Read that interview below, and check out the episodes full recaphere.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: In this episode, we met the chemist Cholmondeley, played by Tom Hollander.
He is the arrival of Science.
Credit: FX
Things are gonna change.
Hes not straitlaced, hes not formal, hes not an academic.
Thats exactly how I see [science].
There are all sorts of possibilities and reactions and explosions.
Thats exactly how he is.
Hes got all of that chemical reaction happening inside his body.
He becomes a natural ally for James.
Hollander brings such a sense of chaos to the character.
I did tailor it to be him.
He does have that sort of controlled chaos about his performance.
But also, hes based on people who did that for a living.
They would put on magic shows, effectively, but what they were doing was early science.
Its that mixture of the supernatural and chemical compounds.
On the topic of the supernatural, there was a sequence in this episode cutting between James and Zilpha.
Their reality was much more haunted.
They would believe that they had been bewitchedproperlybelieve it.
Its not like it would be a joke, or someone would think its a symptom of insanity.
This is very much James Delaneys world, and some of it, we see through his eyes.
When he sees supernatural things happening, maybe its just him imagining it.
In the reality ofTaboo, thats also real.
His connection with Zilpha is real because she buys into it as real.
Some people have said that it represents an African voodoo thing.
Its sort of the opposite of that.
Its a very European superstition that was prevalent at the time.
People were still being burned as witches.
All of that stuff was very current.
A lesser actor would do that in a very bad way!
[Laughs] But [Tom Hardy] feels all of that.
You get that sense straight away from what hes doing.
As ever, its something you could dismiss as supernatural.
But also, its a horse smelling something.
Horses do sense things way before people.
What were your intentions around staging that sequence?There are a couple of things going on.
Its based on parties that happened, and things that were around the Prince Regent.
Any party that he ever threw was just insane.
You read about it and you say, I could not possibly write that because nobody would believe it!
Its too insane, too violent, too weird.
Thats exactly what happens in London.
James arrives and everyone says hes insane.
It was not unusual to have all these wild sexual orgies happening.
You had this great big stew of vices and the aristocracy wanting new ways to entertain each other.
Into that, you throw Delaney, and in the end, hes the only sane person there.
Hes got the plans, and he knows where hes heading.
In episode 4, Lorna says that James is assembling his League of the Damned.
Tabooairs Tuesdays at 10 p.m.
