“I don’t know what I want to do but I just know I haven’t done it”

Aidan Gillen has already played more diverse characters than other actors depict in several careers. But this, he tells Edel Coffey, is only the beginning.

Aiden Gillen: “Sometimes I think I’m portraying too many evil characters, too many killers, but these are the people in your neighbourhood.”

Doing a Zoom call with an actor is different to your average badly-lit, nostril-filled video chat. Actors are different like that. They know their angles. When Aidan Gillen appears on my screen, the lighting is great and his charisma is palpable all the way from Canada, where he is currently filming.

Gillen is internationally famous but still manages to maintain a low profile life at home in Dublin. People recognise him, but they can’t quite ...