Rhona Mitra Explains ‘Strike Back’ Character’s Dark Transformation

Rhona Mitra’s character on the action thriller Strike Back has plunged to some pretty dark depths in season 3, prompting many fans to wonder just what the heck is going on with Major Rachel Dalton, and what the heck the writers have planned for her.

“It was really lovely to actually be able to give Rachel Dalton, I think, the breadth and the space that she needed to be, who I’ve always believed her to be,” the 37-year-old actress told Access Hollywood of her dark character arc thus far.

Motivated by revenge, Major Dalton has gone from cool and confident leader to single-minded, unhinged and desperate. Rhona Mitra said that her character’s actions reflect more than just responsibility and guilt.

“I think for any human being you start to see the chinks in the armor and I think her fragility as a woman and as a human, she starts questioning who she is,” she explained.

“I think that’s what happens to all men and women in the military is they get to the point where lives are being lost again and again. I suppose it’s that perspective, that point you reach your own personal cul-de-sac, where your life becomes so twisted that you start to become unraveled.”

She also talked a bit about her new series, The Last Ship, a Michael Bay-produced post-apocalyptic thriller which will air on TNT in 2014. In it, she plays “another Rachel,” she says.

Her character is Rachel Scott, a paleomicrobiologist working alongside Eric Dane as series lead Captain Tom Chandler.

“The crazy thing is my new character’s called Rachel Scott,” she said, referencing Sullivan Stapleton’s Strike Back character, Damian Scott.

The new series is currently in production.

“It sounds more big budget than it is,” she said of the scale. “TNT are very supportive of their shows, so we get a very great amount of support from them, but it’s also the Navy who have been very generous and the military, again, being very generous with their toys.”

You can catch Rhona Mitra on Strike Back Friday nights at 10PM on Cinemax.