Known for his razor-sharp humour and distinctive online characters, Henry Rowley steps into the spotlight as an actor in ‘Robin Hood’, a bold new take on the English legend now streaming on MGM+.
“I never really thought ‘this is working’, but I did wonder ‘why is this working?’” confesses Henry Rowley, recalling the viral video that changed everything: a posh girl debriefing a wild night out with raspy indifference. The internet didn’t just laugh—it related. That unexpected connection marked the beginning of a new chapter, where observation and satire became his tools to decode modern life.
“I think it’s the same reason I love literature, cinema and acting: they’re all studies of human behaviour,” he explains. Far from mockery, his characters aim to hold up a mirror to the subtle absurdities of everyday life. “I just want people to laugh. And if someone watches and thinks, ‘Oh God, that’s me’, even better.”
The transition from social media to the stage was both daunting and exhilarating. His one-man show, ‘Just Literally’, sold out across several cities in the UK. “It was terrifying but brilliant,” he recalls. “You’ve got an entire room watching you—no skipping, no filters. It’s like taking the audience hostage while you act out your sketches.”
But shifting into traditional acting brought its own challenges. “People know you as the guy who does sketches,” he admits. “Getting taken seriously as an actor takes time.” Still, he never tried to separate both paths. “I’ve learned to embrace everything I do. Acting has always been my dream, and I’m going all in.”
That dream has become reality with his role as Will Gamewell in ‘Robin Hood’. “Will is mischievous, cheeky, but also layered and deeply human,” says Rowley. “Some parts of him felt very close to me, others didn’t—and that contrast is what made it so exciting.” Rather than centring on the myth of the lone hero, this version reimagines the legend from the ground up. “The story doesn’t begin with Robin and build the world around him. It begins with the world as it was—and then Robin enters it. That changes everything.”
Filming in Serbia was a transformative experience. “I smiled from the moment we landed. The sets, the locations, the costumes—it was all beyond what I imagined. It made me grow as an actor.”
Despite the legacy of Robin Hood adaptations, there was no pressure to replicate the past. “We knew the legend had been told before, but this was ours. It had its own identity, and we believed in that.”
Outside of his acting work, Rowley maintains a playful relationship with fashion. “I’ve always loved dressing up—even as a kid,” he admits. “One day it’s baggy jeans, the next it’s a velvet suit. I like using clothes to tap into different characters.” On set, wardrobe becomes a kind of armour: “The costumes for ‘Robin Hood’ were so detailed and powerful. They helped me step into character instantly.”
Looking ahead, Henry Rowley remains focused and ambitious. “I just want to keep acting. There are so many roles I’d love to play, so I’ll keep auditioning until something new lands.” And if he could say one thing to the younger version of himself, just before posting that very first sketch? “Get a haircut.”
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