Netflix’s Adolescence has quickly claimed its spot as one of the year’s must-watch series, earning praise for its gripping story and powerful performances. Starring Stephen Graham, Ashley Walters, and Owen Cooper, the intense drama follows a 13-year-old boy accused of murdering a classmate, and it’s had viewers hooked.
Surprisingly, the series almost took a very different turn. One of the show’s key actors, Ashley Walters, nearly walked away from the project. Here is what happened!
Ashley Walters almost missed out on Adolescence, and this is why!
Ashley Walters, known for his roles in Top Boy, Missing You, and now Adolescence, faced some serious challenges while filming the hit Netflix series, and at one point, he almost quit.
Walters, who plays DI Luke Bascombe in the hit Netflix series, revealed that a back injury nearly forced him to walk away from the project. In the show’s premiere in London (via The Mirror), he revealed,
And I turned up to set with a bad back, by the way. My back had gone. I’d just been playing basketball with my daughter before I got on the train and my back was completely gone. I suffer with sciatica
The pain stemmed from a game of basketball with his daughter, which aggravated his sciatica, which was already pre-existing. He thus revealed that his involvement in the series was nearly called off.
He recalled his challenging first day on the set of Adolescence, admitting things didn’t exactly start smoothly. When Walters arrived on set, moving stiffly and awkwardly. His discomfort was so obvious that producer Jo Johnson and executive producer Hannah Walters couldn’t help but react with shock
It was a double-edged sword for Walters, he’d regret saying no, but boy did he regret saying yes!
But that was just the physical battle. While a good chiropractor (and thank god for that chiropractor) helped ease his back pain, Walters soon faced an even tougher challenge, the show’s demanding one-take format left him overwhelmed.
Walters admitted he often ended his days crying into his script, confessing,
When I got there… I f***ing regretted it. Every day, Phil [Barantini, director] will tell you, I was in tears! Every day I was going home, crying in my script. Rocking, you know. It was the hardest thing in the world. No, no it was. I was so insecure. I was so insecure, and it’s a lot. I had to learn the whole script.
And I had a lot to say in that first episode. And you’re leading a lot of it, as well. A lot of it is police jargon and whatever.
Thank goodness Ashley Walters stuck it out, and fans cannot be thankful enough. His performance in Adolescence is nothing short of outstanding, bringing raw emotion and depth to his role. It’s hard to imagine the series having the same impact without him, and his dedication clearly paid off.
Adolescence is streaming on Netflix.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
