‘The King’s Man’ explains the spy movie franchise’s origins, stars Gemma Arterton and Harris Dickinson say

To fully explain the spy agency at the center of the “Kingsman” movies, a new prequel takes viewers back to a battle royal.

Gemma Arterton and Harris Dickinson star in “The King’s Man,” which is set in the early 1900s and unveils an origin story for the Kingsman secret service featured in the franchise’s two previous films.

“It fills in quite a lot of gaps for people that have seen the original movie,” Arterton told the Daily News.

“We understand why the Kingsman was formed. It was sort of in relation to world events like the first World War and preventing that. It’s slightly different to the original ‘Kingsman’ films in that it has that historical context. There are real events that happened.”

Set a century before the prior installments, “The King’s Man” introduces Ralph Fiennes as the Duke of Oxford, who is tasked with stopping the era’s top tyrants.

In the movie, which hit theaters Wednesday, the Duke is reluctant to let his son Conrad, portrayed by Dickinson, join the British military during the war.

“His father’s an infamous pacifist, so he’s coming up against this ideology that his father holds,” Dickinson, 25, told The News about his character. “He wants to break free of his circumstances and explore the world for himself.”

Arterton, meanwhile, portrays Polly, the nanny of the Oxford household who helped raise Conrad but secretly doubles as a key member of the Duke’s team of skilled agents.

The English actress, 35, enjoyed how the film features historical figures like Grigori Rasputin and Gavrilo Princip.

“All of these people really existed and they all contributed to World War I in a weird way. They all influenced people,” Arterton said.

“I think that was what I loved about the script, how (co-writer and director) Matt Vaughn weaved these sort of legendary characters into this fictitious tale. A lot of the things that we have in the film that seem ridiculous actually did happen, or allegedly did happen, which is just completely baffling.”

She also appreciated that even though the new movie is “slightly more serious” it still has “that kind of crazy, zany stuff that we loved from the ‘Kingsman’ as well.”

In addition to the movie’s action and humor, “The King’s Man” includes important themes.

“My character has such a strong desire to go and serve, and fight for this conflict that he really doesn’t understand,” said the London-born Dickinson.

“One of the messages, really, from the film is the idea that certain things can be solved without sacrificing millions of people’s lives. If there’s these higher-level societal problems that are being discussed in boardrooms, then really the human cost of it is young men and women losing their lives. It’s something that is happening now. It’s been happening throughout history. It’s happening all over the world.”

Arterton is no stranger to British spy movies; she starred as MI6 agent Strawberry Fields in the 2008 James Bond film “Quantum of Solace.”

She’s happy to see the “Kingsman” franchise succeed in the genre.

“I think that people really enjoy the journey of it, the adventure,” Arterton said. “They love the characters. Obviously our film is set 100 years before, so it’s all new characters, but I think Matthew always writes these very memorable characters that you kind of love.”

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