From Hollywood to homeland: Freddie Highmore talks The Assassin and life beyond fame

The Assassin actor Freddie Highmore recently sat down for an interview with The Hollywood Reporter and shared about his career, his entry into showbiz before social media, and his chemistry with co-star Keeley Hawes. Highmore is known for starring in the 2005 movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and even though he is British, he has spent the majority of his career across the pond. The actor also rose to fame by starring in The Good Doctor and Bates Motel.

In the interview, Highmore talks about wanting to get back to the UK at some point, and The Assassin gave him that opportunity. The Amazon Prime Video thriller began airing in the UK on Friday, July 25th, 2025. Produced by Harry and Jack Williams, it features Keeley Hawes as Julie, who is a retired assassin in Greece and is reunited with her estranged son Edward, who want to find out about his father. However, the mother and son get into adventures as Julie’s past life comes knocking. Here is an excerpt from Highmore’s interview.

Freddie Highmore on establishing a connection with Keeley Hawes in The Assassin

In the interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Highmore talks about the instant connection that he felt with Hawes, while preparing for The Assassin. A large part of the series focuses on the mother-son relationship between Hawes’ character Julie and Highmore’s character Edward. Therefore, the British actors say that “One of the huge appeals of working on the show was definitely getting the chance to work with Keeley. I admired her work…that was really exciting. We are very similar in many ways. We have a similar sense of humor, and we gravitated towards bringing out the same things…So that part of it felt effortless, that sense of mutual understanding from the start…because…there wasn’t a huge amount of rehearsal or effort in creating that dynamic. We got along incredibly well from the beginning.”

Talking about the relationship between the mother and son character on The Assassin, Freddie Highmore states that, “on the surface, their relationship is complicated…there’s an estrangement…but…they’re two people that understand each other intimately, who yearn for that deeper connection.” He also states that The Assassin has a “lot of twists and turns…there are a lot of cliffhangers…but…it always felt grounded, rooted in the characters and in the dynamic between Edward and Julie.”

In the same interview, Freddie Highmore speaks about whether his own personality spilled into Edward and says, “I guess there’s probably a part of me, of you, and everyone in every character…one of the things that attracted me to it as wee was just that he is British. It did feel like there was a very British sensibility to the show and British point of view…And I think as a Brit, it has been a long time without being able to work here and have the opportunity to do things here…that was something I was definitely excited to do.” He continues to say that, “I definitely was keen to do something in the UK again. I think it has been a long time.

When asked about what gets him excited to do a role and why he chose The Assassin, Freddie Highmore replies that, “I’ve always loved television, I’ve been lucky to do it alongside films. There’s just an opportunity to dig deeper into character and into storytelling, getting into the nuances that you can’t do when you’ve only got 90 minutes or two hours.” He continues, “It’s just never wanting to do the same thing again, not wanting to repeat oneself…playing the character the same way, or tonally doing something similar. I’m always looking for things that are exciting and challenging in new ways.”

When asked about The Assassin being initially called The Hermit, Highmore states that he still calls it The Hermit a lot of the time. He comments, “I guess (The Assassin and The Hermit) signify different things. But at the same time, it depends on what part you want to highlight. The show is a mix of these two things. There is that high-octane thrill…The one thing I like about The Hermit is that a lot of characters in the show are somewhat isolated and seeking connection. Everyone, to some degree, is a hermit, just wanting to find love and reconciliation.”

Freddie Highmore on starting his career before the rise of social media

Apart from talking about The Assassin, the actor was also asked about his long career since being a child actor, and how it shaped him to make the right decisions. He mentions that, “I do feel fortunate about that. Having started younger, I avoided social media being a necessary part of staring one’s career. Now it’s very hard for people to not partake in it…It’s wonderful for many people…and (many) have a great relationship with it. For me, (not having social media) has always helped me keep a healthy boundary between work and life outside of that. Growing up and starting to act in a time when that wasn’t a requirement – or even in existence – was lucky.”

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The Assassin is available on Amazon Prime Video.

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