Meet Semira & Marius: The Villains of "Underworld: Blood Wars"

In Columbia Pictures' Underworld: Blood Wars, the fifth installment of the fan favorite sci-fi fantasy, Vampire Death Dealer Selene (Kate Beckinsale) is forced to tangle with colorful new adversaries including Semira, an ambitious member of Eastern Coven’s Elite Council; and Marius, new leader of the Lycans, the eternal enemy of the vampires.

British actress Lara Pulver portrays Semira as a master manipulator obsessed with Selene — and the power her blood possesses.

“Semira’s a total chameleon,” Pulver says. “Depending on who she’s dealing with, she’s able to transform herself and manipulate situations to her advantage.” To make her character even more menacing, Pulver trained intensively for the film’s sword fight sequences and performed many of her own stunts.

“Semira has this psychopathic intensity driven by the energy and sheer fun Lara put into the performance,” says producer producer Richard Wright.

Selene faces an even deadlier adversary in Tobias Menzies as Marius, the Lycan leader determined to find Selene’s daughter Eve so he can feed on her “hybrid” blood and spawn an invincible Lycan-Vampire army.

Menzies, who earned a Golden Globe® nomination for his role in “Outlander,” savored the experience of playing the alpha werewolf. “It was wonderful working with Anna,” he says. “You can feel her pushing the bounds of the genre, trying to reinvent the form and make it something fresh.”

Although the Underworld franchise has featured numerous acclaimed British thespians, including Michael Sheen, Bill Nighy and Derek Jacobi, producer Wright singles out Menzies’ Marius as one of the most colorful characters to share the screen with Beckinsale. “Marius has a style and a flair and a verve to him that previous villains in Underworld haven’t had to the same extent,” Wright says. “Tobias was a great choice for Marius because he’s played villains before and attacked this role with great relish.”

Underworld: Blood Wars follows the next generation of Vampires and Lycans (a breed of Werewolves) and the war that continues to wage between the two species. In the film, Vampire Death Dealer Selene fends off brutal attacks from both the Lycan clan and the Vampire faction that has betrayed her. Aided by her only allies, David (Theo James) and his father Thomas (Charles Dance), she must end the eternal war between Lycans and Vampires, even if it means making the ultimate sacrifice.

Opening across the Philippines on Friday, December 02, “Underworld: Blood Wars” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.