If you love boxing, drama, and being kept on the edge of your seat, you won’t want to miss the new STARZ series, Fightland.
Fightland follows a disgraced, formerly incarcerated boxing champion who returns to London to seek vengeance against the crime family he thinks betrayed him. With edge-of-seat action and populated by dangerous characters, this is a world of money and power never seen before. The thrilling new series, executive produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, is set to excite fans when it premieres on STARZ on July 31.
Ahead of the series release, we had the amazing opportunity to speak with two of the show’s stars, Tahirah Sharif (“Kim Harper”) and Tyler Conti (“Jay Hall”) about the upcoming series. The pair told me what drew them to the project, which themes within the show resonated most with them, and what they hope audiences get from their characters.
Watch the full interview with Tahirah Sharif and Tyler Conti below:
After watching Fightland, I can say it is the kind of show that keeps viewers on the edge of their seats. Knowing this, I wondered what about the show and their respective characters made Sharif and Conti want to be part of this project.
Conti said, “I think the authenticity of the script. I felt like it was super relatable in a way, especially to my character, Jay. I felt for him. It’s really nice to really understand and feel for a character. Even, you know, they could be good, bad characters or whatever. But like, it’s our job to kind of find why they do what they do, and what’s the reason for that. And I think I could pick up the script and understand him straight away. So that really drew me to the character and the work straight away.”
Sharif shared, “I think for me, it was really exciting to play a female character who’s like so layered, so strong, like super confident, and is wearing so many masks. Because I think as an actor, it’s like one of the best characters to play because you kind of get to reveal something different each episode.”
The themes throughout Fightland are extremely relatable, so I asked both actors which theme in the series resonated with them most. For Sharif, it was survival and for Conti, it was loyalty.
“I think for me it would probably be about survival. I think as a woman inhabiting such a male-dominated industry like boxing, I think that is probably the key theme for Kim. It’s about survival and like what that means to her and really like how far you’re willing to go, like to survive basically. And she, you know, she goes to some lengths,” Sharif said.
“I would say I would say loyalty for sure. But in the same breath, like how far are you willing to go and to take it into like the danger zone to kind of be loyal to your friends and your family? You know, are you willing to risk your life for that? And does loyalty come? Where does it stem from? Is it like family and blood, or is there like a guilt in that as well? I think that’s really just an interesting kind of thing to explore,” Conti told me.
Lastly, after portraying these characters in the series, I asked the pair what they hope audiences will take away from their characters. Conti responded, “Ooh, good question!”
Sharif said, “It is a good question, to be fair. From my character, I would say, probably to be able to, you know, still be physically and mentally strong, but able to be vulnerable and truthful when you need to be, and not to be afraid of that.”
Conti followed with, “Nice. I think. I think for Jay, it’s like to teach people to stand by their morals, and I don’t know, really like trust your gut instinct. And, you know, sometimes it might lead you into the fire pit, but I think you always know kind of what’s best for you, and I think just trust your instinct a bit.”
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