RTE Kin star reveals secret behind-the-scene plan cast used to play perfect enemies ahead of hit show’s explosive return
CLARE Dunne has told how the stars of Kin took part in trust-building exercises — in a bid to play perfect enemies.
The star returns to Kin season two on Sunday night as the head of the Kinsella crime family.
Her character Amanda is set to take over from Aidan Gillen’s coke-snorting Frank.
The new season promises to be explosive, with the threat levels on the up after a new Turkish crime cartel arrives in Dublin.
Speaking about working with the show’s cast, Clare said: “We have to be close-knit, especially when we’re playing arch-enemies.
"You have to look into each other’s eyes, the whites of each other’s eyes, and really go to places like fights or squaring off to each other.
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“It’s actually quite vulnerable. In fact, in season two, we did a lot of trust-building work at the start because so much of it is intense.
“And so I think it’s always important to actually stay close to your enemies. Especially with material like this.”
Series one showed Amanda as a grieving mum masterminding the assassination of Eamon Cunningham (played by Ciaran Hinds) and deposing Frank, who appeared to overdose at the end of the show.
But series two will be about Amanda, the car dealer wife of Jimmy Kinsella (Emmett J Scanlan), trying to keep control of the warring family.
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Writer and executive producer, Peter McKenna, said: “A lot of work was done in the first season and it almost feels like an origin story for Amanda, how she came to be the crime boss.
“What season two does really well is build on season one. It just feels like a bigger, more exciting, more fast-paced, more epic story.”
And the Kilkenny man claims what makes RTE drama Kin so watchable is returning actors Clare, Emmett, Aidan, Sam Keeley and Maria Doyle Kennedy.
Having secured many of the cast during lockdown, the talented crew are back for season two.
'MORE DYSFUCTION'
Peter said: “I think the cast is probably the strongest thing about Kin. If you were to say what am I most proud of, I think the performances are really, really strong.”
Actress Maria, who plays aunt Birdy, promises that season two of Kin will see audiences gaining “a deeper understanding into how the Kinsellas work and don’t work together as a group of people, as a family, as a working unit”.
Maria said: “We see a lot more of the dysfunction. The seeds of where it all began, what patterns they’re repeating from their past.”
Actor Aidan also confirms how his character Frank Kinsella survives the overdose he suffered in the finale of season one.
He said of the upcoming series: “Frank is slightly removing himself from the proceedings, you know, mentally, and isn’t part of the decision-making process as much as he used to be.
“As far as commitment and dedication, well, that goes on a whole other trip this season.”
Kin returns to RTE One and RTE Player this Sunday at 9.30pm.
