Hugo Blick and Emily Blunt Address [SPOILERS] Death in Prime Video's The English (Exclusive)

Warning – This article contains spoilers for Episode 1 of The English.

No one is safe in The English. Hugo Blick's latest miniseries chronicles the relationship between Lady Cornelia Locke (Emily Blunt) and Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer) as they navigate the 19th century west while attempting to carry out their respective goals: seek vengeance on the man that killed Cornelia's son and take back Eli's stolen land. The unlikely duo meet in Kansas under inconvenient circumstances, as they run into a hostile Richard Watts (Ciarán Hinds) at a hotel. Watts plans to kill Cornelia and frame Eli for her murder. His plan is foiled when Eli is set free by a dying Sebold Cusk (Toby Jones) and throws a dagger through his captor's back.

Speaking with ComicBook.com's Liam Crowley, Blick noted that killing off two of the show's top-billed stars in the first episode was done to emphasize the unexpectedness of what's to come.

"[It] means all bets are off, doesn't it?" Blick said. "It also means in terms of acting, it doesn't matter if you've got an Oscar nomination or not, I'm still going to kill you (laughs)."

Blunt, who also serves as an executive producer on the series, added that she finds choices like that help keep the audience guessing.

"It's wonderful and it's cutthroat. The body count on this show is incredible by the end, and you've got a body count of significant big actors," Blunt told Crowley in a roundtable interview. "I think it's so important to keep people guessing. I think it should be that feeling of all bets are off. As soon as you know that, and in some ways because you kill off Ciarán Hinds and Toby Jones so mercilessly in the first episode, it does then lead into the other episodes with great tension as all bets are off. Anything could happen, anyone could be done away with it at any given moment, and I think it keeps it alive. I think it's important."

The English is now streaming on Prime Video.