Nocturne stars reveal more about "ambiguous" Stephen Graham character dynamic – and the fact the storyline has an unexpected hidden layer

*Warning: This article contains spoilers for the first two episodes of Nocturne, which are now available to stream on Apple TV.*

With just the first two episodes of Nocturne out so far, it's safe to say that the Apple TV series is slowly building up a very eerie web of storylines, with Stephen Graham's Jurek Walter at its centre.

The series opened with Jurek's psychological torment having very deadly consequences for his fellow Riverside inmate next door. But as Karl (Rory Culkin) starts working in the secure unit where Jurek is housed, he too starts being lured into his games as Jurek takes each opportunity to study the nurse.

What starts out as pleasantries soon turns to Karl concealing messages for Jurek, a fireable offence, which Jurek spins round to show Karl just how much of a "good friend" he is.

Karl's empathy for Jurek is obvious and the relationship between the pair is one of the backbones of the episodes to come – but where does that sense of obligation to Jurek come from for Karl?

When asked by Radio Times about what he understood regarding their dynamic, Culkin revealed: "I kind of wanted to make it pretty ambiguous."

He went on: "Karl's trying to help someone, but there might be some selfishness to it. He likes the way Jurek makes him feel and it's also exciting. His life is finally exciting.

"He can tell stories about this years from now, he can tell his children 'I worked alongside Jurek Walter' and that just adds to his life story. I think it's just exciting and maybe there's a guilty pleasure in working with him."

Giving his verdict on the characters, Graham also explained: "As a society, we are obsessed with serial killers, aren't we? I don’t know what that is, I don't have the answer to that.

"But I think it's that kind of ‘Why do they do these things? What pushes someone? What is it within the human psyche to make somebody act the way they do, to do those kind of things?’.

"And with respect to Karl, we had long conversations, myself, Rory and [executive producer/director] Tim [Van Patten] at the very beginning. It was that Karl feels slightly invisible outside in the world.

"But when he's in this place... the macrocosm of his external thing is he feels slightly invisible and he doesn't quite know what's going on in the world or where he sits in the world. But here, he feels important.

"But then also, it's the first time he's ever felt someone see him and that's quite a powerful thing."

Read more:

• Stephen Graham reveals why Nocturne role gave a chance to portray someone he would "never play"
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Rather surprisingly, Graham also revealed that there's more simmering beneath the surface of this pair. "It’s that first love feeling – and we played with the sexual ambiguity of it as well," he revealed.

"Jurek's a great manipulator and he also reads people really well because of his upbringing, because of his father and the way he was with him. So, he reads people really well and he's a chameleon. He'll give people what he thinks they feel they need to get what he wants from them."

With Jurek having already staged a medical emergency and later proving his loyalty to Karl, things are only set to get more complicated as the lines continue to get blurred.

Karl will undoubtedly find himself pulled in closer to Jurek's mind-bending games but as for what they are exactly, we'll just have to wait and see.

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Nocturne is available to watch on Apple TV from Friday 30 October 2026. You can sign up to Apple TV for a seven-day free trial.

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