Fortitude is welcoming some big names for its second series – but two of the biggest signed up for the Sky Atlantic series before they'd even read a script.

Dennis Quaid and Game of Thrones actress Michelle Fairley play a married couple, Michael and Freya Lennox, in the returning thriller – set in an isolated community in Arctic Norway.

"Basically, you get your character's route into that world – their personal lives, how they fit in to the geography of the town, what is going on personally," Fairley told press including Digital Spy. "Because you don't physically have the scripts, you have to take an awful lot of that on trust."

Robert Viglasky

For Quaid, it was a conversation with Fortitude writer Simon Donald – plus a binge-watch of the first series – that convinced him to sign up before he'd read a single page.

"I was offered it back in the fall [of 2015] and watched the first season front-to-back and it felt like I had to do it," he explained. "The story was so good, I was so caught up in it and watched it on a binge-watch with my wife, all in a day and half. I just wanted to be a part of it.

"I then had a talk with Simon on the phone for about a half hour – he didn't know exactly what he was going to do, but I just trusted him and his ability as a writer. And with the other cast in the show, I knew it was going to be great people to work with. So I just said yes!"

Steffan Hill

Despite the addition of new characters - joining returning cast like Sofie Grabol's Governor Hildur Odegard - Quaid insisted that Fortitude feels "much more personal" this year.

"There are actually fewer characters [overall] but they are more intense," agreed Fairley. "One of the things that I liked about the first season was the fact that the place itself was a character. It's so extreme and so remote."

The first series of Fortitude – which aired in 2015 – told a dark and twisted tale about parasitic wasps which invaded the human body, provoking violent behaviour in their hosts.

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The story for series two is strictly under wraps, but you can certainly expect more grisly happenings – and more deaths...

"I assumed I was going to be bumped off when I first got here!" quipped Quaid. Could his rugged fisherman go the way of Christopher Eccleston's poor unfortunate Professor Stoddart? It sounds like nothing's off the table...

Fortitude returns to Sky Atlantic on Thursday (January 26) at 9pm. The entire 10-part series will also be available to watch on Sky Box Sets, immediately after episode one airs.

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