Q&A with Hannah Khalique-Brown who plays Saara Parvin

What sparked your interest in The Undeclared War?

I was immediately drawn to Saara as a character. When I first received the scripts, it was incredibly exciting that a young Asian woman was at the very centre of the story. She's such a complex, intelligent and compelling character, and I immediately wanted to bring her world to life. 

Beyond Saara, the subject matter was instantly gripping, truly thrilling, and terrifyingly true to life. What was originally written by Peter Kosminsky as a cautionary tale has bit by bit come eerily true, and we see every day in the news strikingly similar tales of cyber warfare, espionage, and political and personal betrayal in the East-West cyber-field.

How does it feel to be back playing Saara?

It feels so great to be back playing Saara. I missed her.

We filmed the first series in 2021 and, as with any television production, there's a long process between filming, editing, release and then developing a new series. It always takes much longer than people realise.

 I really missed the character, so coming back to her was wonderful. I was slightly nervous because of the time that had passed. You always hope the character is still there waiting for you and that you'll be able to step back into their world seamlessly.

Thankfully, as soon as we started filming again, it felt as though we'd never left. I think a part of each character lives on with you, stored away somewhere forever.

 How would you describe Saara's character?

Saara is incredibly intelligent. She's emotionally complex. 

She has an absolutely remarkable mind. She's determined, competitive and something of a genius. At the same time, she still has a lot of growing to do - there are aspects of emotional maturity that she is yet to learn, and the relationships she has with almost everyone around her are in some way impacted by the fact that her brilliant mind makes her different. She carries a great deal of weight, and pain, on her shoulders, pretty much all the time.

At GCHQ, she begins as an intern in the malware department, but her responsibilities quickly grow far beyond what would normally be expected of someone in that position, something that reflects how her relationship with her father operated at times, before he passed away in season one.

 Where do we find Saara at the beginning of series two?

We find Saara almost exactly where we left her at the end of series one, right in the middle of what appears to be a major Russian threat and an international crisis.

More broadly, she enters the new series with a strong desire to clean up the mistakes she feels she's made, avoid creating any more chaos and do right by the people around her - which is no small feat for someone with the weight of the world on their shoulders.

One of her main priorities is keeping the promises she made to Vadim. In the first series, Vadim reached out to her from the Russian equivalent of the intelligence services and risked everything to help both her and the UK.

Saara promised to protect him and keep his identity secret. Circumstances forced her to break one of those promises, and she carries a great deal of guilt and pressure because of that.

The other thing driving her is something both Vadim and John, Mark Rylance's character, told her in series one: think outside the box. That's very much her guiding principle as she moves forward.

How did the events of series one change Saara?

The events of the first series changed Saara enormously. 

She lost her father, started working at GCHQ, uncovered multiple layers of a sophisticated malware attack and found herself carrying responsibilities far, far beyond her experience.

She established herself as a brilliant talent but also feels she made mistakes and let people down. She’s proven right both the parts of her that know she is exceptional, and the parts of her that feel like she is to blame for everything that goes wrong. 

By the start of series two, she's trying to put things right. She's carrying a lot emotionally and is attempting to focus on the crisis at hand rather than her personal relationships, which fell into crisis alongside the national security threat in season one.

In many ways, she's trying to regain control and make sense of everything that has happened to her.

What are some of the themes explored in series two?

There are so many themes running through this series.

It explores deception, betrayal and trust on both a personal and geopolitical level.

We see how relationships within GCHQ intersect with life outside the building, and how love, friendship and loyalty can become complicated by secrecy and professional responsibilities.

The series also examines systems of power, state influence and the complex web of international politics operating behind the scenes.

At the same time, it's very much about the impact this work has on ordinary people and the ways professional and personal lives can become deeply intertwined.

What can audiences look forward to in this series?

Audiences get to see Saara begin to open up to those around her, her friendships with her Malware colleagues grow, and her navigating her new-found responsibilities. The professional and personal bond between her and Danny Patrick continues to develop, as they become a team working together against many clear and discreet barriers. 

Audiences will get to see much more of Danny Patrick's personal life and his relationship with Barbara, too. It's fascinating to explore a marriage that exists within a world governed by secrecy, where there are certain things that simply cannot be shared.

We see all the complexities, tensions and emotional realities of that relationship, which makes it feel both unique and surprisingly relatable.

Beyond that, audiences can expect plenty of twists and turns, major surprises and genuinely thrilling moments.

Characters find themselves questioning who they can trust, where their loyalties lie and whether the people around them are really who they seem to be. 

It's a tense, thrilling series that balances political intrigue with deeply personal drama.

 Have there been any behind-the-scenes moments that stood out for you?

 There have been so many. One of the best things about returning was being reunited with the cast and crew. It felt like coming back to a family.

Saara spends much more time in the EMC this series, working closely with Phil, Max and the new character Roz, so we all spent a lot of time together on set and there were a lot of laughs. 

Working with Simon again was wonderful. He's so funny both on and off screen and has the rare gift of being able to deliver intense, powerful drama in a scene, and immediately making us all laugh between takes, which really lifts the pressure off a demanding shoot. 

One particularly memorable day came during the filming of the series climax. It was a long shoot and we were filming dramatic slow-motion sequences involving Danny.

By that point in the schedule, we were all slightly delirious from the long hours, and everything seemed much funnier than it should have been. I think we held up the shoot as we were stuck in a laughing fit for about twenty minutes straight - I can’t even remember what it was about. It was actually exhausting by the end but that kind of laughter feels so good, and was so needed by the point in the shoot!

How was it like having Roz's team join the series?

 One of the most exciting aspects of series two was introducing new characters, particularly Roz.

Lieutenant Colonel Roz Cavendish arrives as head of Rapid Reaction and comes from a military cyber background. That creates immediate tension because her approach is very different from the culture within GCHQ.

The team isn't used to outsiders arriving and changing the way things are done.

It was great playing with that conflict, and then seeing how those relationships evolve in ways you might not expect.

 There are some wonderfully sharp exchanges between Roz and Danny, and it was fun to explore the almost tribal dynamic between the established GCHQ team and these newcomers with very different perspectives.

How would you describe The Undeclared War series two in three words?

Thrilling, tense and shocking.