Interview with Zach McGowan: Humans, Superheroes and Lions




I’ve spoken with a lot of fellow “Black Sails” fans, throughout the years, and they all have one thing in common: Charles Vane is a hero.

In a show where the lines between bad and good guys are blurred, it’s hard to tell who is the knight in (well) shining warship and who’s just straight up bad, and the Ranger’s captain went from declared enemy to ally to friend, ending up being one of the best, and most loved, characters of the show.
Quite the same goes for the Grounder Prince Roan, one of the major characters in the third and fourth seasons of The CW show “The 100,” although we first see him antagonizing the protagonist, Clarke Griffin. Then, he’ll get closer and closer to many other characters, from his guard Echo to the Sky People.

Now, powerful characters need powerful actors to play them, and Zach McGowan certainly knows how to take a character and turn him into something as close as possible to a relatable, three-dimensional, real human being. 


From “Shameless” to “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D” and the movie “Dracula Untold,” alongside Luke Evans, Zach has shown the audience how deep characterization, fascinating acting and breath-taking action can go side by side. Be it on a post-nuclear-bombing North America or in the New Providence island, where rivers of Grog meet oceans of Blue, or as the legendary Scorpion King, Zach managed to create characters we loved and cried for. We had the pleasure to meet him in Los Angeles, to discuss with him his past works and his many upcoming projects, plus the things he would like to do in the future. 

So, whether you’re still waiting for Jody Silverman to be back on “Shameless,” if your cheered for Charles until the last moment (we sure did) or if you’re waiting for the upcoming release of “The Scorpion King- Book of Souls,” here’s the interview you definitely can’t miss.


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Let’s start with an easy one; what made you want to become an actor?
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When I was a kid, I started acting pretty early on, doing plays at school and so on. I think it was always a part of the things that I enjoyed. Basically, in school, I really liked gym and the acting class. There were some other things that I enjoyed, but those two were what I really looked forward to. I always wanted to be either an actor, a professional athlete or even a professional soldier – there was a time I wanted to do that. I always wanted to do acting. What made me want to do it? I guess my love for it.

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Talking about “Shameless,” in your opinion, Jody’s “happy family” with Karen will ever be back from Arizona?
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I think that Zach, the actor, will always love to reprise that role. So, in my opinion, there are a lot of ways of coming back from Arizona with the happy family, why not?! I share everyone’s desire to do that.

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So, you are still following the show then, and who’s your favorite character?
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Yes, I still watch it!
I watch it, just the same, whether I’m in or off. Carl has always been a really interesting character. I mean, I watched Ethan [Cutkosky] growing up on the show. And also the kids: the younger ones are the most interesting, and I would say, Debbie. I’ve just had the chance to do a movie again with Emma [Kenney], and there is something cool about just watching their arks in the show and also watching their arks in real life.

“So, in my opinion, there are a lot of ways
of coming back from Arizona
with the happy family,
why not?!”

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About “Black Sails,” how did you prepare to portray Charles Vane?
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I think the preparation for any role goes deep into one’s history of prepping one’s life. But specifically for that role, obviously there was a lot of physical workouts and all that kind of stuff. But, for the essence of the character, vocally I’ve had work on that accent years earlier doing voice-over work, so that was kind my main preparation of it, and then just trying. The biggest thing that I’ve learned about it is that there’s no personal experience that you are going to have that it’s going to make you be able to play a pirate, so-to-speak. So I found that the best examples for me and the best preparation for me was more in the animal kingdom. I love animal work, it’s like an acting thing that people do, but with Charles specifically, it was very important to have a lion to follow back on. That’s been mostly my preparation, basically playing a lion most of the time.

He acts actually like a lion; he’s very unpredictable, you never know what he is going to do next. And the voice is just amazing.


I can’t believe they paid me to do that!

“With Charles specifically, it was very important to have a lion to follow back on.”

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Trough the seasons, how did you approach Charles’s changes? Because, character-wise, he changes a lot.
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It’s funny. When I got hired, everyone was like, “Oh, you are the bad guy,” that was what everyone was telling me. Then I read the script, and I’d be like, “that’s not so bad.” I mean: someone tries to kill him, so he kills them. That’s not the worst thing in the world, considering the world that we were working in. So, over the course of the seasons my preparation changed in that, I became more rightly just believing that he was like the only force of good around.
He never really lies to anyone, he never double-crosses anyone. He does exactly what he says it’s going to do, every single time. And he puts his life in danger every time to do it. He is basically like the first responder of Nassau.

He literally puts himself in the fort and says, “ok, I’m staying.”

Exactly. So in that way he evolved, I think, kind of organically and maybe even kind of surprisingly.

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For the audience, it was quite a surprise because you’d never say that the Charles Vane of season one could become almost another character.
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I found it funny too. I was saying recently to someone, that in season 1, Episode 3, everyone is kind of misbehaving, that’s when there is Flint’s crew and the Walrus and the Ranger who are trying to work together, and they are trying to figure out the terms of the agreement. Everyone is just acting like a child, except for him actually. And he even says it, “Can you believe I am the only one behaving myself?” 

Sometimes it’s easy to judge someone by his voice, how is someone looking, and all kinds of thing about them, but the truth that matters speaks a lot louder than the words, and that’s what I think represents him.

“So in that way he evolved, I think, kind of organically and maybe even kind of surprisingly.”

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What was the most challenging moment in portraying him?
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I guess the most challenging moment was that one, trying to make that term. 

Essentially, you meet Charles, and the first thing he’s doing is overseeing the killing of an old black man, and then the second time you see him, Eleanor punches him in the face, and he punches her right back and helps her up. The third time you see him, he is pretty rough with her, but he says what he means with her. And then, the next episode, he kills a guy out of nowhere in the rocks, although he is guarding their pearls that night.

He does all of these terrible things, so, I think the trick was to somehow justify them in a way that a modern audience can understand, even though it’s such a different world from the one we live in. So, while in this world we would never necessarily forgive someone for stabbing someone at the beach and burying them and call him innocent, in that world, somehow, it’s justified. I guess that the most challenging moment was pulling that trick of justifying the things that these people have to do. And it was consistent throughout the show, just really always humanizing them, regardless of how insane their lives were; they were just simply people trying to do their best.

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How was the mood on set?
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The mood on set was fantastic. Everyone immediately understood that we had something special that we were working on and that we were all lucky to be there and to be part of something that was so artistically grandioso. Sometimes, in filmmaking and entertainment industry, you are working because you are working and it’s just a job, but sometimes you are doing all those things, and you are like “wow, this is amazing.” 

Everyone thought it was amazing. One thing you can’t buy in the world is passion and, either people have a passion for something, or they don’t. And everyone had a passion for it, the mood was “what do we need to do to make this thing perfect?” and everyone did whatever they could to do that.

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And what about the plot twist around your character at the end of season 3?
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That’s the price of telling a good story. It’s the difference between a show that will last forever and the show that tells you stories. The show that lasts forever eventually takes too many creative liberties. Even earlier than season 3, I said, “how many times is this guy going to walk into certain death and survive, and we are still going to pretend of telling a real story?” 
These days it’s like “you have your superhero,” but those are actually superheroes. I mean, Superman can’t die, they try to pretend he can die. Charles is just a man: he is just a human.

“Charles is just a man: he is just a human.”

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Moving to “The 100” and King Roan: how was your first impression of him?
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In reality, even though you’d talk to a show-runner about what is going to happen, most of the time you see what happens to your character episode by episode, the same way the audience does, you do it earlier because you have to shoot it. Earlier on, he’s introduced hunting the lead of the show [Clarke Griffin], and he eventually finds her and drags her around, and she is tied up… it’s kind of a crazy experience. 
I think, once again, my thought early on was: “Wow, I’m going to have a lot of work to do to humanize him.” Shit! Introduce me beating the shit out of the lead, let’s see if I can get her to like me now!

And that was my joke! I was like “Eliza, do you want to do another scene or just I drag you across the mountain while you are tied up?”

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You are also good friends with Bob Morley and the rest of the cast, so how was the mood on set?
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Oh, it was great. I became friends with everyone I work with there, from Eliza to Tasya. Tasya and I have been working together in the last season, in season 4, for like forever. And with Eliza, I feel like that lot of the seasons we did together is just kind of her and me hammering out whatever deal needs to be made to stop a war. We became very friendly and close. To this day I do a lot of conventions with them, I was just actually ad Wondercon with the cast, two weeks ago. I’m the only one that has a pool in LA, so every time they are in LA they are all like “can we go swimming?”

“I’m the only one that has a pool in LA, so every time they are in LA they are all like ‘can we go swimming?’”

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What was the funniest moment of filming?
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When you are acting with friends of yours or people you have a history with, sometimes you have to face off and have this moment of “I’m gonna kill you” or “you wanna kill me,” but we just want to grab a beer. Some of those moments were pretty funny. And actually, we were at a convention recently, and someone wanted a photo of Bob and me staring at each other, and we were laughing because we couldn’t keep a straight face. We were trying our tough faces, we needed one of us to believe in each other’s bullshit!

I don’t know if you played sports, but I did. And there is always that player on the other team, who is the person who is like you. You always knew that guy, but you didn’t really know him because you wouldn’t talk, but you follow his steps. Mine and Bob’s characters have that rivalry, and eventually, we teamed up, I think that’s not that far off.  
Bob and I are arm-wrestling each other all the time.

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Shows like “The 100” and “Black Sails” air on Netflix or Starz; how do you think streaming platforms are changing the industry?
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Obviously business wise it changes a lot of things. As far as [what] I do, it doesn’t really change what I do because it doesn’t matter who is hiring me, I’m going to be an actor for Netflix or being an actor for Warner Brothers. It’s not going to affect necessarily my thing, in other than maybe the fact that it’s creating more shows and so more work and more opportunities, if anything for me. But in general we’re moving towards more long-form story-telling, so you get more stories and more characters-driven things than you got in the past. So maybe it has done that to the industry. Whatever year, there are just more television shows. So, good, there’s even more. However, the downside of that is that you can do the most amazing thing, but not everyone sees it.

“Black Sails” is a good example. It stopped airing over a year ago, and I haven’t shot on it in 2016, or maybe 2015. But it grows online, people are finding it online more and more but at the same time, if it had been like a show twenty years ago, one of the only ten shows, then everyone would have seen it when it came out.

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What makes you say “Yes, I want to do a character,” when you read the script?
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In reality, I am a character actor: I play different characters. When I read something that screams to me, as I’m reading it, I start literally reading it in like another character. And when that happens, it’s when I know I can play it. I don’t really know how that happens exactly, but it just happens, and then I’m like “All right, that’s who this person is” and sometimes that goes with what someone else has already decided that that person is, and sometimes it doesn’t. 
Sometimes that’s good, and I get the job, sometimes people are like “what the hell did you in there?” And I’d say “I did my thing, you know.”

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You have so many upcoming projects, like “The Scorpion King – Book of Souls” what can you unveil about it?
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Yes, I have a couple of things coming up.
I have “The Scorpion King” which I’ve just finished shooting, just before the new year. What can I reveal about that? It was awesome. Being the lead in an action movie is always awesome because there is nothing more fun than that. And that, in particular, was pretty fun because it was the first time I got given a little bit of, not necessarily, superpowers. “The Scorpion King” is more than just a man. Charles Vane was just a man who did extraordinary things. “The Scorpion King” is a man who does extraordinary things, but he is also an extraordinary man who’s got other stuff going for. So in that way, what I can unveil, is the closest I have ever been to a superhero.
It was very very fun. I’m basically riding a horse for almost the entire movie, it’s like a huge horse movie adventure, kind epic-quest, it’s a quest. I worked closely with a South African actress named Pearl Thusi, who is just fantastic. I didn’t know her work beforehand, and I knew we were going to have to go on this quest together, she did an amazing job.
What else can I reveal about it? Oh, I am going to do the DVD commentary, you know they do like the director commentary. Oh, and actually, another thing I can reveal: there are not so many visual effects in it, we did a lot of really cool practical stunts and awesome stuff. We were shooting in South Africa, and there was the “Black Sails” crew who was shooting it, so the joke was that is was “Black Sails” season five and Charles Vane gets to survive. So what can I reveal is: watch “The Scorpion King” to see “Black Sails” season 5!

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What would you say to your characters in “Black Sails” and in “The 100,” if you had the chance to talk to them?
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I’d be like, “Charles, I’m not worthy, I love you. I’m a kind of fanboy, Charles.”
And then I’d be like, “Roan, next time bring an umbrella!”

“Roan, next time bring an umbrella!”

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What was your favorite character on “Black Sails” and on “The 100”?
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Listen, obviously I love Charles. To be honest, though, on “Black Sails” I really loved Jack Rackham both on-screen and off-screen. Toby [Schmitz] is just really a great actor and amazing friend. And I think that all storylines and their connection to each other are an extension of that in many ways. What I loved is what his character represents, and that on the show it’s represented in the queerest way through his character: there this crazy world that we are presenting in “Black Sails” where every character has their own way of surviving and dealing with it. They have their own tactics and ways, and I think that you really see that with Jack. Jack has his own way of doing things. I love him, so it would probably be my favorite. Basically, all the members of the Ranger crew! Anne Bonny is pretty awesome too.

In “The 100” I really love Murphy, I really love Richard Harmon’s character, there’s something about him, there is just a honesty to his character that I love. Probably that would be the person I’d pick if I was going to be “who is the coolest around?” 

Also, Richard looks cool, too.

“I really love Richard Harmon’s character, there’s something about him, there is just a honesty to his character that I love.”

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What’s the last series you binge-watched?
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The last series I’ve binge-watched was “Narcos.” Every time a season of that came up I just devoured in one session of epic viewing. It’s really a fantastic show! I’d love to be part of it: I wanna be a narco, and speak a little Spanish.


Do you speak Spanish?


No, I don’t speak any Spanish. I speak as much Spanish as Charles Vane – four pages dialogue, that’s how much.

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What’s your must-have on set?
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There is a bunch of stuff, but it depends on what I’m doing. When I’m doing stunts and action movies, for instance, “The Scorpion King” and “Death Race,” I really need Coca-Cola.
Not the Diet one, I need cold Coca-Cola classic: I can get through any crazy action sequence if at the end of it I can have Coca-Cola. The original energy drink and it works for me!

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Your favorite Instagram account?
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Definitely Cookslams. Although I also like watching a bunch of this grill master, I really love cooking meat, but Cookslams…I don’t know if you know it, but it’s people getting slammed surfing and getting destroyed by waves and other situation with involving water generally. It’s endless hours of humor, and you basically laugh at other people getting hurt, and you feel fucked up about that a little bit, but it’s mostly people who try to get into the water in conditions that they have no business in getting into the water. It’s kind of reminding you don’t get into the water when you can’t handle those conditions.

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You did a show in the past and one in the future, what other historical periods would you like to act in?
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I’ve got to do a lot of periods already, but I think what I haven’t done and what I’d love to do is like Greek mythology. It’s where all stories come from in some ways, it’s the oldest place, and these stories that have been regurgitated in thousands of different ways in different cultures. I think there are just really amazing tales and stories from that period. That would be awesome! And also, we could use my skills set.

In “The 100” I got to fight with a shield in the last scene, just for a little bit, and I realized that I’m fighting completely in the wrong way, you should definitely have a shield, it’s much better!



“It’s kind of reminding you don’t get into the water when you can’t handle those conditions.“

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Have you ever thought about directing or writing?
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I’ve written a little bit, and I would like to direct maybe one day, but right now it’s hard to have time to do both, also I have kids. But I’d love to if given the opportunity… probably to a couple of episodes of a TV shows that I’m on at some point – this is generally how actors come to do it.

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What’s your dream project?
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I would love to get one of these superhero roles because I think I can do a lot with a number of them. The superheroes roles are going around Hollywood and people become, all of a sudden, superheroes these days. My dream in that would be, obviously, to do “The Wolverine”: I would love to play the Wolverine, I think I’ve had a lot to offer for that. But that’s a pipe dream, and I don’t know if they are ever going to do that again. There are a lot of other cool projects that I would love to get involved with.

Then other dream projects, there are so many dreams when you can really break down as an actor, but those are the easy-go-to. I could talk for hours about all the amazing things I’d love to do, how I’d love to play this person and that person, but in reality, the dream is to keep doing it and having fun playing different people, because it’s not so much fun being me!

Photos and Video by Johnny Carrano.