‘Bodyguard’ writer Jed Mercurio explains why the show killed off its leading character

Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The series creator, Jed Mercurio, has since spoken about the decision to kill off the character, explaining to Radio Times how viewers expect a TV series to “always orbit around an equilibrium, in which nothing much changes for the main stars, and there are no drastic changes to the setup”. “I like to try to do things that move the story on and with Bodyguard I wanted to have this event mid-series that would completely alter the dynamic,” he said. He continued: “Even though you’d just seen a completely crazed Mr Spock strangle Captain Kirk to death, you’d know that a few minutes later there would be some bizarre twist involving the time-space continuum and Kirk would be alive on the Starship Enterprise.” Speaking about actor Hawes – who also appeared in Mercurio’s series Line of Duty before being killed off – he said: “I think, hope, she’d take the view that it’s better to do a few episodes of something meaty than lots of episodes of something thin.” The writer also addressed how the TV hit now faces the difficulty of continuing into season two with just Madden now that demand for the actor has increased. Plan auto-renews until cancelled Try for free Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days New subscribers only.