Shantaram, the new series starring Charlie Hunnam, will soon be here. Based on Gregory David Roberts’s bestselling novel of the same name, this series will follow convicted Australian bank robber and junkie Lin as he makes his way to Mumbai after escaping from an Australian jail. He meets and falls for a woman in India when he is on the run from his past and adjusting to life in a new country. Sooner or later, he’ll have to make a decision that will have dire repercussions for both his independence and his happiness in love. Hunnam recently discussed the “radically different” nature of the series and how he had to overcome personal barriers to portray Lin in an interview with EW. Fans went wild after Apple revealed the first look of the series, which featured the Sons of Anarchy actor riding a motorcycle, but Hunnam felt the image to be “cheeky.”
After saying that he rides a motorbike for “roughly two minutes” on the programme, he adds, “I hope people don’t get too excited thinking that this is some type of Sons of Anarchy in India because that’s not what we’re offering.” As an example, “the characters are so profoundly different” in Shantaram. Hunnam gained widespread acclaim for his role as Jax on Sons of Anarchy, a series created by Kurt Sutter and which ran for seven seasons before ending in 2014. Although the actor admits that he was “truly a kid” when he first started working on Sons, he is a “different person” today and Shantaram is his first regular series employment since then. Now that he’s far over the age of 40, he’s been reflecting on his life and career. “The job that I do is absolutely a part of that,” he said. He went on to say that he was glad he had taken the initiative to challenge himself for the new season since he felt better about it. “I’m apprehensive and simply extremely curious to see what the reaction will be; I’ve never worked as hard on anything as I have on this.” The actor describes the plot as “big, sweeping, passionately beautiful.”
Yet he was eager to learn more about “this clash between what I call the kingdom of God and the kingdom of riches.” To quote what he says, “Lin finds himself in India on this parallel path of spiritual discovery and getting pushed deeper into the worlds of organised crime.” Lin’s inner conflict between following a spiritual path and “growing through an organisation that’s ruthlessly commercial at the heart” is another factor that has piqued his interest in the venture. He does admit that Season 1 only skims the surface of the plot, but he continues: That will become far more important to the plot in the second season, should we be that fortunate. We place Lin in a universe where he experiences both of these things, but the decision between them and the resulting struggle doesn’t become clear to him until much later. On Apple TV+ on October 14, you may see the first three episodes of the new show Shantaram before it goes into weekly instalments.