Sophie Turner & Archie Madekwe On The “Dangers” Of Excessive Wealth Hoarding By Billionaires

Sophie Turner and Archie Madekwe's newest Prime Video show Steal centres around a major heist where billions of pounds are stolen from a London pension fund. Without giving any spoilers (there's a lot of twists revealed throughout the show), the series broadly focuses on how much wealth in society is controlled by a small percentage of people, how it affects all of us workers in the capitalist regime, and what lengths people will go to for money.

Turner plays Zara, your regular office worker who barely earns a living wage while working at a swanky office in London's wealthy financial district. The show depicts the fallout after thieves hold the office workers hostage and steal billions of pounds from people's pensions. As Zara and her friend Luke (Madekwe) try to solve the mystery, things get complicated, and lives are at stake.

Madekwe tells Refinery29 Australia it's "very dangerous" to have so much wealth controlled by so few people, which he believes Steal conveys well. "It's incredibly prevalent right now... I think the show kind of explores that in a lot of ways, but of course, it's awful," the actor says. "I think people can relate to [the show]. I think everybody is feeling [stuck], you know? And everybody feels helpless, and there are people [who] could change the situation, and don't... the disparity [in wealth] is huge, and it isn't fair. And yeah, it's anarchic."

Turner adds that Steal shows how desperation, when it comes to money, can push people to the limit. "We've got too many billionaires and the cost-of-living crisis [means] the disparity is too big, and the gap's got to close. I wish I could do something about it, but I just can't," she says. "But that's what I like about the show, as well. It explores why good people do bad things, and it is for reasons like this. So that's what I love, exploring that."

For Turner, she's previously played fantasy characters like Sansa Stark (Game of Thrones), Jean Grey (X-Men: Apocalpyse) and more recently, 1980s character Joan (Joan). It's no surprise that for a show tackling topics like wealth inequality, her role as Zara in Steal hits closer to home, with family trauma, a messy love life, and other relatable traits. But rather than missing an extravagant wardrobe or hours in makeup, she relished the chance to tell a story in a different way. "I don't think I've ever played a character quite as messy as her and it was really fun because I felt like I could just show up.. it's just very relieving when you don't have to wear a corset and your shoulders aren't pulled back, you don't have to talk in a certain way," Turner says. "I could just kind of flop about, I don't know how else to explain it. I felt so free in playing her, I think that's what I mean," she adds. "[She's the] closest to me as any character I've played."

While her character Zara is more ordinary than most others she's stepped into, being held at gunpoint is anything but. While you'd imagine being put through your paces by masked thieves would be taxing, Turner actually just saw that action-packed day as another day in the office... literally. "I really thrive on days when it is a high-stakes day where it's a lot of drama and a lot of emotion, and I actually find it quite cathartic," the actor says. "I go home feeling much better about myself than I did walking in. I think that's what acting is for me, is therapy. I always feel better going home and it's easy to step out of it."

And even though the actors might not take home the anxiety or emotions from set, Steal's fast-paced show could very well induce it in viewers. But Madekwe notes that's the reason viewers watch heist shows in the first place. "It's like fun, escapism," he explains. "I always love [watching] things that make me kind of physically feel something. And if something gets your heart racing, kind of builds anxiety in that way like a show like this does, and you're able to create that in your own home, then I think it's so exciting. And this show, I think, really succeeds with that."