Think Robin Hood, and you probably think of Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner or an animated fox in a hat and tights. Thanks to the new Amazon MGM+ of the same name, we've got a brand-new face to add to the roster... and he's absolutely brilliant.
Australian actor Jack Patten is the next in line to pick up the bow and arrow, having only starred in a single episode of NCIS: Sydney before taking on the lead role. It's this casting risk that makes Robin Hood such a good series to stream, with Patten holding his own against the likes of Sean Bean and Connie Nielsen.
Nurturing a sweet yet serious chemistry with fellow on-screen newbie Lauren McQueen, he's the perfect choice to redefine Robin Hood's origin story in a brand-new light. Yet when I spoke to Patten and creators Jonathan English and John Glenn, it's exactly the reason the 10-episode series struggled to get off the ground.
'It's difficult for studios and networks to support' unknown talent in lead roles, say Robin Hood creators
"It's a very difficult to make a show and to have a new actor in a lead role. That's a difficult thing for studios and networks to support," English tells me. "They like to have a well-known actor, artist in those lead roles, typically. But it was always part of our thinking.
"The best version of this show would be with somebody who the audience wasn't familiar with, because we're presenting a new Robin Hood, a Robin Hood that people don't know either. So the idea that he would be played by a new actor just obviously makes a lot of a lot more sense than if it's an actor that brings along a longer career."
While the same can be said for McQueen (who is equally as impressive), Patten ends up carrying the majority of the show on his shoulders, for obvious reasons. We've often been presented with a flatter, two-dimensional version of Robin Hood entrenched in the myths we all know, but Patten is able to flesh him out into a complicated young man with a lot on his plate.
"I'm still pinching myself. I kind of got it, then we shot it, and I was pinching myself all the way through that," he tells me. "It was just such an awesome, amazing experience, and it's coming out so quickly [after filming]. I don't know what to say... it's the best time of my life."
If anything, I think Robin Hood should be an example to more studios and streamers to take the risks on newcomers and give them the roles that could truly launch their career. I'm pretty sure Patten isn't going back to crime procedurals after this, put it that way.
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