Aramis Knight’s Into the Badlands character, M.K., has a lot to learn before he can fully comprehend and control his mysterious powers.

In honor of the Into the Badlands season 1 DVD/Blu-ray release, we talked with some of the cast members of the show to discuss their thoughts on the direction of the series and their character’s journey.

Interview with Aramis Knight — M.K. on ‘Into the Badlands’

Why do you think M.K. is so drawn to Tilda?

I think M.K. sees a lot of similarities in him and Tilda. M.K. has grown up as an orphan, he’s never really had a mother figure. And I think opposites attract. In Tilda’s case, she’s always grown up with an overbearing mom who has constantly put pressure on her to do things she doesn’t want to do. They kind of balance each other out that way, with someone who has been so overly controlled and someone who has been totally under-controlled.

In terms of his relationship with Sunny, does M.K. feel a loyalty to Sunny or does he just see him as a means to an end?

I definitely think he does feel loyalty to Sunny. They both share what they believe to be their home, which is Azra. Sunny has the compass and I have the pendant. It’s both about ultimate goals, so I think we really bond over that. Me and Daniel [Wu, who plays Sunny] really developed a special relationship through the training process, through preparation and rehearsals, so we were really able to use our offset relationship on set.

What was that process like working with Daniel Wu, and being able to go through the fight choreography and the acting and the emotional moments with somebody like him?

It was great. It’s nice to have him sort of mentoring me. And that’s definitely what Daniel has done, and he’s such a great guy and really someone I look up to. I’m so thankful for the job I have because it’s one of the few jobs that actually opens up so many other experiences for you, such as martial arts. Two years ago, I would’ve never imagined that I would be training as much as I have in the last two years. It opens new doors for you, and they’re very [unnoticeable] doors too, sometimes.

What lesson or skills did you learn during the production of season 1 that you’d like to keep in mind for season 2, or going into any of your future projects?

I definitely have learned a lot on this shoot. I think a lot of it has to do with the weight that’s put on my shoulders because I’ve never really had a role that I had to carry myself. I feel like this was something I really needed to take control of. I was kind of coming into an interesting age, and I’m kind of coming out of that age now, but I was kind of a boy but kind of a man, and I didn’t really know where I stood within my career and with the character development. I think I was really able to put that into M.K. because he kind of felt that way, too, a lot throughout the series. I would say that the experience was really everything. I learned how to really be a leader on it.

It’s great that a show like this can help you through the real world stuff, too.

Definitely, definitely. It’s learning to conquer goals. That’s very much how it feels whenever I finish a scene or even finish the whole shoot, really, on this. It’s a very challenging project to pull off.

In the DVD extras, you said that M.K. was not really afraid of Quinn. Do you think that’s because of M.K. powers, or is it his lack of understanding in regards to Quinn’s strength and the strings he can pull and the loyalty he musters in the people who follow him?

I wouldn’t say it’s either of those things. I wouldn’t say it’s because of his power because Quinn could easily chop his head off and that would be that. But I will say it gives M.K. a lot of leverage over most all the other characters in the show. He is so special, so he knows that Quinn knows M.K. could be his little monster. He can completely shift the tide in his direction for control of the Badlands. For M.K., I think he realizes that everybody needs him a lot more than he needs them. I think it’s really more of a leverage thing rather than a physical power thing or a loyalty thing.

Speaking of loyalty, it seems like loyalty is a very cheap currency in this world, and even though M.K. has friends, or at least people that he does trust, do you think there is anyone he can really rely on?

It’s kind of hard to tell. I would probably say no, and the reason being is because there are so many big egos in this show and a huge theme of this show is control. With characters like Quinn and characters like The Widow and characters like Sunny, and new characters that we’re introducing this season — we’ll be introducing more of the seven barons — they have such big egos and they have a huge influence on other characters around, so even though M.K. feels a very strong, personal connection with Tilda and a very strong personal connection with Sunny, and although he gets close to other characters, I think there’s always something in him that feels like he can’t trust them because of the rule of people like Quinn and The Widow.

The fight choreography is absolutely incredible, and it all seems really difficult to me, but what aspects were the most difficult for you to overcome?

I would say my flexibility. Whereas some others struggled with strength, for me it was really having the length in my muscles to be able to perform some of the moves they wanted me to. A lot of my training consisted of stretching and strength training to keep my muscles limber and protected. It’s still something I sort of struggle with. Power has never really been an issue, and that’s probably why, so it’s really something that I just gotta deal with pretty much on a daily basis with stretching.

M.K. does a lot of hand-to-hand combat, but do you have a favorite weapon that you like to work with or one that you would like to work with more often?

Yeah, definitely. One weapon that I worked with a lot in the off season and also something I played around a bit within season 1, but was never featured in season 1, was the bo staff. I can’t give anything away…so I might be using the bo staff in season 2 but I’m not sure yet.

Stay tuned to our ‘Into the Badlands‘ coverage because more interviews with the cast are on their way!

Emily Beecham explains The Widow’s motivations on ‘Into the Badlands’