[Editor’s note: The following contains major spoilers for Vampire Academy.]

From showrunners Julie Plec and Marguerite MacIntyre, and based on the best-selling book series by author Richelle Mead, the Peacock original series Vampire Academy is set in a world with powerful Royals, half-vampire Guardians, and savage Strigoi, who threaten to tear it all apart. At the center of it all, two young women – Lissa Dragomir (Daniela Nieves), a Royal vampire who yearns for a more normal life than her privilege will allow, and Rose Hathaway (Sisi Stringer), her Dhampir best friend training to be her Guardian – push back on the expectations and responsibilities placed on them without fully realizing the extent of the danger that puts them in.

In the series, Kieron Moore plays Dimitri Belikov, a Dhampir Guardian so disciplined and committed that even he is surprised by the effect Rose has on him, with her ability to tear it all down and get through to who he really is underneath it all. During this 1-on-1 interview with Crumpa, he talked about how Vampire Academy is his first professional acting gig, the way he approached finding this version of Dimitri, what he most enjoys exploring with this character, developing the fighting style, and why Rose is able to crack his exterior. He also dug into the impactful events of episode eight, the moment that he had some difficulty with, where Dimitri’s true feelings lie, and his hope that he’ll get to keep telling this story for awhile.

Crumpa: I’m such a fan of these books, and I even enjoyed the movie, but I really love what this TV series has been doing.

KIERON MOORE: I watched the movie in the cinema, so that was a core memory for me, unlocked when I first got breakdown. I was like, “This is cool.” And then, I checked and was like, “Oh, my God, I’ve seen the movie.” It’s like a comfort movie. I watched it seven times, in between filming.

Was it challenging to put someone else’s take on your character out of your head, when you were approaching this?

MOORE: Interestingly, for me, I’m very much new to acting. This is my first proper gig. There was an inexperience there, so it wasn’t really hard. There are pressures and fears and doubts. Not only is Dimitri cherished by so many book fans, but a lot of people loved Danila [Kozlovskiy]. He was a perfect match for their interpretation of the books. I was just all about getting as much information as I possibly could, about the Dimitri that is cherished by people and that essence of him. I think that’s so important. So, as much information as possible really helped me. There are lots of different approaches and different philosophies. André [Dae Kim], who’s a good friend of mine, plays Christian, and his approach is completely different. He wants to get as far away from other interpretations as possible. Out of a respect for the fans, who love this character for so many reasons, it was my duty to try to embody that version, as much as possible, within the constraints and limitations of our different interpretation. It was very much about bringing myself to it, what I thought Dimitri was, what I loved about Dimitri from the blueprint of the books, and what I was getting from the script that’s been written, and trying to bring all of those elements together. Hopefully, I’ve managed to capture that and my homework is evident in the performance. That’s all I can pray for.

This is a show with vampire mythology, it has court politics, and there’s friendship, romance and family. There are all of these layers that are intertwined with each other. What was it about this world and this character that most intrigued you? Was there an aspect of all of that, that you were personally most drawn to?

MOORE: For me, the whole thing was exhilarating. This idea that we’re going to talk about a vampire world that coexists with humans in our own society, the rules that we get to embark on, the different moral dilemmas that are very true to our own human experience, the fighting style, and everything was exciting. We hear a lot about Dimitri’s stature in the books and how he is this militant, disciplined, lethal Guardian who’s almost elite at what he does. I was like, “But what about the person underneath?” I was more interested in that. I can do the other thing. That’s the physical embodiment. That’s the outside. What’s on the inside? What is he not saying in this scene? What does he want to say when he’s restricted to the behaviors that have almost been forced upon him, through discipline and through his upbringing? What is the contradiction? What does he actually feel? That was really exciting to me. This is how much of a nerd I was, but I really zoned in. I knew Dimitri is a bit of an outsider. He spends a lot of time on his own. He’s rooted in his faith and has his own demons. So, I picked my flat in Spain to be quite a boxy little flat. I just wanted a little bit of a cell, really. My whole wall was just Post-It notes of all of Dimitri’s thoughts. I’ve got a pictures of it, with all the things pulling him in different directions, that the audience will never see and never know. Hopefully, they’ll only be able to interpret it from the choices that I make as Dimitri. For me, it was just about forming that person.

You talked about this being the first proper acting gig that you had, but did you have any experience in fights and stunts?

MOORE: I’ve boxed, all my life. I first went to a boxing gym when I was five years old. My dad was my coach. I started competing at 10, up until about 21. That was my whole life. I was always meant to be a boxer. And then, for whatever reason, my life took me different directions. I fell out of love with it, but it still a deep place in my heart. But then, coming to Dimitri, a massive part of his personality is told through his fighting. I did have that little bit of experience, and thankfully, my own knowledge and my own awareness and reflexes that have stayed with me from boxing, have come in handy during the training and allowed the stunt team to trust me enough to do all of my own fights and incorporate them in my way, as well. The style is a reflection of each of the characters that you see fighting, from Mason to Rose, to everyone. We’ve all brought our own experiences to our characters and helped shaped the styles to match our character specifically, while still staying aligned to this Dhampir fight style, which made me feel comfortable.

For boxing, you don’t show that you’re hurt. It’s a mental game. As much as it’s about skill set, it’s also hiding what’s inside, in order to try to surpass yourself, to defeat the obstacle in front of you. That was a really interesting metaphor for me with Dimitri. I clung to this idea that he didn’t enjoy doing what he’s doing. He’s a man of faith. Our version of Dimitri is so instilled in his faith to cope and battle his own demons. I thought it was interesting to explore this idea that he’s had this task from a higher power bestowed on him to save the Strigoi from themselves. There’s no enjoyment. He doesn’t enjoy being good at what he does. He’s glad that he is because he’s survived, but it is literally just his job. This is his purpose. That’s it. And that’s where Rose Hathaway comes along and makes him look a bit outside of himself. What if there’s more to this world than what it presents to be?

It feels like, if he ever got a good therapist, they’d tell him to get a better work/life balance.

MOORE: It’s very much all or nothing. It’s a coping mechanism, as well, which hopefully people will be slightly endeared by. That’s what I was endeared by. You meet a man that presents to be perfect at what he does, but are any of us? What’s inside? What’s he battling there? That was always more interesting for me. I think a therapist would have their work cut out with him.

With a character like Dimitri, there’s two sides of him. There’s who he is, as a person, and where he’s come from, but there’s also the relationship with Rose, which plays such a big part in the story. What is it about Rose that really cracks his exterior, in a way that doesn’t really happen under any other circumstances?

MOORE: I was really challenged by that, for a long time. Even though I understood the dynamic of the books and understood the relationship, and you’re rooting for Rose and Dimitri, I was like, “This man that is so secluded, so enveloped in his work, why would he ever love a rule-breaker like that?” That was something I really spent a lot of time on. For me, Rose embodies a freedom that Dimitri’s never been able to achieve or understand. There’s an element of envy, but in a respectful manner. It’s almost like, “Wow, this young, talented, beautiful woman is capable of both.” She’s tipping the scale to a balance in the other direction. They both help each other. He tries to ground her a little bit and make her understand the risks of what they’re doing and their position in society, whereas she’s saying that there’s more to life than this and he deserves more. She’s the tornado that awakens the questions that potentially my version of Dimitri has probably asked himself before and eradicated from his memory. Rose is unavoidable. She’s a magnet that keeps taking him in and helps him find who he is. For a long time, you just see what Dimitri presents to be, and Rose is the only one that sees who he really is.

What was it like to shoot that fight scene in episode eight, between Rose and Dimitri? It was so brutal to watch. It’s hard because he’s being so stupid and stubborn, and you find yourself rooting for Rose to literally knock sense into him. But you can also feel his emotional and physical pain. What was it like to shoot that and to do a fight scene with so much emotion in it?

MOORE: From my own perspective, as Kieron, that was one of the best days of my life. It was such a full circle moment to act. My dad will cry, when he watches that scene. That will mean so much to my dad. It meant so much to me. I can only thank the writers for that. But that was the challenge of that fight. The fight itself is a huge metaphor. It’s a metaphor for the love that they’re experiencing. Ultimately, the fight becomes a choice. Will Dimitri pick his duty, or will he pick Rose? I think Dimitri already made his choice, but he’s running away from that choice, until that fight happens and Dimitri is forced to make the choice that he never wanted to have to make. As soon as he makes that decision, he’s passed the threshold and he can never go back. He knows that everything that he’s been led to believe through his own reputation or the way people perceive him to be, doesn’t exist anymore. He picked love over duty. It’s definitely a huge moment for Dimitri. Within that, we see him trying to resist it, at first, until it makes him crumble and he’s like, “What have I done?” I’m hoping that scene does as much for everyone, as it did for the relationship between Rose and Dimitri.

Is that also what leads to him kissing Tatiana? What got him to that moment?

MOORE: Being completely honest, I had difficulty with this. My fear is that people would think that the choice that he made to choose Rose in the fight, as opposed to his duty, would be nullified by his further mistake with Tatiana. I think we see Dimitri visibly wrestle his demons. He has no idea who he is anymore, and I think it’s an escape. I hope that reads. I hope people understand. It’s a throw your shoe at the telly moment where you go, “What are you doing Dimitri? Don’t do that! What are you doing? Don’t be an idiot! You might get the girl.” I did struggle with it, and I hope audiences struggle with it. It should be a scene where you’re like, “No!” He surprises himself, in that moment. But hopefully, the lesson of that is that we have no idea who Dimitri is. He’s much more than this man. He’s definitely got some demons in there. He’s definitely struggling. He’s definitely resisting. He’s losing himself a little bit, but in order to find yourself, you have to get lost, as well. Going forward, we’ll see.

Going forward, beyond that moment, what would you say to tease what’s next, in the last couple of episodes?

MOORE: I don’t know if Dimitri gets his resolve. That’s what I will say. You see where his true feelings lie. He will always continue to sacrifice himself for Rose. Regardless of the wall he puts up, Rose starts to come first. Hopefully, he redeems himself, in a different sense. Unfortunately, there’s an element of episode nine where, in the writing Dimitri was going to get a more specific resolve with Tatiana, but for whatever reason, we changed it. It gives us more room to grow, if we get to adapt this even further, which I hope we do. There’s so much more of Dimitri that I’d love to tell. It just adds further complexity. Rose is still dangling with Mason. Dimitri gets his resolve through Rose’s actions, as well. They both know and feel, at this time, that they can’t be together, but they want to be, and that forbid love is exciting. Hopefully, people will be like, “No, please, have each other. You deserve each other.” But there’s nothing like a slow burner, right? You had to wait a long time for the first interaction and be like, “Come on, get it over with and embrace.” I hope that fight of resistance continues to be something that we can play on.

I refuse to believe anything other than we’re going to get all the seasons necessary to tell this complete story.

MOORE: I’m hopeful of that too. So much happens in this first season that it’s a hundred miles an hour. We’ll challenge and hopefully entice new audiences, but we’ve only seen a speckle of what this could be. This world is vast. There are so many things that we introduce. I hope the show doesn’t give people too many answers because the questions are ultimately more important. The more questions, the more demand.

Vampire Academy is available to stream at Peacock.