Charlie Covell, creator of the BAFTA-winning and Emmy-nominated The End Of The F***ing World, is about to unleash KAOS on Netflix: their eight-episode, bold, darkly comic, contemporary—and frequnetly queer—take on Greek mythology, launching Thursday, August 29th. Epic in scope, the series follows the steady unraveling of the cruel and capricious King of the Gods, Zeus (Jeff Goldblum), as he becomes convinced that an ancient prophecy foretelling his destruction has begun to come to pass.
Meanwhile, in the Underworld, an unassuming human who has been dead for ten years, Caeneus (Misia Butler), goes about his daily tasks under his paper-pushing, serpent-haired supervisor Medusa (Debi Mazar), totally unaware of his cosmic significance. That is until the new arrival of another human, Riddy (Aurora Perrineau), leads to their gradual discovery of the roles that each of them has to play in saving the world.
The starry cast also features Janet McTeer, David Thewlis, Rakie Ayola, Cliff Curtis, Stephen Dillane, Nabhaan Rizwan, Killian Scott, Stanley Townsend, Leila Farzad, Ché, Daniel Monks, Billie Piper, Sam Buttery, Mat Fraser, and Suzy Eddie Izzard.
Previously seen on Netflix in The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself, The School For Good And Evil, and Kiss Me First, Misia Butler’s major role on KAOS is set to introduce him to even more viewers across the world. As one of several LGBTQ+ characters in KAOS, Caeneus’ transness is integral to his narrative, and ahead of the series launch, Misia Butler speaks exclusively with The Queer Review’s editor James Kleinmann about the significance of that transmasculine representation, how he got his break when landed a role in a 2016 episode of the BBC hospital drama Casualty, what it was like to work with his KAOS co-stars like Debi Mazar and Aurora Perrineau, and his favourite LGBTQ+ culture.
James Kleinmann, The Queer Review: how did the performer in you first manifest, were you in school plays?
Misia Butler: “Tracing it back, I was a bit of a weird kid. It was quite hard to cast me growing up because I always presented quite masculinely but identified as a girl at that point. So I don’t think anyone really knew how to cast me in school plays, but I played so many imaginary games with my friends up until probably the age of 17 or 18. I think that was the root of my obsession with playing pretend and acting feels like it’s an extension of that.”
What kind of games were you playing with your friends?
“Whatever we could come up with. I had a great friend who loved coming up with the story of it and she would just throw things at us. So it would be improv games and I would take it as far as I could and be very ‘yes, and’ about it. We would be running about in parks and the woods with sticks—the kind of stuff that you do as a kid—but I was doing it almost into adulthood!”
Did you grow up in London?
“Yeah, London born and bred.”
Were you taken to the theatre when you were a young person? Was that something that also drew you towards acting?
“Yeah, my dad went to school with a bunch of people who became actors and we would sometimes see some of their shows. So it was sort of around, but I never thought that it would be something that I was allowed to do. I think probably because I don’t think I ever saw myself in those roles. It was something that I loved the concept of, and I’d put on these plays with my friends, but I don’t think I ever saw myself in that space.”
At what point did you start to think that you could potentially have a career in acting?
“I did a short acting course that this amazing charity Gendered Intelligence ran in collaboration with the Central School of Speech and Drama. It was every Saturday for ten weeks. I didn’t actually get on the course initially, but luckily someone dropped out and so I got to be part of that training. They brought in people in the industry to see us and they got us auditions. I got an episode of Casualty through that course. Then I was like, ‘Oh, okay. Well, apparently I’m castable!'”
For those reading this outside of the UK, they might not be aware of Causality. It’s a longrunning BBC hospital drama that began airing in 1986 which some of the most recognizable actors in the world have had guest star roles on early in their careers. Kate Winslet, Orlando Bloom, Jodie Comer, Christopher Eccleston, and Tom Hiddleston to name but a few. If you scroll right down on many British actors’ IMDB pages, you’ll probably see Casualty on there.
“It does feel like it’s the training ground for all actors, doesn’t it? There are so many reasons that I shouldn’t have got that role actually. I didn’t get on that course to start with and then I missed the first audition. Then the next audition was during school time, but luckily I had two free periods that day. It was just fateful.”
How old were you when you did Casualty?
“I was 15 when I got cast and 16 when I did the job. The episode aired in 2016.”
Did you go on to do a full acting training program after that?
“I actually didn’t. They really loved putting in the time and effort to supporting theatre at my school and I got in with that, but I never ended up doing any kind of formal training. I got an agent because of Casualty and then I was doing bits and pieces of acting here and there. My agent was like, ‘You can absolutely go train, but you could also do this play here or do this job here’. So I tried doing that instead and I have been making my way through ever since.”
Let’s talk about KAOS. What were your initial thoughts when the series was first mentioned to you?
“In 2018, when they first announced that Charlie Covell was going to be adapting Greek myths into a series on Netflix, pretty much every single one of my friends sent me the link to the news story. They were like, ‘You have to do this!’ And I was like, ‘I mean, imagine if they wrote a part for me. How crazy would that be?!’ Then in 2020 I received the audition sides and discovered that it was a Greek myth that I have been obsessed with since I was a kid. They described the role as a lead and I was like, ‘Oh, no, I’m going to be way too invested in this. This is so scary!’ Then the whole process took a lot longer, but at the beginning of 2022 I finally got the call saying that I’d got the role and I cried. It was insane! Again, fate feels like a really big part of this whole process. I’m still waiting for someone to tell me that it’s all a joke and to pull the rug from underneath me!”
How about when you got to read the full script, what was your reaction then as you got into more of Charlie’s take on Greek mythology?
“With every scene I was more and more obsessed. It was so all-encompassing, cinematic, tonally so strong and so dark, but witty and beautiful too. I was crying and laughing. I’ve never had that visceral response to a script before.”
“Charlie does this amazing thing where they write in the music that they were inspired by, or that they can imagine underscoring the scene, and actually a lot of that music has remained in the show which is incredible. Music is such an integral part of the tone of the show. Charlie made this playlist that I was listening to while I was reading the scripts.”
There is brilliant music throughout the series, including a lot of great end credits tracks. People should have their remotes ready as each episode comes towards the end, because you won’t want to just skip to the next episode, you’ll want to listen to the songs all the way through.
“Absolutely! Shazam should definitely be on for everyone when they watch it!”
What was it like to inhabit your character Caeneus?
“It felt so natural. I feel so blessed, not only to have the context of this show and all the amazing people who are involved, but to have a character that really felt like me. It felt like a big privilege. I’ve done bits and pieces before, but this definitely felt like the mammoth of work compared to what I’ve done before. That can be terrifying, but it felt like this character was someone I really understood and really empathized with and that was beautiful.”
I think we see far too little transmasculine representation on screen, or really anywhere, so particularly to have that through your character on such a massive platform like Netflix on such a big show feels meaningful. What does that aspect of this whole project mean to you?
“Honestly, exactly what you described. Growing up I didn’t see myself in these spaces and I think that makes you unable to imagine yourself as any of these sorts of things. I think we underestimate the psychological aspect of that. We have all these narratives in our everyday lives: you have your romance narrative; your work narrative; your friendship narrative; all these blueprints that we have. When you have never seen yourself in that space, it can be hard to imagine that you would ever exist in that space. That was a big thing that I struggled with when it came to a romantic narrative and definitely with Caenues’ heroic narrative. He’s such an understated hero and I find it really empowering to see someone so strong in his identity. That’s not something that he ever struggles with throughout the series. He knows who he is and it’s so tied in with his character, but he’s also just a very kindhearted hero and that’s not something we see with transmasculine representation.”
Let’s talk about some of your co-stars. You have some wonderful scenes with Aurora Perrineau who plays Riddy. What was it like creating that on-screen relationship together?
“Honestly, it was incredible. She is one of those actors you meet who is just magnetic. All of the cast were so giving and I definitely felt that with Aurora. We did a few rehearsals with Georgi Banks-Davies the director before we even started the shoot and Georgi was like, ‘Actually, don’t interact. I want to see what it’s like to have you guys really getting to know each other as you do the show’. So hopefully it comes across that we have quite a new, bubbling energy between us because we were really getting to know each other on set in real time. I felt so privileged to get to act alongside her. She’s so talented.”
That comes across in the scenes beautifully. Debi Mazar is one of my favourite actors, she always brings so much to the screen. What was she like to share scenes with?
“It was so great. She’s just iconic. I remember seeing that she was cast as Medusa and being like, ‘This is going to be amazing!’ Every line that she delivers is so dry and witty. Someone described her Medusa as being like a DMV employee and I think that image of Medusa working at the DMV is incredible! Debi is a wonder and she has some amazing stories about her friendship with Madonna. Halfway through the scene I would get some story about her going to Madonna’s birthday party and I’d be like, ‘Okay. This is my life. I have one degree of separation with Madonna now!”
Touching on the way that Medusa goes about her business like a DMV employee, could you give us a bit of an insight into Charlie Covell’s vision of the Underworld?
“It’s such an incredible vision. I might be a bit biased, but it is my favourite of the three worlds that we get to see in the show. It’s such an inspired take visually, but also tonally. The Underworld has got this stiltedness to it. It’s dry and dark. It’s a very unique space and I feel very privileged that I get to do all my scenes there, as Caeneus has been dead for ten years. The Underworld has got this absurdism to it that comes with death and Charlie’s writing really lends itself to that.”
It’s such a great contrast to the other two worlds.
“Yeah, absolutely, to the vibrancy of them.”
Talking about co-stars, I have to mention Caeneus’ three-headed dog Fotis. You never know with CGI these days, but was that a tennis ball or did you actually have a dog there on set with you?
“I was really wondering what it was going to be beforehand having read the scripts. When I turned up it was a beautiful Spanish Pointer. It only responded to Spanish commands and we became very good friends, but it was a little bit stressful having to speak in Spanish up until they said ‘action’ and then suddenly it was all in English. There weren’t any tennis balls, there was just the dog and the amazing magic that the VFX specialists were doing. I had to distract one head and then pretend to scratch another head and speak to two heads that weren’t there. It was a lot to hold on my head, but it was amazing to see it on screen.”
Did you shoot all of your scenes in Spain?
“Largely, yes. It was almost all in Spain and then a little bit in Italy.”
It looks like a really beautiful location, as does so much of the series.
“Yeah, I’m jealous of some of the other locations they got to go to. Poseidon’s yacht looks incredible!”
Lastly, what’s your favourite piece of LGBTQ+ culture, or a person who identifies as LGBTQ+; someone or something that’s had an impact on you and resonated with you over the years?
“Two things spring to mind. There’s one that is hands down one of my favourite films ever, Tomboy directed by Céline Sciamma. It is this beautiful French coming-of-age movie that encapsulates my experience of being that age. It’s so beautifully shot and acted and I think it was probably the first time I saw, and maybe the best representation of, my experience as a queer person growing up. Nothing has come close to that.”
“Also, between the ages of about 12 and 18, I watched Ol Parker’s film Imagine Me & You with Lena Headey and Piper Perabo’s characters falling in love in it probably a million times. It was my teen obsession and it kick-started my obsession with rom-coms. It was such a non-tragic, beautiful romance between two women and I thought it felt so special and rare. I loved it.”
As we were talking before about representation, I can imagine so many people are going to be engaging with KAOS, and particularly your character, in the same way as you were with those films when you were younger.
“I hope so. That would be beautiful.”
By James Kleinmann
KAOS launches Thursday, August 29th on Netflix. Follow Misia Butler on Instagram @misiabutler.