Warning: SPOILERS lie ahead for MobLand episode 5, "Funeral for a Friend"!

After a few episodes of uncertainty, MobLand episode 5, leading to one of the most intense episodes yet. The young adult son of the leader of the London Stevenson gang went missing in episode 1's ending, with Geoff Bell's Richie going on the war path against the Harrigan family to find him after he was last seen with fellow crime family son, Eddie Harrigan. It's revealed that Eddie killed Tommy and paid a local pub owner to hide the body, nearly creating a war.

Having seemingly averted Richie's suspicions, the Harrigan family found themselves on dangerous ground in MobLand episode 5 as they were forced to attend Tommy's funeral, much to the dismay of his grieving wife and Tommy's mom, Vron. At the wake, in particular, Vron makes her frustrations widely known, openly criticizing Helen Mirren's Maeve for attending, denoting it was Richie's idea for them to come, and body-shaming her. In response, despite making a truce with Richie in a private meeting, Maeve orders a car bomb hit on Vron for revenge, with her being killed in the episode's final moments.

On the heels of the episode's premiere, ScreenRant interviewed Annie Cooper to discuss MobLand episode 5. The star reflected on her experience working on the Guy Ritchie-produced and directed show, praising the various stars and crew she worked with. Cooper also discussed the tense confrontation between Vron and Maeve, the joy of working with Mirren, and previewed how Vron's death will impact the Harrigan and Stevensons' brewing war.

Cooper Is Going To Miss Everything About Her Experience With MobLand

"I'm From London, I Feel It's Very Authentic."

Prior to the Paramount+ show, Cooper was previously known for her roles in a variety of iconic British television shows, including appearances on Skins and Coronation Street, as well as David Cross' The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret. With MobLand being one of her biggest international projects thus far, Cooper warmly recalls the show being "very authentic" to its London scene, praising it for its "gritty" storytelling and being "a no-brainer" to when she was approached about it.

It was a dream cast, and the whole job really was a dream from the beginning to the end. Obviously, I love Guy Ritchie's work. It was great.

One star that Cooper shared she's going to miss working with from the MobLand cast is that of Geoff Bell, who plays her on-screen husband Richie in the series. Cooper expressed having "really loved working with" the star, praising him as being "such an amazing actor", and for capturing "how raw everything feels" in his business life, as well as in Richie and Vron's marriage.

"I love Geoff's company, and he's great at telling stories, so in between takes, he is just someone who really holds your attention," Cooper described. "He's very funny. I loved their first scene together, because it was like your typical thing of he's obviously preoccupied with his work and his business, and he can hear me in the background. And it's that thing of, 'Okay, okay, all right, I need to listen to her now, she's got a point here. Something is a bit off.' It was interesting how the dynamics unfold between us."

Filming Episode 5 Was "Quite A Heavy Week" For Cooper

She Also Teases That Big Things Are Coming In The Wake Of Vron's Murder

While MobLand episode 5 was already a very tense one for viewers as they were left guessing whether the Harrigans' attendance at Tommy's funeral would become a bloodbath, for Cooper, it was a really emotionally challenging episode to shoot. Getting into the mindset of the "absolutely broken" Vron as she processes "the worst thing that could ever happen", the star itted it was "quite a heavy week" filming, as she felt "it was draining" and "it was very dark" to capture her character's "unimaginable pain".

When asked whether she was looking to influence Richie's plans for a war against the Harrigans out of revenge for Tommy, Cooper was quick to note a separation between those worlds, though Vron did take umbrage with one of his choices. "I think she was just at such a low point," Cooper explained. "When you've lost everything, what the hell do you have left to lose? As I said before, she owns who she is, she is raw, and it's the ultimate disrespect to have them in her house. Given the circumstances, it's like spitting blood."

Cooper went on to tease that "Richie is a clever game player", denoting that his inviting the Harrigans to Tommy's funeral was him "reeling them in to get them where he wanted them" and was his attempt to "try and take some control of this messy situation". This situation gets messier as, in the final moments of the episode, a still-saddened Vron leaves her and Richie's house to run some errands, only to be blown up by a car bomb sent by Maeve.

"She's definitely going out with a bang," Cooper chuckled. "It's all part of the action, isn't it? It was a dramatic end to episode 5. [That] wasn't [her fate] from the beginning. Things were always kind of changing and tweaking and refining. So, yeah, as we were on the journey, we were learning Vron's fate."

In reflecting on filming her explosive death scene, Cooper recalled the main thing going through her mind was Vron being in "the morning after the worst day of her life". "Vron was barely on her feet that day, she wasn't even with it, but she had to get to the shop," Cooper explained. "So, it was just getting all your strength to get up and even get out of the house, and get in that car, just trying to pull herself together, really. I wasn't actually prepping for that, that just happened to happen to me. Obviously, I didn't know it was happening at the time, while I was shooting the scene. I didn't walk out my house saying, 'Right, I'm about to get blown up.'"

Though no longer around in the show's world, Cooper does have a little bit of insight about what's to come in the wake of her death over the remaining handful of MobLand's episodes. Careful not to give "too much away", the star does assure "there are a lot of twists and more turns" to come from the Harrigan and Stevenson conflict, promising "more tension" and a very "exciting" exploration of how Vron's death will impact Richie.

Vron & Maeve's Tense Confrontation Was Cooper & Mirren's First Day Shooting Together

Their Off-Screen Dynamic Was The Exact Opposite To Their Onscreen

Another major element from MobLand episode 5 is the on-screen interactions between Cooper's Vron and Mirren's Maeve, who have also been shown to have very different investments in their husbands' criminal empires, as the latter is far more involved in the decision-making than the former. Comparing the two characters, Cooper expressed her belief that "Maeve's lifestyle is in her blood", praising her for not being "afraid to speak her mind" or "mince her words", a quality she also sees in Vron, albeit one that "might have got her in a bit too much trouble".

In reflecting on playing the tense confrontation with Maeve at Tommy's wake, Cooper revealed it was actually hers and Mirren's first day filming with one another. Cooper praised the Oscar winner not only for her "amazing" performance as the Harrigan family matriarch, but also for being "so friendly and generous" during their time together, describing the production as being "a really good day", in spite of the heaviness of the subject.

We had a few moments in private, which was really nice and quite intimate. We got to share that time, which was really special. It was a great honor.

More About MobLand

MobLand stars Tom Hardy, Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren in a story about two mob families who clash in a war that threatens to topple empires and lives. The series features a star-studded cast including Hardy (Venom: The Last Dance), Brosnan (Die Another Day), Paddy Considine (House of the Dragon), Joanne Froggatt (Downton Abbey), Lara Pulver (Da Vinci’s Demons), Anson Boon (Pistol), Mandeep Dhillon (CSI: Vegas), Jasmine Jobson (Top Boy), Geoff Bell (Top Boy), Daniel Betts (Fate: The Winx Saga), Lisa Dwan (Blackshore), Emily Barber (Industry) and Helen Mirren (The Queen).

Check out our previous MobLand interview with Tom Hardy & Paddy Considine!

New episodes of MobLand air Sunday nights on Paramount+.