‘Say Nothing’ star Anthony Boyle on playing IRA activist Brendan Hughes: We ‘get to the humanity as opposed to the mythology’

Portraying a real person in Say Nothing was "a great honor," Anthony Boyle tells Gold Derby about his role as renowned Irish activist Brendan Hughes. "This one felt really special, because it was so close to home. I used to walk past the mural of Brendan Hughes coming back from school, and you'd hear folk songs about the guy." (Watch our full interview above.)

Say Nothing was created by Joshua Zetumer, based on Patrick Radden Keefe’s acclaimed nonfiction book Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland. Set during the height of the Troubles, the nine-part drama follows Belfast sisters Dolours Price (Lola Petticrew) and Marian Price (Hazel Doupe) as they become deeply entangled in the IRA's militant campaign. At the center of the story is the 1972 abduction and murder of Jean McConville, a widowed mother of 10, through which the series explores the emotional and ethical fallout of political violence. Boyle stars as the younger version of Hughes, a central figure during the Troubles as the officer commanding of the Belfast Brigade, leading significant operations including the 1980 hunger strike and the Bloody Friday bombings in 1972.

SEE ‘Political violence is sadly more relevant now’: ‘Say Nothing’ showrunner on the show’s impact

The cast also includes Maxine Peake as an older Dolours, Josh Finan as renowned activist Gerry Adams (who went on to become president of Sinn Féin, the political wing of the IRA), and Judith Roddy as McConville. Premiering last fall on FX on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ globally, Say Nothing has earned a 93 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating and several Irish Film and Television Awards, including Best Actress for Petticrew, Best Supporting Actress for Doupe, Best Supporting Actor for Tom Vaughan-Lawlor (who portrays the older Brendan Hughes), with Boyle winning the Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland IFTA Rising Star Award.

Boyle, a Belfast native, brings a striking authenticity to his portrayal of Hughes, capturing both the commanding presence of a revolutionary leader and the inner turmoil of a man wrestling with the ethical complexities of armed resistance. "It's interesting, man. There's a great clip of a British army officer talking about him, and he says that 'we had the full might of the British army trying to chase down Brendan, and he just stood there in a dinner jacket and a handgun shooting back at us. You couldn't help but admire the plucky little bugger,'" he recalls.

"They still have admiration for him. I think it just goes to show you the kind of guy he was terms of the whole charisma thing. I sort of based him off himself, obviously, and I've got an uncle called Snake who is really charismatic and really good at telling stories. You know, when you're with him in the bar, he's got this real magnetic quality. He pulls everyone, and he's got this real way speaking. I grew up in Belfast, and I would drink in the same bars that Brendan would drink in, and I know there's people that he knew," Boyle says. "This one for me felt like a very natural fit."

The Northern Irish actor's performance has earned acclaim for its emotional depth, charting Hughes' journey from fervent idealist to a disillusioned figure haunted by the personal and political consequences of his actions. Boyle’s layered interpretation adds profound weight to the series’ examination of the human cost of political violence. "When someone dies, particularly if they're a soldier, they become mythologized and there's a sort of martyrdom around them, and there's murals of them on the wall, and they're painted and revered. And when I spoke with Josh Finan, who played Gerry Adams, it was about stripping a lot of that back," Boyle explains. "They're not paintings on the wall, they're real breathing people, and if we want to do them justice, if we want to do the story justice, you’ve got to bring it down and get to the humanity of them as opposed to the mythology of them."

Say Nothing is available to stream on Hulu.

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