“Taboo” star and executive producer Tom Hardy told the Television Critics Association press tour that he worked very hard to achieve the gait and physicality of his character.
“He’s a bristly pig,” Hardy said. “This is a man who horse rides so he’s bow-legged. This is a man who probably has very achy joints so he stomps about.”
“It’s a physical and sort of brutal terrain [in 1814 London],” he continued. “He doesn’t do a fair amount of mincing around the court…To throw up a direct flagrant, brazen disassociation with social etiquette was essential because he is the fly in the ointment.”
The series — which was created by Hardy, Steven Knight, and the actor’s father, Chips Hardy — is set in 1814 and follows James Keziah Delaney (Hardy), a man who has been to the ends of the earth and comes back irrevocably changed.
Long believed to be dead, he returns home to London from Africa to inherit what is left of his father’s shipping empire and rebuild a life for himself. But enemies are lurking in every dark corner. James must navigate increasingly complex situations in order to escape with his life.
The series debuted on Jan. 10 and opened to a solid 0.6 rating in the key adults 18-49 demographic and 1.8 million viewers, on par with other FX premieres.
“Taboo” airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on FX.