Maya Lahan
Encyclopedia
Doctor Maya Lahan is a fictional character
from the British
espionage
television series Spooks
, which follows the exploits of Section D, a counter-terrorism
division in MI5
. She is portrayed by British actress Laila Rouass
. Maya is introduced in the ninth series
of the programme as the first love and former girlfriend of John Bateman (who changed his name to Lucas North
) fifteen years before the events of the series.
Rouass' involvement in the series was first announced in March 2010, with her character name revealed later in May. Because Maya was only a background character, Rouass's role was limited, did not perform any stunts and had time to perform other projects. The actress liked working with Richard Armitage
, who played Lucas, as she knew him for some years prior to working on Spooks. The character was met with generally mixed reviews from critics.
on 20 September 1975. She became the girlfriend of John Bateman
(Richard Armitage
) whilst attending Leeds University
. Maya was once aspired to open her own Tapas
bar. When John became stuck in Dakar
, he worked with Vaughn Edwards
(Iain Glen
) as a courier in order to get back home, but Maya remained unaware of his activities. Vaughn remembered that during their time, John would talk to him about Maya for hours at a time. However, after he was involved in the bombing of a British Embassy in 1995, John was forced to leave Maya and murder friend Lucas North, and since started masquerading as him. In the belief that John died, Maya got on with her life, becoming a doctor and enters a relationship with Vaughn (whom she knows as Michael).
Fifteen years later, in the first episode of the ninth series
, Vaughn visits Lucas and leaves him with several mementos of his former life, including pictures of him and Maya. Lucas finds the hospital where she works to meet her. However, Maya coldy rejects him, stating she moved on with somebody else, and that she no longer needs him. By the end of the third episode however, Lucas invites her to his home and the two have sex on a kitchen table, thus restarting their relationship. However, over the course of the series, Vaughn has been manipulating Lucas, by giving him Maya back into his life, in order to get his hands on an MI5 file named "Albany", which contain blueprints for a genetic weapon
. To further force Lucas' hand in getting the file, Vaughn abducts Maya, though he was possibly doing this in order to protect her from Chinese
agents who wish to acquire Albany, and threatening to rape
then behead
Maya should Vaughn fail to deliver. Later, Lucas finds Maya after mortally wounding Vaughn. Having confessed his past crimes to his MI5 superior, Harry Pearce
(Peter Firth
), Lucas intends to flee the country with Maya, and agrees to give the Chinese Albany in exchange for money, and new identities for the couple. However, Maya is approached by hired specialist, Alec White (Vincent Regan
), who tells her of Lucas's past crimes. By doing so, Maya turns against Lucas, and attempts to get him to surrender. However, when Beth Bailey
(Sophia Myles
) and Dimitri Levendis
(Max Brown
) arrive, Lucas takes Maya to his car and evades them. When Beth and Demitri open fire, a bullet hits Maya in the torso, and dies. Because a GPS
tracker was placed on Maya, Lucas leaves her body behind.
stated "she's the love of his life and he's the love of hers." When he is forced to disappear, it "completely rocks her world." Armitage meanwhile believed that Maya had an effect with every relationship Lucas had since, and having failed them all, Lucas hangs onto thinking about Maya. When Lucas returns, Maya's life is turns "upside down," and she is angry at him because she feels betrayed by him. Armitage stated that Lucas was "just compelled to see her" after looking at photographs of them both together, and really shapes his future. Both characters go on "quite an interesting journey" because Maya moved on with her life without Lucas, and he has to fight to get her to listen to him. However, when they start to restart their relationship, Vaughn gets in the way and "throws water over it." Rouass believes that Lucas "definitely" trusts Maya without question, and that their relationship is "dynamic and explosive" and makes them "question certain things." Neither of them can control their relationship, which scares Maya. Iain Glen believed that Maya is also Lucas' central weakness, and his love for her becomes instrumental to his downfall.
of Spooks
, along with Max Brown
and Sophia Myles
, however at the time Sarah Brandist from the BBC
refused to reveal details of the character, including the name, citing "we don't want to give too much away as intrigue and betrayal are at the heart of the storylines." Later in May of the same year, co-star Richard Armitage announced Rouass would play a character named Maya, described as "an old flame of Lucas's, possibly his first love."
Rouass was acquainted with the series, having viewed the first two series and "dipped in and out of it." She also stated that Maya is only a background character throughout the series, meaning her role is limited, and does not play a spy or becoming "part of this mafia or that mafia." Due to her limited appearance, the actress was available to perform other projects, including The Sarah Jane Adventures
and Conan the Barbarian, as well as spending the free time with her daughter. Rouass does not participate in any stunt work, but does appear in "a lot of passionate scenes." Having gotten used to filming sex scenes in Footballers' Wives
, Rouass noticed that while humour was involved in Footballers' Wives, Spooks was more passionate and very choreographed. In an interview with the Daily Mirror, Rouass recalled one of the scenes; "there's one scene where we get together in the kitchen and the director was like, 'Come on, let's be honest, you haven't seen each other for years, you're not going to get all romantic, you're going to shag her on the table.'"
Rouass liked working with Armitage during her duration on the series, having met him in Los Angeles
a few years prior, as well as Iain Glen, who plays Vaughn Edwards, although she was worried that should "Maya let anything happen to [Lucas] I'll be one of the most hated women in the country." She also admitted she had "no idea" if her character would be killed off, but said in an interview with Digital Spy
, "at the end of the day, you just know what the show's about. You know there's a chance that you could go, but you have to embrace that."
had mixed reactions towards the character, writing "let's hope that Maya turns out to be more than just a device for us to find out about Lucas' past," but adds that she is not "holding my breath." For the finale, Frost criticised the writing behind the line where Maya admits she always believed Lucas' actions when she was told "seemed almost giddily optimistic."
For episode three of the ninth series, a reviewer of Daemon's TV hoped that the relationship between Maya and Lucas builds to "let us know what draws those two together," and questions "is she just a convenient love interest? Or is there a bigger storyline coming out of their reunion?" However, the reviewer felt the biggest problem with Maya is that "she was brought in to act specifically as a catalyst for Lucas' actions." Her death scene was praised, stating "Lucas' grief at Maya's death, right after she convinced him to do the 'right thing' and giving Harry Ruth's location, made him seem more human and made us give a damn about Maya," adding "it was a nice little death scene," which the reviewer felt was reminiscent to Tracy Bond
, James Bond's wife at the end of On Her Majesty's Secret Service
.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
from the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
television series Spooks
Spooks
Spooks is a British television drama series that originally aired on BBC One from 13 May 2002 – 23 October 2011, consisting of 10 series. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, as the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a...
, which follows the exploits of Section D, a counter-terrorism
Counter-terrorism
Counter-terrorism is the practices, tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, militaries, police departments and corporations adopt to prevent or in response to terrorist threats and/or acts, both real and imputed.The tactic of terrorism is available to insurgents and governments...
division in MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
. She is portrayed by British actress Laila Rouass
Laila Rouass
Laila Abdesselam Rouass is a British actress. She is best known for her role as Amber Gates in the British television drama Footballers' Wives and as Sarah Page in the third season of Primeval .-Career:...
. Maya is introduced in the ninth series
Spooks (series 9)
The ninth series of the BBC espionage television series Spooks began broadcasting on 20 September 2010 before ending on 8 November 2010...
of the programme as the first love and former girlfriend of John Bateman (who changed his name to Lucas North
Lucas North
Lucas North, formerly known as John Bateman, is a fictional character from the BBC espionage television series Spooks , which follows the exploits of Section D, a counter-terrorism division of MI5. North is portrayed by British actor Richard Armitage...
) fifteen years before the events of the series.
Rouass' involvement in the series was first announced in March 2010, with her character name revealed later in May. Because Maya was only a background character, Rouass's role was limited, did not perform any stunts and had time to perform other projects. The actress liked working with Richard Armitage
Richard Armitage (actor)
Richard Crispin Armitage is an English actor famous for his roles as John Thornton in North and South, Guy of Gisborne in Robin Hood, and Lucas North in Spooks...
, who played Lucas, as she knew him for some years prior to working on Spooks. The character was met with generally mixed reviews from critics.
Character arc
Maya Lahan was born in YorkYork
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
on 20 September 1975. She became the girlfriend of John Bateman
Lucas North
Lucas North, formerly known as John Bateman, is a fictional character from the BBC espionage television series Spooks , which follows the exploits of Section D, a counter-terrorism division of MI5. North is portrayed by British actor Richard Armitage...
(Richard Armitage
Richard Armitage (actor)
Richard Crispin Armitage is an English actor famous for his roles as John Thornton in North and South, Guy of Gisborne in Robin Hood, and Lucas North in Spooks...
) whilst attending Leeds University
University of Leeds
The University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
. Maya was once aspired to open her own Tapas
Tapas
Tapas are a wide variety of appetizers, or snacks, in Spanish cuisine. They may be cold or warm ....
bar. When John became stuck in Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...
, he worked with Vaughn Edwards
Vaughn Edwards
Vaughn Edwards is a fictional character the BBC television drama Spooks being portrayed by actor Iain Glen. He appears in the ninth series as a mysterious figure from the past of Lucas North...
(Iain Glen
Iain Glen
Iain Glen is a Scottish film and stage actor.Iain Glen was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and trained at RADA where he won the Bancroft Gold Medal. He was married to Susannah Harker from 1993 to 2004; they have one son, Finlay...
) as a courier in order to get back home, but Maya remained unaware of his activities. Vaughn remembered that during their time, John would talk to him about Maya for hours at a time. However, after he was involved in the bombing of a British Embassy in 1995, John was forced to leave Maya and murder friend Lucas North, and since started masquerading as him. In the belief that John died, Maya got on with her life, becoming a doctor and enters a relationship with Vaughn (whom she knows as Michael).
Fifteen years later, in the first episode of the ninth series
Spooks (series 9)
The ninth series of the BBC espionage television series Spooks began broadcasting on 20 September 2010 before ending on 8 November 2010...
, Vaughn visits Lucas and leaves him with several mementos of his former life, including pictures of him and Maya. Lucas finds the hospital where she works to meet her. However, Maya coldy rejects him, stating she moved on with somebody else, and that she no longer needs him. By the end of the third episode however, Lucas invites her to his home and the two have sex on a kitchen table, thus restarting their relationship. However, over the course of the series, Vaughn has been manipulating Lucas, by giving him Maya back into his life, in order to get his hands on an MI5 file named "Albany", which contain blueprints for a genetic weapon
Ethnic bioweapon
An ethnic bioweapon aims to harm only or primarily persons of specific ethnicities or genotypes.- History of ethnic bioweapons :One of the first fictional discussions of ethnic weapons is in Robert A...
. To further force Lucas' hand in getting the file, Vaughn abducts Maya, though he was possibly doing this in order to protect her from Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
agents who wish to acquire Albany, and threatening to rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
then behead
Decapitation
Decapitation is the separation of the head from the body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine...
Maya should Vaughn fail to deliver. Later, Lucas finds Maya after mortally wounding Vaughn. Having confessed his past crimes to his MI5 superior, Harry Pearce
Harry Pearce
Sir Henry James "Harry" Pearce KBE is the fictional head of the Counter-Terrorism department of MI5, featured in the British television series, Spooks...
(Peter Firth
Peter Firth
Peter Firth is an English actor. He is best known for his role as Sir Harry Pearce in the BBC show Spooks, of which he is the only actor to have starred in every episode of the show's 10 series lifespan...
), Lucas intends to flee the country with Maya, and agrees to give the Chinese Albany in exchange for money, and new identities for the couple. However, Maya is approached by hired specialist, Alec White (Vincent Regan
Vincent Regan
-Career:Regan was born in Swansea on 16 May 1965, the son of Irish immigrants. As a youth he moved to Ireland with his parents, but returned to Britain and attended St Joseph's College, Ipswich in Suffolk....
), who tells her of Lucas's past crimes. By doing so, Maya turns against Lucas, and attempts to get him to surrender. However, when Beth Bailey
Beth Bailey
Beth Bailey is a fictional character from the BBC espionage television series Spooks, which follows the exploits of Section D, a counter-terrorism division in MI5. She is portrayed by British actress Sophia Myles. Beth Bailey was introduced in Spooks's ninth series as a private contractor in her...
(Sophia Myles
Sophia Myles
-Early life:Myles was born in London. She is the daughter of Jane, who works in educational publishing, and Peter Myles, a retired Anglican vicar in Isleworth, west London. Her maternal grandmother was Russian, and she refers to herself as "half-Welsh, half-Russian". She grew up in Notting Hill,...
) and Dimitri Levendis
Dimitri Levendis
Dimitri Levendis is a fictional character from the BBC espionage television series, Spooks, portrayed by actor, Max Brown.-Character arc:...
(Max Brown
Max Brown
Max Brown is an English actor. Max was born in Ilkley, Yorkshire, England, but spent most of his childhood in the town of Shrewsbury, Shropshire, which he refers to as his home....
) arrive, Lucas takes Maya to his car and evades them. When Beth and Demitri open fire, a bullet hits Maya in the torso, and dies. Because a GPS
Global Positioning System
The Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...
tracker was placed on Maya, Lucas leaves her body behind.
Characteristics and relationships
Maya is depicted as the first love of Lucas North. Laila RouassLaila Rouass
Laila Abdesselam Rouass is a British actress. She is best known for her role as Amber Gates in the British television drama Footballers' Wives and as Sarah Page in the third season of Primeval .-Career:...
stated "she's the love of his life and he's the love of hers." When he is forced to disappear, it "completely rocks her world." Armitage meanwhile believed that Maya had an effect with every relationship Lucas had since, and having failed them all, Lucas hangs onto thinking about Maya. When Lucas returns, Maya's life is turns "upside down," and she is angry at him because she feels betrayed by him. Armitage stated that Lucas was "just compelled to see her" after looking at photographs of them both together, and really shapes his future. Both characters go on "quite an interesting journey" because Maya moved on with her life without Lucas, and he has to fight to get her to listen to him. However, when they start to restart their relationship, Vaughn gets in the way and "throws water over it." Rouass believes that Lucas "definitely" trusts Maya without question, and that their relationship is "dynamic and explosive" and makes them "question certain things." Neither of them can control their relationship, which scares Maya. Iain Glen believed that Maya is also Lucas' central weakness, and his love for her becomes instrumental to his downfall.
Conceptual history
In March 2010, it was announced that Laila Rouass has joined the cast of the ninth seriesSpooks (series 9)
The ninth series of the BBC espionage television series Spooks began broadcasting on 20 September 2010 before ending on 8 November 2010...
of Spooks
Spooks
Spooks is a British television drama series that originally aired on BBC One from 13 May 2002 – 23 October 2011, consisting of 10 series. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, as the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a...
, along with Max Brown
Max Brown
Max Brown is an English actor. Max was born in Ilkley, Yorkshire, England, but spent most of his childhood in the town of Shrewsbury, Shropshire, which he refers to as his home....
and Sophia Myles
Sophia Myles
-Early life:Myles was born in London. She is the daughter of Jane, who works in educational publishing, and Peter Myles, a retired Anglican vicar in Isleworth, west London. Her maternal grandmother was Russian, and she refers to herself as "half-Welsh, half-Russian". She grew up in Notting Hill,...
, however at the time Sarah Brandist from the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
refused to reveal details of the character, including the name, citing "we don't want to give too much away as intrigue and betrayal are at the heart of the storylines." Later in May of the same year, co-star Richard Armitage announced Rouass would play a character named Maya, described as "an old flame of Lucas's, possibly his first love."
Rouass was acquainted with the series, having viewed the first two series and "dipped in and out of it." She also stated that Maya is only a background character throughout the series, meaning her role is limited, and does not play a spy or becoming "part of this mafia or that mafia." Due to her limited appearance, the actress was available to perform other projects, including The Sarah Jane Adventures
The Sarah Jane Adventures
The Sarah Jane Adventures is a British science fiction television series, produced by BBC Cymru Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies and starring Elisabeth Sladen...
and Conan the Barbarian, as well as spending the free time with her daughter. Rouass does not participate in any stunt work, but does appear in "a lot of passionate scenes." Having gotten used to filming sex scenes in Footballers' Wives
Footballers' Wives
Footballers' Wives is a British television drama surrounding the fictional Premier League Association football club Earls Park F.C., its players, and their wives. It was broadcast on the ITV network from 8 January 2002 to 14 April 2006...
, Rouass noticed that while humour was involved in Footballers' Wives, Spooks was more passionate and very choreographed. In an interview with the Daily Mirror, Rouass recalled one of the scenes; "there's one scene where we get together in the kitchen and the director was like, 'Come on, let's be honest, you haven't seen each other for years, you're not going to get all romantic, you're going to shag her on the table.'"
Rouass liked working with Armitage during her duration on the series, having met him in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
a few years prior, as well as Iain Glen, who plays Vaughn Edwards, although she was worried that should "Maya let anything happen to [Lucas] I'll be one of the most hated women in the country." She also admitted she had "no idea" if her character would be killed off, but said in an interview with Digital Spy
Digital Spy
Digital Spy is a British entertainment and media news website. According to Alexa Internet traffic statistics, as of February 2011, Digital Spy is the 93rd most popular website in the United Kingdom, with an overall Alexa ranking of 2,088....
, "at the end of the day, you just know what the show's about. You know there's a chance that you could go, but you have to embrace that."
Reception
The character was met by generally mixed reactions from critics. Nick Bryan of Dork Adore was not convinced of the Lucas and Maya storyline, stating "I keep forgetting she exists whenever she's off-screen. Vicky Frost of The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
had mixed reactions towards the character, writing "let's hope that Maya turns out to be more than just a device for us to find out about Lucas' past," but adds that she is not "holding my breath." For the finale, Frost criticised the writing behind the line where Maya admits she always believed Lucas' actions when she was told "seemed almost giddily optimistic."
For episode three of the ninth series, a reviewer of Daemon's TV hoped that the relationship between Maya and Lucas builds to "let us know what draws those two together," and questions "is she just a convenient love interest? Or is there a bigger storyline coming out of their reunion?" However, the reviewer felt the biggest problem with Maya is that "she was brought in to act specifically as a catalyst for Lucas' actions." Her death scene was praised, stating "Lucas' grief at Maya's death, right after she convinced him to do the 'right thing' and giving Harry Ruth's location, made him seem more human and made us give a damn about Maya," adding "it was a nice little death scene," which the reviewer felt was reminiscent to Tracy Bond
Tracy Bond
Teresa "Tracy" Bond is a fictional character and the main Bond girl in the James Bond film and novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service...
, James Bond's wife at the end of On Her Majesty's Secret Service
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (film)
On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the sixth spy film in the James Bond series, based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. Following the decision of Sean Connery to retire from the role after You Only Live Twice, Eon Productions selected an unknown actor and model, George Lazenby...
.