You are my first-ever Zoom media interview,” laughed Orlando Bloom, rugged and rakish, as he and I sat across our screens. The 46-year-old actor, whose breakout act as Legolas in The Lord of the Rings film series catapulted him to A-list stardom, has big-ticket films like Troy, Black Hawk Down, Kingdom of Heaven and The Three Musketeers, among others, to his credit.

In Carnival Row, whose first season dropped in 2019, Bloom played a part human-part fairy (known as fae) detective who, in a fantasy world populated by mythological beings who must survive as oppressed refugees in human society, works to solve murders connected with them. Combining the intriguing genres of neo-noir and steampunk, Carnival Row now returns with its second and final season on Amazon Prime Video on February 17.

Before catching up with Orlando Bloom, earlier in the evening, TT also spoke to Cara Delevingne. The British model-actress, alongside Bloom, plays the central character of Vignette Stonemoss, a fae who is Philo’s former love. Vignette, now colluding with a group of fae ruffians known as the Black Raven, has to deal with her complicated feelings for Philo. Excerpts of our conversation with Bloom and Delevigne.

Orlando and Cara, what do you think captured the audience’s imagination so much in Season One of Carnival Row and brought in ample eyeballs?

Orlando Bloom: I think what we were building out in Season One was this remarkable world that was fantasy and yet very much grounded in reality. We were able to take this idea of things that were happening in the world at large but see them through the lens of fantasy and kind of make a comment on dystopian reality and how different people and races come together in a mixing pot... what happens to the condition of the character (Orlando’s Rycroft ‘Philo’ Philostrate) in the show.

I feel it was a very bold and a very unique take for a show and at the end, a lot of people loved Philo. I have had such a great time playing him. In fact, all the actors on the show have had some great characters that they have been able to flesh out, build through and develop into this unique world of Carnival Row.

Cara Delevingne: For me, it would be the mixture of everything. This is a show that has drama, romance, adventure, crime solving.... It takes viewers on a journey with so many different characters. And so much of what the show says is based on our current political drama in our own world.

Also, it’s shot incredibly! The characters are done so well and the prosthetics are astounding.... The prosthetics are some of the most incredible aspects because they were created for our show alone. The amount of green screen used has been minimal. To watch it come to life on screen... you feel that you are really there! I think Season One did a remarkable job of highlighting the fantastical origins of these characters, and also allowing the viewer to get to know them so well.

Orlando, you have been a big player in the fantasy genre, with The Lord of the Rings being at the top of the heap. How have you seen this genre evolve, especially over the last few years?

Orlando: One can explore the reality of the human condition, as I said, through the lens of fantasy. It gives expression to artistic creativity, character and costume and drama in a way that gives off a heightened genre feel. It can be really explosive and interesting for people to get lost in such a world. It’s sort of untamed (smiles) and untameable, which allows the imagination to kind of go anywhere. With the right kind of creators and writers, it has been successfully done so many times now. It’s a good place for the audience to just get lost in.

Cara, playing the same character in a familiar setting in the second season must offer a lot of comfort, but does it take away the excitement that you had playing Vignette in Season One?

Cara: : I don’t think there was any scope for that because something keeps happening on Carnival Row all the time! There is always so much happening! I have never been so stressed as I am on this show because I am either screaming and crying... or just dying! (Laughs)

There are so many parts of Vignette which are so pure and simple and there are reasons why she does things. As an actor, I like to make things grounded and real. So all the emotions that my character was going through in both seasons felt pretty much real to me.

Orlando, even though he operates in a fantastical world, are there any similarities between you and the man you play in Carnival Row?

Orlando: When you step into a character and play him for a while — like I have done for Philo — there are aspects of the character that bleed into the actor and vice-versa. I have loved playing Philo. His desire to do the right thing and still be flawed and unsure... it’s a messy life, and it’s relatable because life is messy for all of us.

Our social media pages may suggest that we are living our best lives and doing all fun things (smiles), but beneath it all, the internals are all exploding! (Laughs)

The characters on Carnival Row are all confused and conflicted by the environment and where they come from and so many other aspects that kind of affect the human psyche. In Season 2 particularly, one will get to see Philo, especially going into the finale, as a guy who is in a pressure cooker-like situation and how that affects his motivations and his actions.

You get to see a lot of his ‘shadow self’ (generally made up of the parts of ourselves we deem unacceptable). Jung (Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst) has spoken a lot about shadow self. There is a version of us that we present to the world and then there is the internal version that we battle with. I love that... I love the flawed nature of Philo who is flawed and yet has his innate need to do the right thing. There is something beautifully heroic about it, and yet tragically broken. That’s what for me made him so interesting to play.

Cara, what makes fantasy — with its sequels and prequels, origin stories and spinoffs — such a valued genre on film and TV today?

Cara: Fantasy provides people with an outlet to get out of their own worlds and to be transported into another world. The good thing is that we have the technology to be able to do that now. Fantasy allows us adults, both as an actor and a viewer, to lose yourself in your imagination no matter how old you get. It’s like the joy of reading a book, but here you are watching it.

Also, as said earlier, the most effective kind of fantasy needs to have strong roots in reality. In whichever world one operates in, we all care for the people we love and want to protect them.