What were you told about the character of Checkov?

Not very much. When I auditioned for the role it seemed to me like a very perilous situation where the ship was about to blow up and Checkov is quite nervous and very much the young novice officer. And so when I read for the role I read with the sense of jeopardy, and considerable threat. I thought that pretty much was right on the nose. But when I was through they asked me to read it again and make it funny.

So at that point I realised that they were looking for something beyond simply something to echo the plot danger. Somebody to have some sort of personality, some kind of character, somebody who was a bit of a spunk, and the sense of humour might be what they wanted. But it was pretty much a matter of trial and error.