekend of drunken debauchery. If you ever interview him, ask him about that. But yeah, it was great. Me and Frank, on our days off would go to the Falls Park and play hurling. It’s like an Irish sport with a ball and a stick. So like when those scenes came, it’s like working with Lola, when you have to like go, “Oh, I have to sacrifice this man’s life,” maybe all those times we’re spending with each other off set or like the actual love you have for him does somehow come into it, you know? And you do feel like a sense of thing.

And Paddy’s great. He’s such a great young actor. He was so brilliant on set. He’s from Edinburgh and he’s done a great Belfast accent. He was such a lad. He’s just so funny. He’s like a great fucking kid. I love those scenes. I love that episode, you know? Yeah, it was great working with them. I’m glad you singled them out and asked me about them. They’re just two fucking incredible actors and brilliant to work with. 

One of my favorite sequences for you in the show is end of Episode 2, the chase scene, in which you went through the window. I feel like I’m in that neighborhood running the streets with you. What was it like on the day? Did you do most of the stunts yourself?

What was it like on the day? I mean, yeah, you’re just like trying to get your heart rate up. You’re doing press ups or jumping up and down or whatever. And then, they’re like, “Action!” So it felt like I was doing like a fucking triathlon because  even when you’re not filming, you’re trying to keep your blood rate up and sweat and whatever. I did all the stunts. I didn’t jump through the window. Because some of those stunt guys were fucking insane and they love it. You know, I think they get paid each time they do a life threatening stunt. So they jump through the window, like, “Let’s go again! I’m ready!” You know, they love it. But I did all the rest of it and all the running and all that kind of thing.

That was a great day, you know? I remember Jack Myers, who’s chasing me, he plays the British guy in that scene. When we were at drama school in England, I was staying with his friends, a guy who lived with him called Mark Quinn, who is an actor. And I came in drunk and I ate all of his Shreddies, which is a cereal. And I had just never met him. But then we fell asleep on the sofa and he came in, and he’s got this amazing voice, and went, “Right, where’s my Shreddies?” [Laughing] I forgot that that had happened. And then we’re doing that scene and he jumps out of the van, and he’s like, “Right, where’s Brendan Hughes?” And I was like, “Oh my god.” It’s like this weird fucking memory from ten years ago. I was like nineteen. It hit me. I was like, “God, he’s going to kill me for his Shreddies.” Yeah, but he was great as well. He’s a brilliant actor, Jack. 

At the end of that episode, it seems like the apex of the brotherhood between Gerry and Brendan in that scene. What was it like working with Josh Finan? Building that relationship between the two leaders of the IRA?

He’s brilliant, man. I mean, like when they first told me it was going to be a not Irish lad playing Gerry Adams, I thought, “We’re doomed.” I was like, “This show’s going to go down like a sinking ship. It’s going to be awful.” Then, at the read through, he had done the voice for the first time, and my shoulders just relaxed. I was like, “Okay, we’re in good hands. This guy’s the real deal.” And he played him so well. He’s got Gerry’s sort of quiet charm and charisma really well. Gerry’s very, very clever, you know. I think he got that so well.  So yeah, it was great and it was good.

The camaraderie was great. Me and Josh became like best mates. Like I absolutely loved the man. It was great to work with him on this. He was great. What we tried to do was try and make the lads young and try and make them like mates. Like when I think about any lad that I’m friends with, the reason I’m mates with them is because they make me laugh. It’s through humor. We can look at this sort of and go, “Okay,  it’s very worldly because the things that are happening are very high stakes and scary.” But they’re  22 or 23. Let’s try where we can have a wee bit of craic just sort of grounded in an actual friendship so then the payoff on those scenes, like in Episode 4, actually mean a lot more. So it’s not just a military strategist pulling rank. It’s like a friend telling a friend.

Before I let you go, you have a marvelous mustache right now. You’ve got a great mustache in this show. You had one in Manhunt, which was shaved off as part of the plot. Are you becoming a mustache man? Is it something that you want to keep up in real life?

Meghan, I’m mustache only. You know how there’s some actors who are offer only, they don’t audition?  I am mustache only. If the character has a mustache, I will do it. I’m doing the Pringles guy next and I’m doing the Monopoly Man. Colonel Sanders. That’s all I’m going to do. No, this is for a role. I’m playing Arthur Guinness [in House of Guinness] and Steven Knight is doing it for Netflix. And it’s great craic. We’re in Manchester right now filming. I’ve got three weeks left and then I shaved the mustache and I’m doing a clean-shaven role for the first time in 20 years. Anthony Boyle will be clean-shaven. Get your tickets now! 

Yeah. Not since Plot Against America.

Yes, yes, since then! I’m looking forward to seeing my top lip again and hopefully looking ten years younger.

This interview has been edited and formatted for clarity.

All episodes of FX’s Say Nothing are now streaming on Hulu.