Tales from The Early Years – Jenna: Who They?
My casting notes for The Dust Run and The Trial, as sent to producer Andrew Sewell on 3 August 2009.
Simon Guerrier
WARNING: These notes contain SPOILERS
MAX TOWNSEND
Present-day Max is in his late 20s, the same age as Jenna. Like her, he’s a spacer – he looks down on the backwards lot still living on planets.
When we first meet Max he’s in his teens. Unlike Jenna – who he’d never admit he adores – Max just isn’t a rebel. For all that, the spacer kids are a bit wayward and run around on their own, Max is as authority as they come. His late father was a war hero, and Max treasures the medals – and really needs a dad to sort him out. Like the lower-middle class product of a public school, he’s not posh but his life was mapped out in front of him from the moment he’s born. He’ll be an officer-pilot for the Federation – to him, its old-skool values and heroism, he probably sees it like Dan Dare. And then, when he’s too old to fly, he’ll be a lawyer, and help out the ordinary Joe. A worthy, respectable, useful life.
Except, for Max in his late 20s, it didn’t work out like that. He’s tougher, harder, more battle scarred. This guy’s seen some shit – and been responsible for it, too. His ambitions had to be paid for; and he paid with his soul. Compromises, betrayals, looking the other way – they’ve all taken their toll on him. He’s still charming, in a cold, aloof way. He’s used to getting his own way and doesn’t deal with embarrassment well. He maybe even thinks he’s still one of the good guys.
Max then and now is eager to please those in charge, and to prove himself. He desperately craves approval and is terrified of what people think of him. He wants Jenna to love him, to submit to him. But he wants his masters’ approval more.
NICK
Nick’s a bit of a mystery – Jenna’s not a reliable witness. But he’s older than her, in his early 40s, a charming, smooth professional criminal. Before, he must have preyed on Jenna – a pretty, young thing eager to prove her usefulness. And he must have then tossed her aside. He must have done that all the time.
Nick can handle himself. He’ll kill people when he needs to, even torture them first. Beneath the charm there’s something really very nasty.
He’s wary, he’s used to small, intimate jobs and keeps a low profile. And he’s got his own twisted set of values. He hates the system – sees his criminal life as playing some part in the battle against the Man. And he wants a way out; to retire, or at least to change the life he’s in. Jenna coming back is a chance to redeem himself – to her and in his own mind.
Clever casting director David Hall gets us Benedict Cumberbatch for Townsend and Stephen Lord as Nick. I couldn’t be happier. Hooray!
Tags: Blake's 7, Dust Run, Jenna, Simon Guerrier, Trial
