Taron Egerton Opens Up About His Most Emotional Role Yet in She Rides Shotgun – INTERVIEW

Taron Egerton talks fatherhood, grit, and growth in She Rides Shotgun.

Taron Egerton thrives on reinvention. From Kingsman to Rocketman, Smoke, and Black Bird, the Welsh actor has built a career on defying expectations. In She Rides Shotgun, opening August 1, he delivers his most grounded, raw, and emotionally vulnerable performance yet.

In this gritty fugitive thriller from director Nick Rowland (Calm with Horses), Taron Egerton stars as Nate McClusky. He plays a recently paroled ex-con who must flee across New Mexico with his estranged 11-year-old daughter, Polly. Polly is played by breakout star Ana Sophia Heger, delivering a performance filled with heart, fear, and fierce resilience. As the Aryan Steel gang hunts them, Nate must protect Polly at all costs while confronting his violent past and choices.

When I spoke with Egerton, Egerton, who’s long been known for roles filled with swagger and style, said this film offered something deeper. “It felt more sober and more mature than anything I’ve done before,” he explained, describing the script as “terrific” and the characters as ones he “loved immediately.”

Stepping Into Nate’s Shoes

For Egerton, the role of Nate was more than just another gritty antihero. For him, it was a chance to explore vulnerability in the face of desperation. “I was really excited to play the role,” he shared, noting how the emotional complexity of the story drew him in. “There’s the responsibility of working with a young actor who, despite being relatively inexperienced, has this massive talent.”

That young actor, Ana Sophia Heger, plays Polly with heartbreaking precision, and according to Egerton, she was the film’s secret weapon. “She is the fire at the center of the film,” he said. “She is the engine of the movie.”

Egerton credited Heger’s performance for elevating his own, especially in scenes where Nate realizes how little he knows about the daughter he’s trying to save. “Nate is… processing in real time, up against the backdrop of these terrible circumstances, that he has this daughter who’s extraordinary and has her own life and her own world,” he said. “He kind of is realizing that in the very limited time they have together.”

Finding the Emotional Core

While She Rides Shotgun features explosive action and intense moments, it’s the quieter scenes that stayed with Egerton the most. One in particular—a vulnerable exchange in a truck stop chapel where Polly dresses Nate’s gunshot wound—left a lasting impression.

“That was a very emotional day on set,” he recalled. “It just kind of felt like all the shared experience of these two characters was bubbling under the surface of what we were talking about. And it felt very special.”

The actor was clearly moved by the journey the characters take—one that’s fraught with trauma but filled with moments of grace. “Honestly, the movie is filled with moments like that,” he said. “Every day of working with her was a privilege. Every day of discovering that step in these characters’ journey was a privilege. And I loved it from start to finish.”

A Career Turn with Lasting Impact

The film is directed by BAFTA nominee Nick Rowland and is based on Jordan Harper’s acclaimed novel. She Rides Shotgun is both a pulse-pounding thriller and a soulful two-hander about love, loss, and legacy. Egerton’s performance is stripped down and bruised, full of quiet reckoning and simmering regret. It marks a shift in his filmography, showing audiences a new layer to an already versatile actor.

With standout support from Heger, She Rides Shotgun isn’t just about a man running from his past. It’s about the unexpected strength found in facing it together.

She Rides Shotgun hits theaters August 1, 2025.

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