Warning: Spoilers for Series 1 & 2 of Gangs of London ahead.

Just when you thought you’d seen the last of Sean Wallace, the character is back – with one hell of a vengeance.

Actor Joe Cole was persuaded to return to Gangs of London after a killer cliffhanger for Sean, who quickly found himself in over his head as he tried to fill his late father’s shoes.

Left for dead at the end of series one, we pick up with Sean after he laid low for a year before being drawn back to London. Desperate to emulate the patriarch of the family, series two sees Sean get into bed with some seriously shady figures in order to get a foot up in the industry.

Naturally, a lot of people had questions, and there was a lot of pushback considering the criminal underworld had managed to find a new balance without the need for him.

But with power on his mind, he was not content with taking a back seat any longer, embracing his position within the family—whether people like it or not.

Here’s what Joe had to say as we caught up with him for series two.

You’re going to see more of the familial power struggles, and also the power struggle between these gangs in and amongst some fantastic set action pieces. It’s a high-octane, high-energy, high-action world, and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.

The two things have to work together. Yeah, I think it’s important to have a story and have characters you are invested in, who you want to follow. Without that, there’s no show, the action is pointless, so it’s important to have characters that you are really invested in.

I wasn’t really aware that it was resonating because we were all locked indoors at the time. But I think getting picked up for series two meant that people have responded to the show, which is a good thing.

Originally, I was meant to do one series. That’s what I was signed up for. We started having conversations towards the end of series one, and they said they’d like to keep it open and have the option for bringing Sean back, and I felt like there was unfinished business there. I wanted to come back and be a part of it. I felt like we’d only told half of Sean’s story, and it was important to complete the arc.

So series one ended with me being shot dead, and then in series two we find out that that might not be the case entirely, and I’m saved. Sean’s a high-value person who’s quite integral to a lot of people’s plans and missions within the show, so I’m captured, tortured, and eventually escape, and then I’m back on the streets of London.

Lale, the leader of the Kurdish gang, assists in my rescue.

There’s an interesting dynamic between Sean and Lale. There’s a romance there. There’s a respect there. There’s almost a love there, if you will. It’s quite hard to find that in this world that we’re living in, but I think there’s commonality and empathy. They’ve both come from extremely troubled paths, and they respect each other as people, and as bosses and criminals, and you see a lot more of that in series two and how it develops.

Sean coming back into the fold really changes things up and messes with the order. I think people will quite enjoy it, hopefully.

I think we see a different Sean in this series. He wants power. He wants to emulate his father. He wants to be a gangster, properly. Before, perhaps, he hated everything about being a criminal and now I think he realises that this is the world in which he is born. This is who he is, and there’s no point in trying to run away from it or escape it.

He wants to be his father. In series one, he’s coming to terms with who his father really was, and that was quite an upsetting, difficult thing to comprehend, and I think in series two there’s a darkness to Sean that comes about from all the horrible things he’s had to learn about his family.

Also the fact that he has been shot in the face. The fact that he has lost everything means we see a new type of Sean.

The underworld is ruled by dark people who have no moral compass. Sean has to learn that in series two. There’s no moral code. You have to be able to do things that are really quite horrific and you have to be cold and you have to be clinical. So that is what we see. It’s treading that line.

Koba is a new energy. The Uber-isation of London, or the Uber-isation of gangsters, they’re calling it, and he’s cut-throat. He has no loved ones. He has no family, and if you want to work with him or work against him, you need to match his morals.

I think Sean realises that he can work with Koba and actually achieve quite a lot. They’re both extremely powerful so combining their forces, and their intelligence, means they can control everything in a much more straightforward fashion without having to fight each other and watch each other’s back. That’s something that happens later on in the series.

So Sean gives Lale up to Asif. She is the closest person to him in this world, aside from his brother, but he takes the cut-throat decision to give her up to the enemy for his and Koba’s own greater gain, and it’s tough. You see a ruthless side to Sean you’ve perhaps not seen before.

I don’t know if anyone has ever rooted for Sean, to be honest [laughs]. I can’t make people root for him, I just play him.

We had some quite extensive discussions with the director and the make-up team. We tried out different types of scarring. At one point I was going to have plates put in my mouth and things like that to speak differently, but as we geared up to it we realised it was probably all about simplicity and cleanness and authenticity so it tells a story but you also forget about it. I think they’ve done an amazing job.

There’s a game of cat and mouse between Sean and Elliot. Elliot shot Sean in the face at the end of the previous series so Sean is out for revenge in that respect. As we move through the show, Sean has Elliot’s father killed, and Elliot wants revenge for that. They don’t see much of each other in this series, but they are constantly after each other.

Sean’s mother is an absolute lunatic, isn’t she? [laughs] I mean, she’s probably one of the worst mothers you could ever have. She’s manipulative, she’s psychotic, she’s everything and more and it’s fascinating. It’s one of my favourite relationships in the show.

I love to work with Michelle. She’s a brilliant actress. We have a lot of fun bringing that relationship to life, and I think his mother being so evil, for want of a better term, forms so much of who Sean is. If you have two parents like Marian and Finn, it’s very difficult to come out and be a normal bloke [laughs].

There’s a real closeness between Billy and Sean that is the crux of the show in some ways, or at least in terms of Sean’s journey. They’ve gone through so much together, and there is a deep love and care for each other. They’ve seen the world through the same eyes because of their upbringing. We explore that a bit more this series: their relationship, and their closeness. It’s a nice relationship to be able to bring to life.

Sean is involved with more and more madness and more and more horrendous activity, culminating in nearly being killed, and being arrested and sent to prison, which is probably where he belongs.

Gangs of London is a very heightened, epic saga. It has bold set pieces and bold lighting and bold camera choices and performances, and that’s what makes it unique and a little bit different. It’s not your run-of-the-mill kitchen-sink gang show: it’s not Guy Ritchie. It’s something quite of itself and I guess that’s why people responded to it. Every episode is really thrilling and exciting and interesting.

There are some great characters. It’s an ensemble show at the end of the day, so we split off and follow people’s different stories, and I think everybody has got a really interesting story in this series.

We’ve got some new Algerian faces, some younger actors, some actors I’ve worked with before. I worked with Aymen Hamdouchi on my first ever job on a prison movie back in the day.

There’s some really exciting young talent, and they slot really well into the show. It’s been a joy working with them and having different energy on set.