“I’m sad to see that we’re there again,” Gustaf Skarsgård observes, as he talks about the landscape of his new Disney+ drama, To Cook a Bear (Koka Björn). As we sit down to discuss his new project, it’s not difficult to see parallels with contemporary society. Within the series, racial prejudices lead to finger-pointing, hierarchy is maintained with an iron fist,  misogyny is casual, poverty is a killer, and religion is only acceptable if it’s the familiar brand. We could be anywhere in 2025, not Sweden in 1852. 

And Skarsgård’s character of the Pastor is only too willing to point out these inequities. Within the first episode of the six part series, directed by Trygve Allister Diesen, the Pastor is described as an “agitator in a cassock.” At this, he grins. 

“I am always drawn to paradoxical characters because that fits more with my perception of human beings because we’re walking paradoxes, all of us. You know, internal conflicts, clashing intentions, the human struggle, right? And there’s a lot of that in this character and that attracted me to it initially. That, and also the universe. The clash between the crime, the Western and the grimy, harsh landscape and world that we’re building.” 

Within that world, the Pastor finds himself at odds with those around him in the small, northern village of Kengis. He’s endlessly fascinated by the wonders of nature and uses his fiery sermons to denounce those who are self-serving and keen to keep others ‘in their place’. It’s perhaps not hard to draw parallels between Skarsgård and his character. The actor frequently uses his social platforms to call out environmental issues, the imbalance of society and war. 

“There’s a sense of responsibility and using your platform for what you believe is right … but he’s in a very Christian context. A way more, black and white, good and evil, dichotomous context than I am myself. I’m the opposite. I think one of the biggest problems we have right now is that we are too dichotomous: how we perceive ourselves as good and the ‘other’ as inherently evil. We’re seeing an escalation in that, with increased polarism and scapegoat-ism at a collective scale. 

“So my perspective is quite different from his, but perhaps in the sense of wanting to create change for the better [we’re similar] but we just have a different perspective of what that is.” 

This notion of good versus evil, that Skarsgård’s astutely notes, permeates the series. But evil is not about superstitions or a supernatural force. It’s about man’s inhumanity to man. 

“I think it speaks volumes to our tendency to project and demonise. And the self-righteouseness of it, which is also interesting because there’s definitely an element of vanity and pride and self-righteousness in the priest, too … which is fascinating to me.

And whilst he isn’t wearing a hole in the church floorboards whilst he muses on the state of the world, there’s a fire and a passion, here, within Skarsgård’s observations that easily bleeds into the Pastor’s sermons. 

Whilst delivering these sermons, Skarsgård finds himself cloaked in an elaborate ruff and bouffant grey wig. As we sit down, he’s in a neat blazer, looking incredibly relaxed, introspective and charming. The costuming, then, changes him physically, lending his character a striking silhouette and stiff gait. 

“I think it’s so fun because the ceiling is so high in the universe … the costumes, clearly drawn from the Western traditions. It was fun as an actor to embrace that and go with the different silhouettes of the character.” 

And, of course, there’s more than a little hint of Sherlock Holmes, in the series, as the Pastor stands puffing on his pipe, searching for clues. 

“In the museum, of the actual Pastor that the character is based on,  there’s a pipe about this size,” he raises his arms wide open, to indicate a pipe that could only be classed as the size of a small dwelling. “It was too big to mimic on screen, it was too ridiculous!” he laughs. 

“It was fun to go with that and not fight it. It was like, ‘Okay, this is full on Sherlock Holmes now.’ And to go with it, with the pipe, it’s the detective. That’s the genre so have fun with it instead of backing away from it.” 

Crucially, filming for Koka Björn (To Cook a Bear) took place on location, meaning that the braying livestock and squealing mosquitoes that pepper the soundscape were all very real. 

“I love it. I don’t know if that’s why I am consciously or subconsciously drawn to period pieces the way I am. I get into the chair in the morning and undergo a complete transformation on my appearance and I step into a universe that someone has built with a complete attention to detail. I love that. And we were there in the actual marsh, pulling an actual corpse … well, it was a doll, obviously … but none of it is CGI, none of it is in a studio. It’s all real. 

“For me, I really enjoy the experiences that my characters and my projects bring to me personally. I really get to submerge myself into these different worlds and times. I literally get dirt under my fingernails,” he laughs. “I could write a PhD in dirt make up by now! I’ve done so many dirt projects. If I’m sitting in the [hair and make up] chair and someone’s not griming me up, it’s weird!” 

The Pastor spends a lot of his time with with his adopted son, Jussi, played by Emil Kárlsen. The pair are trauma bonded on screen but Skarsgård has nothing but high praise for the young actor.

“It was absolutely lovely,” he says, warmly. “That was one of my main takeaways from the project, was working with Emil. He’s an incredible person and an incredible artist as well, and I got to learn so much about the Sámi culture through him. 

“Their relationship is … complex. I think his love for him is genuine but it plays into the obsessive streak of the character. He’s so obsessed with saving this boy that he might lose track of his other children, his wife and himself.” 

But for all the Pastor’s flaws, there is a real desire to do good; to be a mentor and be kind. The Nordic Watchlist team wondered what mentorship and acts of kindness Gustaf himself has experienced throughout his diverse and interesting career. 

“Well, I have to mention my father. He would come to my school plays and tell me, ‘You’re talking too fast’ ”, he laughs. 

“The most beautiful lesson he ever taught me was when I was eight years old and I was scared to jump off this jumping tower into a body of water. And he said, ‘Okay, let’s pretend you’re on a set and you’re in a role and you’re supposed to jump off.’ He said, ‘Rolling, camera, speed, action!’ and then … I jumped. It’s like the perfect metaphor for the profession: once they say action, you jump.” 

“And, now all of a sudden, I find myself to be the senior on set,” he laughs, noting his opportunity to pass down his own pearls of wisdom to budding young actors. “I used to be the young guy!”

“I try to establish a comfortable, trusting working environment, obviously, and help younger actors with what they can focus on and what they shouldn’t focus on.”

Bringing us nicely full circle, the perils of the world we live in. Whilst the Pastor perhaps only has to worry about losing physical followers in his church, some young actors may be concerned with gathering a following of their own. 

“Today, with the hyper-speed of everything and the epidemic narcissism of our culture and seeing a lot of young people looking at their social profiles and wondering what [follower] numbers they can get before they are thinking about learning their craft … I’m a bit nerdy about that. Learn the craft,” he leans in, emphasising his point with a smile. 

And, quite frankly, if someone with as fascinating a career as Gustaf Skarsgård is giving out life lessons, that’s one sermon we should all be listening to. 

All six episodes of To Cook a Bear (Koka Björn ) come to Disney+ on 15 October. You can catch Gustaf in the TV Series Evil which is currently showing on Walter Presents with Channel 4.