Colin O'Donoghue makes a persuasive rogue, giving Captain Hook enough charm to make the innuendo enjoyable and enough uncertainty to keep him interesting. The role remains the clearest reason to seek out his work.
Fi1m perspective
The eyeliner and black leather do some of Captain Hook's work before Colin O'Donoghue has said anything. In Once Upon a Time (2011), which he joined in its second series in 2012, he adds swagger and a ready supply of innuendo. We were amused by his Hook because he makes the suggestiveness feel cheeky rather than laboured. There is a welcome willingness to entertain in that performance, without treating the fairy-tale setting as an excuse to be careless. He gives the character a moral code as well as an appetite for getting away with things.
The Rite (2011) had brought him to Hollywood as Michael Kovak, a sceptical priest opposite Anthony Hopkins. Hook became his breakthrough, and he stayed with the programme until 2018. The length of that television part makes it a firmer basis for judging him than a list of film credits. His strength is in allowing a conflicted character to remain enjoyable company, rather than making every hint of doubt into an occasion for solemnity.
The reservation is with the programme around him. Our qualified recommendation for Once Upon a Time rests on its inviting premise and an able cast; tangled plotting and solemn fairy-tale flashbacks make it harder work than it needs to be. O'Donoghue's playful approach offers some relief, though it cannot make those complications easier to follow. Showrunners Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz give him space for a knowingly suggestive Hook, and that is a sensible use of his strengths. Swagger works here so long as it leaves room for the character's doubts.
Later work includes Gordon Cooper in The Right Stuff (2020) and the voice of Douxie in the Tales of Arcadia animated series. They are useful reasons to look beyond Hook, though our strongest recommendation still rests on that long-running television performance. Start there if fantasy is already your pleasure, and allow for a script that sometimes makes enjoying its cast unnecessarily difficult.
Biography
Colin O'Donoghue is an Irish actor and musician. He was born on 26 January 1981 in Drogheda, County Louth, and trained at the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin. His early career consisted of theatre and television work in Ireland and the UK, including appearances in the series The Tudors (2007) as Duke Philip of Bavaria and the television film Home for Christmas (2002).
O'Donoghue is best known for portraying Captain Killian 'Hook' Jones on the ABC series Once Upon a Time (2012–2018). He has also appeared in films such as The Rite (2011) as Michael Kovak and Carrie Pilby (2017), and provided voice work in animated series including Trollhunters and Wizards: Tales of Arcadia.
