Interview: Calahan Skogman
“For the past year and a half, I kind of felt like I’m always just floating a little bit above the ground. It’s super bizarre.”
Calahan Skogman is describing what it feels like to successfully put out a TV show in the midst of a global pandemic. Shadow and Bone, in which Skogman stars in as fan-favorite character Matthias Helvar, was released on Netflix on April 23, 2021. First announced in Janaury 2019 to massive fanfare from devotees of the beloved book series it is based on by author Leigh Bardugo, the show managed to steadily drum up anticipation from fans, who awaited updates on the show with bated breath for a little over two years before it was unleashed onto audiences earlier this year. Upon its arrival on the streamer, where it spent almost two weeks as the #1 TV show worldwide, the show was met with almost unanimous acclaim from both critics and fans alike (it currently has an 87% and 90% crticial and audience approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes respectively).
“It’s been great, man,” says Skogman of the positive reception to the show. “It’s been unbelievable. The people that are working on it, the writers and directors, the crew, everyone, they’re all so genuine and kindhearted. They’re passionate and they take care of one another in a real, uniquely genuine sense. You want the show to be successful for them. You’re not even thinking of yourself. It was so cool to see the show come on and be successful for Freddy [Carter], Kit [Young], Amita [Suman], Archie [Renaux], Jessie [Mei Li] and everybody. They’re going to be stars.”
With an absence of red carpet events and face-to-face press tours, has any of the reception actually felt real outside of the internet and an online setting? For Skogman, who has only been in a number of short films prior to Shadow and Bone and is very much wading through uncharted waters, the answer isn’t so simple. “This is the first time I’ve ever been a part of anything like this. I’ve never done [any events or press tours] personally,” he elaborates. “Of course, Ben [Barnes] and some of the others have, and there’s usually a process with these shows. You have the premieres, you have the events, all these gatherings with social dialogue, and all this and that. We probably would have been over in Europe doing promo and just really enjoying each other’s company. But we’re just in our apartments talking [through Zoom] like how you and I are talking right now, which is extremely bizarre. But we’re incredibly fortunate to have wrapped right before the pandemic. And then I come back to Los Angeles and all hell breaks loose. And then we were immediately thrown into this, as if life wasn’t already surreal enough.”
Despite the obvious obstacles placed in front of them, Netflix still managed to launch a promo tour for the show, filled to the brim with interviews and several fan events that gave the actors an opportunity to discuss the show with its adoring audience. “I think they did a wonderful job adapting,” gushes Skogman. “With all the events that we did online and the interviews, they really did phenomenal things. So all things put aside, I think they adapted well to the current situation.” And while Netflix managed to turn lemons into lemonade, Skogman still hopes the arrangement isn’t permanent. “Hopefully in the future and with season 2, we’ll be able to gather as a group. That’s the thing that I missed the most, man. I’m like, ‘God, I would love to be hanging out with the group and enjoying it together’, you know? So I look forward to being able to do that in the future.”
While Shadow and Bone was generally well-received, accumulating a whopping total of 1.2 billion viewing minutes in its second week on Netflix, according to Nielsen streaming charts, Skogman says he refused to get his hopes up for a renewal until things were official. “Obviously, you believe in the project you’re doing,” he explains. “And we felt that everyone was so passionate about it. There are so many talented, amazing people working on it, and the fan base was so strong already, so we knew we were going to have at least a decent shot at a second season. But at the same time, you never know how things are going to go. You never know how things are going to be received. I’m the type of person who’s very much like, ‘Until it happens, it hasn’t happened’, you know?”
Skogman says the cast received word of the renewal from showrunner Eric Heisserer. “They told us about it a little bit before they officially announced it,” he reveals. “Obviously, that was a huge, huge moment. It’s such an incredible feeling to be a part of a show in general, but to be a part of one that is so well-received and one that has such a great impact on the audience… What a blessing. So [getting renewed] felt just like getting cast all over again. It’s just an amazing opportunity to be a part of something that has legs, that has a future, that people are excited about, you know? Everybody in the cast was just elated. Some of us have done certain things or have been a part of a few professional projects, but for the majority of us, Shadow and Bone was the first major, major thing that we got to do. So I think with that, comes along a great deal of care and passion about not only the project but the characters themselves as well.”
And while the scripts may have already been handed in (Skogman says he still hasn’t read any of them yet), there is still no confirmed start date for production on the second season as of now. “We don’t know when we’re going to start filming,” he says. “When you’re an actor, it’s very unpredictable. You can’t attach yourself to any kind of timeline. And in the meantime, you just kind of sit and dream about it yourself. And you wonder, of course. You have conversations, like, ‘What do you think is gonna happen?’ I have some ideas but so does everybody else and it’s going to be really, really amazing when we finally get our hands on [the scripts] because there are so many amazing storylines to tackle with everybody. So I cannot wait to see what they’ve drummed up.”
During the course of the interview, Skogman displays a real sense of care and passion about the character of Matthias, both of which are evident to anyone who has watched the show. Despite a lack of considerable screentime (the show only builds up to his character arc in the Six of Crows novels in a handful of scenes that barely scratch the surface of what’s to come), he still manages to leave a strong impression thanks to a complex, nuanced performance that hints at larger things for the character in the future, all while displaying Skogman’s perfect understanding of the character and his motives, which he chalks down to his ability to relate to his journey. “I thought Matthias’ arc was astonishing,” he says. “It’s so beautiful. I really, really resonate with his journey because I grew up in an extremely small place, very much in the middle of nowhere and then I left. With [my] athletic success, I had a lot of great friends and from the outside, people probably thought everything was just perfectly fine, but on the inside, I didn’t feel like I belonged. I always felt like there was something more to find. So when I got done with high school, I needed to get out and see the world. Have new experiences and meet different people, see new perspectives. Really try to find myself. And that’s kind of what Matthias is like. I feel like he is such an incredible man.”
While no specifics about Matthias’ family are given in either the show or the books, Skogman says he attempted to fill in the blanks by creating a backstory himself. “I filled in so many blanks about his life,” he reveals. “If you really think about it, I’m sure he probably idolized his father. He probably had an incredible relationship with his mother. I’ve even created siblings for him in my head. So to have that taken away from him in a horrific way when he’s young, and to lose his family and his parents to Grisha, and to not understand why… And then here comes Jarl Brum from the top ranks, who sees this strong, shiny, talented, young, scared kid who’s just lost his family and is in this place of grieving, like, ‘I got you now, come with us. We’ll take care of you.’ Of course Matthias is going to go with them. This is what he knows. This is all he has now. And then he lives the rest of his young adult life in the Drüskelle Army, and so he’s indoctrinated with all these false narratives. So for him to go from that place where we first meet him to where he eventually ends up, it’s just a testament to the morality and the open heart of his character. It’s amazing because that is very, very difficult to do in real life. How many of us are willing to do that? How many of us are willing to question all of our beliefs? All the things that we have been taught as young people, to really go out and try and find out the truth? To love people and to understand them? I love this character and I’m so, so blessed to be able to play him.”
A career in the creative industries wasn’t always a given for Skogman, who spent his formative years working towards a career in basketball. During his time at college, however, he secretly spent most of his time taking elective courses that would help him grow his skills as an actor. “I played basketball since I could walk,” he reveals “I loved basketball, I loved athletics. It was very important to my family. It plays such a huge part in my life and gave me so many opportunities. It’s taught me so much about myself and about the world, the people that I got to meet and play with, it’s incredible. Sports can really do some really amazing things and I carried that all the way into my young 20s. So it was very hard for people in my life to accept what may have looked like this drastic change. But what they didn’t know is that I was taking acting classes in secret through university and I already had built up, like, I don’t know, 20 credits of just random theater courses that weren’t even correlating to my degree because I just loved it. I really loved it. That was what brought me joy. I had all these different passions but the one thing that got me excited and happy, and really filled me with a sense of purpose was my Acting III class, you know? And so, by the time I finally took to the stage, it was a little bit jarring for everybody else [to see me transition into acting] but for me, it had been something I had been visualizing and dreaming about for so long.”
Landing the role of Matthias was a dream come true for Skogman, who says he auditioned multiple times and also flew out to Budapest for a chemistry read with co-star Danielle Galligan. It was also his first ever role in a big production, having spent the past few years starring in plays and a series of independent short films. “I’m the guy who’s willing to do this until I’m in my 40s and I’m just locked in up some black box somewhere doing Sam Shepard with 10 people coming to my performances. I just love acting. I love everything about it. I love film and I love theater. Before I got the part, I was working with one of my buddies, we were just doing a show for no money. Well, we were losing money. We were paying for it ourselves. We were scrambling to find a space and we were trying to get the rights to this show. That’s what I had been doing. And to go from that, to walking onto a Netflix set. It’s like, ‘Oh my God’. I mean, it’s the same thing, but it’s also different; the ship’s actually there! But I promise you, at that point, I had already spent a fair amount of time pretending I was on a ship in classrooms and stages, just imagining all of it. So when it was actually there, in real life, it was so surreal. It was incredible. What a gift.”
While Skogman may have a number of projects he’d like to pursue eventually, he is in no rush, choosing instead to enjoy the process one day at a time. He recently published a novel under a pen name (“On the surface, I think the idea of a pen name is very romantic. I like the mystery of it,” he says), although he does plan on revealing the name of the book to his followers, who have grown from the thousands in 2019 to well over 250k after the show debuted. He also spent the past few months writing several screenplays, which he hopes to eventually turn into feature films as well. “I have five fully written screenplays ready to go right now,” he reveals. “I love writing. It is what I do all day, all the time. And before I wrote the novel and the majority of my poetry, I was working on screenplays. I would love to make them now but it’s a tricky process. You’ve got to find the right representation. You’ve got to find people who believe in the project. There’s so many talented people out there, so many writers, and when you’re new in the industry, it’s hard to convince somebody to read a screenplay. It is a big ask in the industry. But I’m not impatient with that kind of thing. I know that I have to trust the process. It’s just about taking taking your time and trusting that putting one foot in front of the other will lead you there eventually.”
As for what’s in the near future, Skogman says he currently has a few things in the works but he’s hesitant to reveal details (“I have some stuff in the works but I can’t say anything just yet.”). And then of course, there’s a little thing called Shadow and Bone season 2, which is expected to take a bulk out of his time these next few years. Asked about what he’s most looking forward to in this coming season, he says it’s the opportunity to work and share the screen with co-stars Freddy Carter, Amita Suman and Kit Young. “I cannot even express how excited I am to work with those people,” he says. “When I would watch the show and I would see them and their scenes, I’d be like, ‘Oh my God’. First of all, I love them as people. They’re incredible people, so that’s already there. But as far as the characters and their acting and the story… I can’t wait. There are so many amazing moments that I love between Kaz and Matthias. I think that’s an amazing relationship, and I think that Freddy and I can really get into that one. I talked to Freddy about it too, about how exciting it’s going to be sharing the screen together potentially in the future. So yeah, as far as working with that talented crew, I can’t wait to get the Crows together. It’s going to be so fun.”
Shadow and Bone is now streaming on Netflix.