Atomic, a five-part miniseries about uranium smuggling and a potential nuclear threat in North Africa and the Middle East, is now playing on JioHotstar. The series — whose first two episodes are now available, with weekly drops — stars Alfie Allen, Shazad Latif, and Samira Wiley in principal roles, and is inspired by William Langewiesche’s 2006 book, Atomic Bazaar.

Alfie — whose turn as the complex, troubled and tragic Theon Greyjoy in Game of Thrones remains one of his most impactful acts in what is also a strong filmography — plays a drug smuggler named Max who becomes unwillingly involved in a dangerous plot to traffic highly enriched uranium. He and an enigmatic outsider, JJ (Shazad), are pursued by intelligence agencies, including the CIA, led by Cassie Elliott (Samira). The series follows their chaotic journey of survival as they confront international cartels and covert operatives and are swept into a high-stakes mission with a looming nuclear threat. Over a recent video call, t2 caught up with Alfie Allen and Shazad Latif.

Given the huge potential of the source material, there must have been scores of reasons why you would have wanted to add Atomic to your filmography. Was there one primary reason for each of you that made you say ‘yes’?

Shazad Latif: For me, it would be the writing by Gregory Burke. And then, of course, was my character (JJ) and what I could do with it. That is always the first thing. I think it was a very interesting thing of how we would play the differences between us (JJ and Max). I love the scenes where these two guys are having a go at each other and you see their relationship develop.Alfie Allen: This series is essentially a two-hander and to have the opportunity to do that with anyone in any kind of story is always going to be exciting. Also for me, Gregory Burke being the writer was one of the primary reasons. He wrote a film called ’71 (in 2014), which I absolutely loved.

For Atomic, I did a three-month shoot in Morocco and I absolutely loved it. I didn’t know much about the DoP (director of photography) before we started, but as soon as I got to working with Azul Serra and his whole Brazilian team who had done other great projects, I knew that we were in good hands.

There must have been quite a few challenges while making this show. How does shooting in Morocco in peak summer stand on that list?

Alfie: Oh yeah, the sand and the sweat! But it is all a part of it because as an actor you are just going through what your character needs to go through... that is the experience in itself. You sort of have to get over the fact that you are sweating for like 10 hours a day (laughs) and get down to work. What made it easier was that the people on set were great. Also, as an actor, I always believe that if the environment is in favour of what we bring to the screen, I would be all for it. And we were actually in one costume throughout while shooting this!

The subject is, of course, topical at any point in time, but does it seem more relevant than ever in the world we are in now?

Alfie: I would say yes. Gregory wrote a really amazing script where these two anti-heroes are at the centre. It is a story of redemption and humanity and anything that has these themes at the core of it is extremely appropriate and relevant at any moment.Shazad: The book (Atomic Bazaar) was quite a long time ago. But as Alfie said, the world facing a threat like what we have in the series is always relevant. What is great to manage to do is turn it into entertainment, which is a real skill....

What did you do on building the equation that you share on screen? Did some special work go into that?

Alfie: Yes, it did at the start. And then the equation was constantly changing throughout, so it was hard to nail it down and say: ‘Okay, this is what we are doing.’ The idea was to be honest to what we had to do and just focus on it without making it seem too contrived. We had to make sure that Shazad and I were on the same wavelength and planning out things in the same kind of way and also making our thoughts known to each other.

For the two of us, it was doing our own prep, then doing the prep with the run and then we did stuff with the director (Shariff Korver) and then on the day of shoot, it was about letting magic happen.

This is a genre that the two of you have individually worked in before. How has working in Atomic enhanced your skills as an actor, especially in this genre?

Alfie: I had done a project before in Morocco which had big stunts, but it also involved 50 other people. So Atomic was actually pretty new for me. As I said, it is a two-hander and that felt very refreshing to me. Every new job that I get into, I like to leave anything else that has come before that and just focus on the latest thing as a totally new experience.Shazad: I also feel that is the best way to look at it. Every character is a new experience. But obviously any physical training that may have been done beforehand comes in handy as experience. Every little thing counts in this genre — whether you have worked with guns before or not, whether you have the muscle memory of being on a set where it is really all guns blazing all the time.

What aspects of JJ and Max did you relate to, respectively?

Shazad: The British humour that the show has. I feel that is also what helped with our chemistry on set. The jokey aspect of how they get along is what I could relate to.Alfie: I love driving and Max does a lot of it in Atomic. I enjoy being behind the wheel of any car and it was nice to be able to train for two weeks and also have a say in what kind of music should be played in the car (laughs).

Also, I love my music. Something that I do with every character that I play is make a playlist of what I think that particular character would listen to and also what defines that character. I look at what emotions and feelings I can get from that music and then apply it to the mindset of where the character is at that point in time.

Alfie, are you big on road trips? Doing one in India may be a little tenuous but also thrilling...

Alfie: I have always wanted to go to India! I want to go to Kerala and Udaipur. And I would really like to drive there if I can.Shazad: I shot The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015) in India. I loved it there....

My favourite action thriller film/ series involving two heroes is...Tell t2@abp.in