Return to Senua: Hellblade’s Melina Juergens on reprising a role she never thought she’d play

Juergens had never acted before she played the fearsome but troubled Senua in Ninja Theory's game - and won a Bafta for it. Now she's back to battle the character's demons in a sequel

I hope people can relate to Senua," says actor Melina Juergens, who plays the lead character in Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, the newest game from British developer Ninja Theory. I hope people play it and feel what somebody goes through on a daily basis who suffers from mental health issues - particularly psychosis. [They] come away with an understanding of it, able to empathise with people more."

Juergens did not expect to be playing this role for the second time. In fact, she never expected to play it the first time. She was a video editor at the independent games studio when the first Hellblade game, Senua's Sacrifice, was gestating in 2012. They were looking for an actress, but in the meantime they asked me to step in to help out with [performance capture] tech experiments," she tells me. At some point, they asked me to perform a scene. The director really liked it and offered me the role."