Key Points

'Atomic', a five-part miniseries about uranium smuggling and a potential nuclear threat in North Africa and the Middle East. The series stars Alfie Allen, Shazad Latif, and Samira Wiley in lead roles, and is inspired by William Langewiesche's 2006 book, Atomic Bazaar.

Allen has fun shooting for the series, and while filming the project, he develops a special bond with his co-star, Shazad, which grows stronger through their shared passion for football and watching the Euros during downtime in Morocco.

The 'Game of Thrones' star talked about being part of the series and discussed challenges while playing the role of Max, and shared his working experience with Shazad Latif.

Speaking to ANI, Alfie shared how it was to work with Shazad, "It was great. It was a real joy to work with everyone. We had an amazing DOP. We had an amazing director. For me, it was a real pleasure to work on Atomic. It was so fun..."

Born in London, Shazad Latif grew up in Tufnell Park, North London. His father was Javed Iqbal, a Pakistani. Shazad studied at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and performed in many stage productions.

Latif also spoke about his bond with Alfie, saying, " I really like the fact that Alfie likes football because we bonded on that. We watched a lot of football out there because it was the Euros when we were there...I just love Alfie."

Alfie plays a drug smuggler named Max who becomes unwillingly involved in a dangerous plot to traffic highly enriched uranium. He and an enigmatic outsider, JJ (Shazad), are pursued by intelligence agencies, including the CIA, led by Cassie Elliott (Samira). The series follows their chaotic journey of survival as they confront international cartels and covert operatives and are swept into a high-stakes mission with a looming nuclear threat.

On talking about playing Max and the kind of challenges he faced while portraying the character, Alfie shared, "It was a real joy to be able to kind of play Max. He has a positive outlook on things. He works as a driver for the Venezuelan cartel. And even though all these kinds of murky characters surround him in this kind of murky industry, he likes to distance himself from that, even though he does slightly glorify his existence within that kind of industry. He's also like, but I don't do all that kind of bad stuff. I'm just a driver. So ,in terms of me going over to Morocco and being able to spend two weeks doing lots of stunt driving, it was very fun. And it was, it was not a kind of pressure at all. It was actually something I enjoy in my own life."

Shazad also underwent a lot of training to play JJ in the series, as he mentioned, "I play JJ, who is a very complex character and has a traumatic past. Throughout the series, JJ and Max spend time in the car together. Max keeps poking him and keeps talking. And I'm(JJ) a very silent.. Max annoys him most of the time."

Latif shared that playing the character was challenging as it involved a "lot of physical training". "We did a lot of stunt training, boxing training, gun training. That was very fun to work with the stunt team."

Alfie's portrayal of the complex Theon Greyjoy in Game of Thrones remains one of his most striking performances. "I've got really fond memories from Game of Thrones. And now it's really nice to be able to do a show like 'Atomic'."

'Atomic' is now playing on JioHotstar.

- ANI