‘Steal’: Sophie Turner & Archie Madekwe Talk Bonding on Set of New Escapist Heist Thriller (VIDEO)

“She takes a few punches, so in that sense I learned to work on my reactions a bit,” Sophie Turner says of how starring as a witness who gets in over her head in Prime Video’s new high-octane heist thriller Steal prepared her to play Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider series coming up on the same platform.

We spoke with the Game of Thrones actor on the London set of the fast-paced six-part drama (all episodes drop January 21), which she describes as having “a fun sense of escapism.” Turner plays a messy, low-rung investment company employee, Zara, who is the key witness to cracking the crime of the century after a violent robbery at Lochmill Capital in which she and her bestie, flashy but broke Luke, played by Saltburn‘s Archie Madekwe, are forced to transfer billions in pension funds to mysterious accounts. (Click on the video to see the pair share details about life on set during the 20-week shoot.)

“I fell in love with Zara because she was a total mess and was trying her best to put on this front of, ‘life is fine, work is fine,’” Turner says. “In the background, she’s dealing with a narcissistic alcoholic mother. She’s kind of got a bit of a partying problem. Yeah, she’s just kind of all over the place in her personal life.”

The cast did some of their own partying together. “We’re both karaoke fiends,” Madekwe says. Between takes on set, the two sang songs from the then recently-released Chappell Roan album, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.”  (Turner’s go-to track is “My Kink is Karma,” while Madekwe loves “Naked in Manhattan.”) They also bought a toy bow and arrow set to pass time in the trailer.

Hey, you need to cut the tension during downtime on a show where characters get pulled into life-or-death situations! (And in case you’re wondering if learning archery skills left the actors hungering for roles in The Hunger Games franchise, Madekwe would “never say never” while Turner ponders, “Could do. I don’t know how good our shots were.”)

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Zara gets increasingly out of her depth when she begins helping indebted Detective Rhys Covaci (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, Bodies). “They team up in a covert operation of two, maybe developing feelings for each other. They’re kind of using each other but it’s almost like this fun cat and mouse game. Can I trust you? Do I like you?”

The forces they align against are increasingly dangerous, resulting in heart-stopping action. “I like those moments of the gore and effects,” Madekwe says of a scene where he had to spit stage blood. To survive, Zara must discover not just who took the money, but why. Turner says, “Zara finds resilience. She doesn’t realize how brave she actually is.” And with the last-minute twists, viewers won’t realize just how very clever Zara is until the finale.

Steal, Series Premiere, Wednesday, January 21, Prime Video