[the] previous hero," Adam Carter. The producers focused on Richard Armitage early into the casting suggestions, because they felt he could carry the mystery of Lucas North. Writer Neil Cross felt that Armitage would bring the entire tortured history of North on screen. The producers approached Armitage in November 2007, following the completion of the second series of Robin Hood, for which he played the regular part of Sir Guy of Gisbourne. Though interested in appearing on Spooks, he was initially somewhat worried and hesitant to join the series, citing replacing Rupert Penry-Jones, which he thought was a "tall order," and fears of bringing the series down. He agreed to appear on the series upon reading the rough outline of the script. He and the producers discussed about the potential and direction for the character, as well as where he would fit in the world of Spooks. A tentative viewer of the Spooks, he spent two days catching up on the series before starting. Development To research for his role, Armitage read novels from authors including John le Carré, Frederick Forsyth and Robert Ludlum. He tried to inspire his acting style for Lucas by Jason Bourne, a character created by Ludlum. He also lost a stone in weight in order to keep with the description that Lucas is malnourished, but also had to keep physically fit in order to perform a fight sequence during his first week of filming. Since Lucas is a fluent Russian speaker, Armitage had to learn it phonetically, which he found "pretty impossible." He originally tried to learn it from a disc, but found it too basic and had since moved on to a language coach. Though interested, yet frustrated about the writing style and not knowing what is going to happen next, upon starting, Armitage was told by co-star Peter Firth to learn to run with it, as well as learn the lines and political jargon quickly. He also thought the scripts are "quite a workout for the brain." Armitage was also coached on his "serious face" and the "Spooks lean" by Rupert Penry-Jones. The numerous tattoos on Lucas's torso were actually transfers planted on Armitage, and took a couple of hours to apply. However, he was often told not to move much, as they could rub off quite easily. Armitage was also one of only two actors, along with Hermione Norris, who plays Ros