Chum Ehelepola (“Newsreader”) stars as Jagadish in the new AMC+ series, “Nautilus.”
Inspired by Jules Verne’s beloved “20,000 Leagues Under The Sea,” “Nautilus” follows Captain Nemo’s mission to enact revenge on the East India Mercantile Company, who took everything from him. Nemo audaciously steals a prototype submarine from the penal colony in which he is imprisoned, escaping into the ocean with a motley crew of fellow prisoners. He plans to reach the fabled Viking treasure buried at the Pillars of Halvar. But first, he must win the trust of his crew, and keep out of the clutches of the ruthless East India Mercantile Company, who will do whatever it takes to stop him.
The 10-episode series stars Shazad Latiff, Pacharo Mzembe, Luke Arnold, Ashan Kumar, Thierry Fremont, Damien Garvey, Georgia Flood, and Céline Menville. Richard E. Grant, Anna Torv, and Noah Taylor make guest appearances in the series. Nautilus is developed and produced by Moonriver TV’s Xavier Marchand and Seven Stories’ Anand Tucker, is written and executive produced by James Dormer, and is executive produced by Johanna Devereaux, Chris Loveall, Colleen Woodcock, and Daisy Gilbert. Cameron Welsh serves as producer, and Michael Matthews is the lead director.
Check out our Q+A with Chum:
What was it about “Nautilus” that really drew you in to be a part of it?
Chum: I think when you’re doing a mega show such as Nautilus, as an actor you’re always extremely excited. I was super excited to play in something that lives in a fantasy world. I’m always excited to act in larger than life and projects, shows that take us into a new dimension of life that we don’t normally see on television. And the team, when I realized the people working on it, and I knew the director prior, Michael Matthews, who I think is amazingly talented. I just knew that I wanted to be part of this project. And the character sounded really interesting and challenging. I hadn’t read a character like this before and they gave me quite a lot of liberty to play with the guy and I really owned him. When I just started playing around with jagadesh I just knew I really wanted to be part of this project.
“Nautilus” is based on Jules Verne’s novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, is this a retelling of the classic tale? How would you describe the show in relation to the novel?
Chum: I think the TV show is probably best described as inspired by the novel rather than a play by play retelling of the novel. The TV show doesn’t follow the novel exactly as it is, so if you’re a bit of a purist for the novel then you might find the show extremely different. But if you enjoyed the book and are interested to see what a great filmmaking team could do with the story inspired by such an iconic novel and a lead such as Captain Nemo, then Nautilus will be a great fun TV show to watch. I think also the TV show takes liberty and has quite a lot of fun with the adventure of the crew. There’s also new characters in the Nautilus crew that aren’t in the book. The TV show, while it is set in period, does feel a little bit more today in the tone and style of the way the show is. It doesn’t actually feel like you’re watching this straight up period piece, that there is a modern element that’s woven in beautifully without making it feel like you’re stuck in 2025
It’s been quite a while since I’ve read the story, but one thing I remember is how much time is devoted to describing fish… Do fish play a role in the show like they did in the novel?
Chum: Ah that’s a great question, do fish play a role in the show. I mean the show is set in a submarine and it spends most of its time underwater so definitely, fish do play a role. I don’t want to give away any spoilers but let’s just say that the creatures you see underwater are a hell of a lot more eye-catching and eye grabbing than just fish. The writers also comment on the current state of marine life and how we treat these majestic underwater creatures. That maybe we need to take a little bit more responsibility for how we treat these beautiful creatures, who are just trying to live in their natural habitat. Also, if you’re into fish then there’s also some great interactions that the Nautilus crew has underwater along with a bunch of amazing interactions with creatures outside of the water that will leave you on the edge of your seat.
What is it like modernizing such an iconic story and how does “Nautilus” compare to other iterations of the story?
Chum: To be honest I’m not actually very familiar with other iterations of the story but I think what Nautilus does really well, with modernizing such an iconic story, is playing with themes and ideas that are still relevant today. You know the writers talk about how much we’re looking after our environment or probably not looking after our environment, they talk about gender inequality and sexism and how that plays out, and especially in this sorry they talk quite a lot about diversity, race, class inequality and segregations that are relevant in our current world. I know when I was talking to the directors and writers about some of the storylines I was involved in they were extremely open to hearing my points of view about race and my experiences and they were really excited to weave in these ideas into the story, so that a lot of these issues felt very real, lived in and relevant to our modern culture. And if you want to talk about something visceral then the VFX and CG work is brilliant and I think when you watch the show and you see the VFX, it does give it a sense of modern television, set in a period time. There are not many TV shows out right now that are set in period time, but have super modern visual effects. This is where Nautilus really flips the script on modern television.
What do you think it is about this story that still resonates with people today?
Chum: I think it’s the sense of adventure. I think in today’s culture we’ve lost our sense of adventure. We’re so busy trying to acquire or get a raise or pay our mortgage or give our kids a great education or you know build security etc, that we’ve completely forgotten that adventure is such an important part of life. You know when you watch this show, and you see captain Nemo, played impeccably by Shazad, who has this great big goal that he wants to achieve and he’s prepared to face real adventure in trying to get it, there’s something really exciting, relevant and modern about it. I think teamwork is something great. Once again in our current society I think we’re feeling more lonely than ever. We’re stuck on our devices, we’re scrolling and DMing people that we’re not physically touching or seeing or hearing and I think a show like Nautilus really centers around a team of people who are working with each other for a common goal. Now of course they argue they bicker they fight and work together and I think there’s something really great about seeing what teamwork and camaraderie and mate ship can do. And I think finally standing up for injustice. It’s so crazy that in 2025 there can be so much injustice and inequality happening and so many of us have been rendered choiceless or forced not to speak up because of what can happen to us, the punishments and repercussions. Nautilus talks about the injustices that have happened each of the characters including my character and how these people are not taking no for an answer and how in their own little ways or large ways, they’re going to fight for their own rights, to fight for what is good and to take on the establishment.
What about it resonates with you personally?
Chum: I think a lot of what I spoke above resonates with me personally. What really resonates to me personally is the kind of “taking on the man”. Maybe that’s also because my character jagadish really is into calling out the establishment. I think as a brown actor I’ve definitely had to face many hurdles, many obstacles and sometimes I really felt that there was quite a lot of injustices maybe, or not as many opportunities for actors of color and yet I am still acting and fighting for our TV shows to feel modern and like a real world should be, populated with as many cultures as possible. All of the crew in the Nautilus, they’re definitely coming from an underprivileged background but they are fighting for something bigger even if they feel they may not make it. This was something that resonated with me personally because I think every day as humans we’re constantly fighting to achieve something that we really believe in. As we keep facing obstacles we have to reflect upon whether we keep fighting or whether we give up. And the characters in Nautilus well they never give up no matter how hard the obstacle maybe ahead of them.
You play Jagadish, what can you tell us about him and his role in the series?
Chum: Jagadish is a new character who was not originally in the 20,000 leagues under the sea. Jagadish is a fun character who ends up taking over the Nautilus with captain Nemo. He’s a bit of a conspiracy theorist and completely doesn’t trust the establishment which includes the English but also can include captain Nemo. He was really fun to play because he’s very self-centered, egotistical and bumbling. He’s kind of fighting for a new revolution even though he’s probably more concerned about how he looks rather than really making change. But again without giving away any spoilers, as the season goes through jagadish does have to face himself when he starts to see these new worlds that the Nautilus offers him and in doing so he starts to realize that his words have to be more than just words and that his rhetoric of revolution will soon have to be replaced with some real action. He has to become a leader rather than just talk of being one. Jagadish offers a lot of comedy in the show which I really enjoyed playing. Michael really gave me a lot of room to play with the comedy to improv and find new things. The cast were amazing to play with so I was able to find some real lightheartedness and fun with Jagadish, when most of the show is the Nautilus and the crew constantly facing life or death situations.
What are you most excited for people to see when they see the show?
Chum: The show is a lot of fun which I think we need in television at the moment. But I think what I’m really most excited for people to see and really proud of, is to see a lead cast that is all multicultural and diverse. There are not many big budget TV shows in Hollywood that have a main cast that it’s all multicultural and amazing actors. I remember walking into the production room and seeing all the cast headshots and I was just fascinated and proud to see such a mix of faces and people and voices and accents and cultures that I thought to myself, well I haven’t seen a show like this before. I am so excited for viewers to see what a show looks like that has a real true diversity and it’s hard to pin what world or country you’re in. I think that is what Nautilus thematically represents, that our world is massive our world is huge and when you’re in the Nautilus, underwater going on an adventure, we start to see that humans in this world are more than just what we know it to be. There’s an expansiveness to it from experiences, cultures, everything. I think what I’m most excited for people to see, along with the beautifully multicultural and diverse cast. is to feel the expansive nature of the world. Sometimes the world can seem extremely insular and that we’re living in this small bubble or reality (social media doesn’t help us escape that bubble, only keeps us further in it) but when you watch Nautilus you’ll start to hopefully feel expansive and that there is a big world out there that we still don’t even know about.
I’m a firm believer that the media we consume stays with us– what do you hope the audience takes away from watching “Nautilus”?
Chum: I hope that the audiences take away from Nautilus that we don’t understand the world yet and we don’t even understand people yet. I hope that audiences watch Nautilus and choose to step outside their comfort zone, to choose to engage in adventure, exploration and new experiences and that could probably just mean walking over to your neighbors house knocking on the door and saying hi and introducing yourself instead of staying insular and closed off. I also hope that people watch the show and fight for anyone that they feel is underprivileged or disadvantaged. Nautilus talks super effectively at the massive social divide and wealth inequality and I think that we have never been in more of a period in our lifetime where that idea is sadly more truer. I hope that after watching the show people realise that there is this divide and the divide is unhealthy and that there’s more people than ever who are marginalized and have lost a lot of their personal rights and abilities and we need to help them. We need to fight for them. If you do have some privilege how do you use that to help people that are less privileged and help them go on their own adventure of success?
Is there anything else you’d like our audience to know about “Nautilus”?
Chum: I think I’d like audiences to know that television needs to be fun. While we definitely want to make social change or commentary or use TV to put up a mirror to the world we also just want to sit down and be entertained and go on a bit of a fantasy adventure like our parents are telling us a bedtime story. Nautilus is a fun fantasy tale, embedded into some really deep potent powerful social and world commentary. I think from a behind the scenes point of view I’d also love audiences to know how tight the cast were in shooting this show. We were together for a long time in Australia shooting the show and the bond we built, shooting an amazing show and knowing that each of us, from our own cultural point of view had the chance to illustrate representation of a world that we all know to be true, diverse and colorful…and full of adventure and fantasy. As our own lives should be!