He won a BAFTA for a play about his father’s death. He has worked with him Ridley Scott, Sam Mendesand Joe Wright. And this summer, he’s playing a bastard prince in one of TV’s most ambitious series. But Abubakar Salim he doesn’t see them as separate careers, he sees them as chapters in an ongoing act of storytelling.
When we sit down with him, the British actor and game developer is between worlds. House of the Dragon Season 3 arrives tonight and Alyn of Hullhis character, the pragmatic son of the Sea Serpent, is in a position to reshape the entire Targaryen civil war. Meanwhile, his studio, Surgent Studiosit continues to expand beyond that Tales of Kenzera: Zauthe deeply personal debut that moved players and voters. It is the work of someone who refuses to be limited by a single medium, or a single definition of what storytelling can be.
Salim raise me Kingdom Hearts and father in technology. She fell in love with acting through games, through the idea of stepping into different lives and making choices that mattered. That hunger never left him. Either drown in it Fire and Blood to build of Aline inner life, or grappling with grief through game design, or working with some of the most ambitious directors in cinema, he pursues the same thread: how do you move people into media, into worlds, into the spaces between scenes?
We spoke to Abubakar Salim about character, ambition, collaboration and why no form of storytelling was ever enough.
The interview with Abubakar Salim was conducted by DSCENE Deputy Editor Ana Markovic.
Your work now spans from acting to games, directing, writing, producing and leading the studio. When did you first realize that the show itself would never contain everything you wanted to make? – It is for me the narrative. I think the realization started when I was younger. Acting was fun, but I wanted to do more, be more. It comes from the truth that storytelling is not limited by a medium. So as long as I feed that desire, I can chase wherever it takes me, writing, directing, games, producing. It’s tiring, but it keeps things fresh, ha!
I didn’t watch a lot of TV or movies growing up, it didn’t appeal to me then, and my dad was in tech so I was lucky enough to have a console. The game was Kingdom Hearts. It was the fact that I was actively in that character’s shoes, making choices and going through their story where the “I want to be like that” bug started. So the idea of entering different lives, telling stories and moving people started from there!
Did gaming and acting come into your life separately at first, or did they always feel connected? – It was always connected. I first fell in love with acting through games. I didn’t watch a lot of TV or movies growing up, it didn’t appeal to me then, and my dad was in tech so I was lucky enough to have a console. The game was Kingdom Hearts. It was the fact that I was actively in that character’s shoes, making choices and going through their story where the “I want to be like that” bug started. So the idea of entering different lives, telling stories and moving people started from there!
House of the Dragon shares a lot with video games in its DNA, from the world-building to the visuals. Does this environment ever spark ideas for your own gaming work? – Too many! The world GRRM he has created is so rich in potential that I am always inspired to tell his stories through games. What a wonderful opportunity that would be!
Has participating in such a long series made you more confident, more self-aware, or both? – It definitely gave me more confidence that I’m doing the right thing. Acting is tough, you face rejection, and when you get the gig, you face scrutiny. The biggest challenge is yourself and I always struggle with the thought “Am I doing enough?” So it’s this weird double-edged sword that makes me feel more confident, but also more confident.
Alyn of Hull belongs to a high fantasy series, yet feels grounded, practical and wary of the magic around him. Since so much of his life exists between scenes, how did you build his inner life before the audience met him? – A lot of reading. Lots of writing. A lot of listening to music. The larger source material was obviously Fire and Blood in itself, but what I like to do is drown in knowledge, fill in blanks, how he laughs, what food he likes, the mundane things that won’t be answered in the book. Then I make a playlist for it, a soundtrack, and when it comes to shooting, I just throw it all away and think it’s innate in me.
Bethany he has to be one of the most wonderful and interesting people I have ever met. I was lucky enough to get to know her more on this trip and honestly, I could talk to her for days
Bethany Antonia is one of the the cover stars of our latest issueand book readers already have a lot of anticipation for how Baela and Alyn’s paths might cross. In terms of what you can share, did you and Bethany work together in Season 3 and how would you describe that experience? – Bethany he has to be one of the most wonderful and interesting people I have ever met. I was lucky enough to get to know her more through this trip and honestly, I could talk to her for days. She is a force of nature, and every time we talk, I feel like I learn so much more about her. It’s class.
Fans still consider Bayek of Siwa one of the best protagonists in Assassin’s Creed. How does it feel to know that performance still means so much to players and is there a line from Origins that they still ask you to repeat? – “Will Shiva ever know peace?” is the line I always get asked about. Honestly, it’s so great to see and feel the love, because the franchise was so long before the game came out. i feel like Origin it could either kill the franchise or give it more juice, and I’m glad it was the latter!
What has top-notch Surgent Studios taught you about creative responsibility that acting alone never could? – It’s a team game. Everything is a team game. Listen, trust and respect others as they have knowledge that you don’t. This is the biggest lesson I have learned.
Tales of Kenzera: ZAU came from a deeply personal place, shaped by grief, your relationship with your father, Bantu cultures, and personal memory. How did you protect that emotional and cultural core while turning it into a game designed for players you would never meet? – The trick was to be as vulnerable and raw as I could. If I had approached the creation of this game with a sense of defensiveness or from a place that wasn’t genuine, I feel like players would have smelled it from a mile away and written it off. Ultimately, I knew that when this game was out there, it would be beyond my control. What is in my control, though, is how I feel about what I made, and I knew the only way to fully express that was to be as raw and open as possible.
I like the idea of forming new, weird and strange worlds. Work on Raised by Wolves it showed me that it’s okay to be bold in your narrative ambitions. So I want to do more than that.
Surgent Studios has been developed Tales of Kenzera: ZAU, Dead Takeand FixForce. How do these projects differ from each other and what connects them creatively? – I mean, they’re all incredibly different. One is about sadness, one is about Hollywood horror, and then you have a game about stupid robots that fix things! It’s a reflection of the fun and love we have for making games. If there’s one thing that connects them, I’d say it’s our passion for creating experiences that are fun and make you think.
What kinds of stories did you miss seeing when you were younger, and how much does that absence still drive you now? – I don’t know if I missed seeing any kind of stories. The more I think about this question, the more I say, “Well, if I missed it, I’ll say so myself!” The stories are so personal and I feel like it’s very human to want more. Greedy by nature, especially when it comes to storytelling. So with that, I would say the hunger is ALWAYS there, and it always pushes me to keep feeding.
When you look at everything ahead, do you feel more drawn to building new worlds from scratch or going into existing ones and changing them from the inside? – Oh, definitely both. I like the idea of forming new, weird and strange worlds. Work on Raised by Wolves it showed me that it’s okay to be bold in your narrative ambitions. So I want to do more than that. At the same time, I know what a wonderful feeling it is to help bring other people’s worlds to life. So if there’s any way I can do that, whether it’s through acting, writing, producing, directing, or even turning it into a game, I’m all for it.
House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 2 airs tonight. Follow Abubakar Salim on Instagram @abubakarsalim
