Merlin: Secrets and Magic

Welcome to Secrets and Magic, the show that goes behind the scenes

to reveal how Merlin's made.

Coming up, we've got some fighting...

It's a great way to warm up. There's someone who's a little frightening.

Mordred returns. And then a female of the species

who's most definitely more deadlier than the male.

"Female Of The Species" by Space

All this and more on Merlin - Secrets and Magic.

We're back behind the scenes of the latest sword-wielding adventure

from the BBC Wales drama series, Merlin.

Today, there's a new man in the Medieval mix,

but who exactly is this mysterious visitor?

Morgana and I have a relationship of sorts,

which is predominantly manipulated by my character that I play,

called Alvarr, who wants to kill the King, basically.

Because the King killed his parents when he was younger and

he's got this long, drawn-out battle plan to revenge.

That's really what it's all about.

Morgana is someone he can use to get to the King.

And just look who's back to help out with these dastardly deeds.

"Without Me" by Eminem

Yes, that's right. The evil little munchkin, Mordred.

Mordred.

Asa Butterfield's back, Mordred returns.

I was so excited when I read that script.

Mordred is probably the most important character in this episode.

Because without him, he's kind of like the ultimate prophet

for the pagans.

But what was it that made the producers mad about the boy?

Asa's this very...

very interesting and intriguing young actor

who just, the camera just absolutely loves his face.

He has this amazing screen presence which was so captivating

that it just seemed obvious to cast him in the first place.

You know what, he's amazing. He blows me off the screen.

He's... He's just so natural at it.

I'll be studying lines, he'll be reading a different book,

come on and just nail it, every time.

You will help us, then?

Please, Morgana. We need you.

Yes. I will. Of course, I will.

He's one of my favourite actors to work with.

'I shall never forgive this and I shall never forget.'

He's just this really enigmatic figure that we keep bringing back

that challenges us and is a catalyst for a lot of Morgana's behaviour.

And when she robs the magical crystal, it spells only one thing

for Merlin - mayhem!

The ancient prophesies speak of an alliance...

of Mordred and Morgana.

United in evil.

Merlin is given the knowledge

that Morgana is destined, her destiny,

is to have and alliance with Mordred, whose destiny, I know,

is to bring about the downfall of Arthur.

And to see her being so close to Mordred and have this strange affection for him -

as being drawn towards him, I can see her destiny taking place.

And knowing that those two paths are joining is something that's extremely disturbing for Merlin to see.

At the heart of the legend is...

is the mother-son relationship between Morgana and Mordred.

And we've kept that.

We have built our own mother-son relationship between Morgana and Mordred.

He's not her son but they have the same quality of relationship

and the same bond.

Um, so I think that's still dramatically very interesting.

The challenge that Morgana has is that she's tempted to the dark side

through circumstance and not because she's essentially an evil person.

And because she's more, I think, accepting of who she is,

she has more strength to do the things she believes in and she doesn't back down.

Which is great for her, but not so good for Uther.

From this day forward I disown you.

You will go to your chambers!

And you, Uther...

..you will go to hell.

DOOR SLAMS

The thing that you need to remember about Morgana

is she's been brought up in a kingdom where magic is banned.

And to use magic means death.

And she is slowly realising that she is magical and what that means to her.

She doesn't want to be. She's scared of it. She doesn't know what it is. She can't control it.

The boy...

he told me you have magic.

You need not be afraid.

I know. I'm sorry.

I've just grown so used to concealing the truth.

There's a beautiful scene between Morgana and Alvarr...

in the den.

And for me, yeah, that's the most poignant scene in the part.

You have been very brave.

I don't want to be brave.

I just want to be myself.

I don't want to be alone any more.

You need never be alone again.

I think in Morgana's eyes now,

there's a world that accepts magic, that she believes in.

And Uther's world that rejects it.

Everyday I look Uther in the eye knowing that if he were to discover who I really am

he'd have me killed.