Laura Haddock says the story for her character Max in the new CIA-themed show “The Recruit,” could have went one of three different ways.
The English actress is the co-star to Noah Centineo in Alexi Hawley’s highly anticipated action series, which follows a young CIA lawyer named Owen (Centineo), whose first week on the job becomes a dangerous adventure-filled mission when a former Russian asset threatens to expose her connection to the agency unless Owen helps clear her name.
Max, the Russian asset, is played by Haddock, who shared with TheWrap that she didn’t know about Max’s cliffhanger ending until she got the final scripts.
“Going into it, there were three different of versions of where we took Max,” Haddock said.
“Just consistently throughout filming we were talking about what felt right and had she played her last card,” she said. “Does she still have cards left? We were always having conversations around that. But ultimately, it’s only when you get the scripts that you know what actually happens. No spoilers, but it was only when I was handed the scripts that I knew how that story was panning out.”
When it came to nailing her Russian accent, Haddock said she worked with a dialect coach and an accent coach, and added that she was not only learning the Russian accent but the language as well.
“Honestly, I love working in accents,” Haddock said. “I’d actually prefer to work in an accent than not in an accent.”
“I started to surround myself with it, and listen to its lot and have it playing,” Haddock said, on how she prepared to play Max. “I knew that I wanted her to voice tone to be lower than mine, so I dropped her voice in tone. I’m quite like, sing-songy when I talk. My voice goes back and forth and up and down, I wanted Max’s to be quite consistent because I found that to be a pattern when I was listening to the Russian accent or Russian women speaking English with their accent.”
“The Recruit consists of eight episodes, all of which feature acronym-based titles that stand as CIA-like codes that viewers can try to decipher. The acronyms actually represent lines from their respective episodes, an Easter egg Haddock says she was completely unaware of.
“Oh, no! I totally missed that,” Haddock said. This is cool, though. I’m going to go and do those.”
“The Recruit” was created and executive produced by Hawley. It hit Netflix screens on Friday, Dec. 16.
Watch the trailer for the series below.