Tehran’s Shervin Alenabi Talks Season 2 Finale and His Window of Opportunity

As an interviewer, Tehran’s cast is almost impossible to engage.

No matter how hard I tried to pull some insight from the principal players, most often, they were reluctant to share their thoughts for fear of spoilers.

Well, Tehran Season 2 is in the can, and Shervin Alenabi, Tehran’s Milad, made a valiant attempt to say something without saying anything. Let’s see how it played out!

The final two episodes of Season 2 are nonstop action and intensity. What was the vibe like on set filming those?

It was nonstop action, and the vibe of the set was very much the same as the tone of the show. Everything is a high stress level, especially for my character, that I don’t think I had a moment of peace throughout Season 2, maybe one or two moments in one episode. But, mostly, everything was very, very up there.

How would you describe his arc, going from being one of Tamar’s targets, to being somebody who was trusted enough within her atmosphere to kind of make the call on whether or not they were going to try to kill the General while he and his son were racing?

Well, from an acting standpoint, it was really exciting to work on something so chaotic.

I think the difference between some of the other characters in the show is that they have to be very disciplined, very focused on the mission, where Milad is being pulled in so many directions in Season 2 especially, his love for the only thing that he had left in the world. As we saw in Season 1, he lost everything he had.

And one of my favorite moments in Season 2 is when he has that little monologue with Tamar and he says, “I have nothing left. And if we’re going to see this through, we have to see it through all the way to the end of it.” So it was incredibly fun to play and such a nice challenge for me, from an actor’s standpoint.

I was curious, did you know, going into the season, what Milad’s fate was going to be? Because it seems like you had several close calls. The whole way throughout the season, there was always another chance where it looked like he was going to get caught and captured or killed.

Yeah, absolutely not. I had no idea. I was viewing some of the episodes, and I’m like, “Wait a minute. Where is he going?” You know? I was literally finding out week by week. I had no idea what was going on.

Isn’t that stressful? Does that help you whenever you’re playing a character who’s under such duress?

Season 2 was very traumatic. Watching it, reading it, playing it was too much. So I’m glad I had six months off after Season 2, to just recoup myself.

You don’t think he’s going to survive that explosion, do you?

You just never know, do you, with this show. And I feel like Milad has nine lives.

Yeah, he had a lot of them just in this season.

He’s just invincible. He just seems to get away with it somehow.

Well, here’s hoping that he’s hiding behind the car somewhere and we just didn’t see it.

Yeah.

If he is not, what would you say was Milad’s downfall? How did he end up in this place where he was a target again, but this time with Tamar?

I don’t think Milad had a downfall. I think he stayed true to his heart and went about things that he thought was right in the moment, be it for what he cares about, for his morals or be it for love.

And that was one of the most admirable things about this character. He really just tried to do the right thing, even though the right thing wasn’t the right thing in the overall picture.

And yeah, such was his fate. But I don’t know. I don’t really see it as downfall.

That’s good. And if you had to guess, what’s next for Tamar? I know there’s no third season on the books or anything, but it sure screams for another season.

That is really interesting. Yeah. That’s really interesting. I’ve thought about that a couple times myself. I have no idea what could be next. I have no clue where they could take it, but I’m really willing to find out. Can’t wait to see what they do with it.

Have you watched it as a fan as well?

I’m going to be totally honest. I haven’t yet sat down to watch it because I lived through it and then I’m in New York and there’s so much to see here. And when I go back home, I really want to sit with my family and friends to watch it all together.

Oh, that’s fair.

Yeah, yeah. I’m sort of saving myself. And then, once everything drops, I want to binge it with my family and friends. Also, I wonder if I watch it, whether it will trigger me a little bit.

I think it will. I mean, he goes through some pretty traumatic experiences. And whenever you see how you portrayed it, it would be interesting to know what you think of it.

Yeah, it would be interesting for me to find out, for sure.

Yeah. I’m guessing from the inside, it looks a lot different than it’s going to look whenever you see how it all came together.

Yes.

So, what’s next for you? What are you working on?

I’m in New York at the moment, and I’m sort of exploring America. I am going to LA soon as well. And I’m meeting a lot of people.

And I feel like after the way Season 2 ends, the world has sort of like opened up, and I’m in a really privileged situation where I can now sort of choose which direction I want to go in. I have the luxury of choice for a little bit.

So I’m just exploring my options now, to see where we can take things.

I just worked on a feature film with Renny Harlin, so I’m really, really excited about it coming out. Seeing the footage on set was incredible.

And yeah, just exploring my options and really loving New York as well. There’s so many interesting characters and things to see and conversations that you have with people here. So I find that quite fascinating.

Yeah. The iron is hot for you right now. So I really hope that you find something that you love and that your next project is just another step in the rung to your success.

I think so. I think that’s important. I think that’s important to find something that you love and that you really want to do. Yeah. So just waiting to see what that thing will be.

You can watch both seasons of Tehran now on Apple TV+.

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