World War II was a time of heroes overcoming impossible odds to defeat the forces of evil, with the British SAS having many of the bravest soldiers of the era. The new World War II series Rogue Heroes, based on the book SAS Rogue Heroes by Ben Macintyre and now airing on Epix, takes viewers through the harrowing tale of a group of SAS soldiers on a mission in the Sahara desert.
In Rogue Heroes, the Special Air Service (SAS) are stationed deep in the Sahara desert, with David Sterling (Connor Swindells) among the unit’s forces. Under Sterling’s leadership, the SAS soldiers formulate a radical plan to take the fight to the Nazis. Jack O’Connell and Alfie Allen also join the cast of Rogue Heroes to bring the story to life as Paddy Mayne and Jock Lewes.
We speak to Jack O’Connell and Alfie Allen on the making of Rogue Heroes, and some of the big challenges the show overcame filming in the heat of the Sahara desert.
Jack O’Connell & Alfie Allen On Rogue Heroes
Screen Rant: How did each of you come aboard Rogue Heroes and what was the experience of the show like for each of you as a World War II period series?
Alfie Allen: For me, the process started with Tom Shankland calling me up and saying ‘Do you want to be in this?’, and I felt very lucky to. He talked about the character and his upbringing and about what kind of things he wanted me to bring to Jock, and that’s how I came on-board. And it was in times of COVID, so the prospect of being able to leave the country was something that was quite attractive. We were always going to go out to Morocco to shoot in the Sahara desert, so that was something that was hugely attractive to me. But then also, doing it with Steven Knight, playing a real-life character, these characters that were stopping the spread of fascism, so it’s a true honor. So, definitely that aspect was attractive, but then also, from a selfish aspect, just being able to play a real person when I could really getting real sorts of material for it.
Jack O’Connell: Yeah, for me, we were definitely in the middle of COVID at the time when this first came about for me. So, the idea of getting to work again was phenomenal. I’d have done anything, I think, at that stage, because at that point, all of us, we were just behind a wall. So, there was that, and then, obviously, it’s just a quality piece of writing about a phenomenal point in history, so it was a bit of a no-brainer, and I got to watch Tom’s work a little bit, and finally got to sit with him when COVID restrictions started to lifted. We had to sit in a park a couple of meters apart, and got to have this conversation about Paddy, and I just got on with Tom. That was the kind of entry point, I felt like I got on with him, I wanted to work with him, and then you sort of started to see it piece together. Were we supposed to go out to Morocco to begin with, Alfie?
Alfie Allen – We were, yeah. We switched around loads of times.
Jack O’Connell – Yeah, so it was all up in the air.
Screen Rant: How did that impact the making of the show in having to shift locations or things of that nature? Did that radically change the show, or was that something you were all able to really adapt to?
Alfie Allen: Well, I think it definitely is totally necessary in telling the story in shooting out in the Sahara desert. The aesthetics of shooting out there really lent a cinematic feel to it, so in terms of it being a kind of forced sense of method acting, it was totally appropriate, and it was a learning process for everyone involved. The locals who came onto the project while we were out there just thought we were absolutely off our rockers just shooting in those environments at that time of year, because it was just so hot. It was 53 Celsius, which is about 127 Fahrenheit. You slow roast food at that temperature, and it was hard at times, without a doubt, but then, giving us the sense of that small, small, tiny grain of what kind of horrific stuff they had to go through.
Screen Rant: In taking on a World War II era story, which you had done previously Alfie in JoJo Rabbit, what really stood out to each of you? What were some of the standout elements to each of you as far as what the show is capturing from that period?
Jack O’Connell: For me, there’s a level of ingenuity that you probably don’t get to appreciate unless you’re in some way involved. There was a guy who was in charge of the armory, and he’d be explaining to us what’s necessary to be in the SAS, and it’s not just stamina, physical fitness, endurance, what have you, but a knowledgeability of navigation and how to navigate a foreign landscape straightaway. I spent three months in a desert, and I was clueless where I was going every day.
Alfie Allen: We definitely had to adapt to our surroundings, and that’s something you have to do as a soldier.
Jack O’Connell: Yeah, so them elements there that wouldn’t necessarily be obvious straight away are definitely things that you discover along the way.
Screen Rant: Other than maybe the heat and the environmental experience of it, what was one of the most memorable or standout aspects of the making of Rogue Heroes for each of you?
Alfie Allen: In terms of the locations of which we got to shoot in, there’s a great shot of a location – I won’t give too much away – that holds an interesting function, this location. It’s in the middle of nowhere in the Moroccan desert, so to think that that was its function at one point, it was a prison at one point, just to think of it being out there and it looming on the horizon as you drove up to it was something I’ll never forget. And just being able to drive those vehicles every day was pretty incredible.
Jack O’Connell: Yeah, in the middle of nowhere, you might as well have been on Mars!
Rogue Heroes airs on EPIX on Sunday nights at 9 PM EST.
