Can Yaman was greeted by huge crowds as he arrived at the 2026 Taormina Film Festival to receive an important award honoring figures who have distinguished themselves on the international film and television scene.
After winning the Nastro d’Argento Grandi Serie award for Sandokan, the actor is now working on several international productions.
SuperGuidaTV interviewed him on the sidelines of the event, asking why he will not appear in the next season of Viola come il Mare and what lies ahead for him, from Sandokan to Il Turco.
Interview With Can Yaman
You are deeply loved by the public. What does that feel like? How do you feel about it?
“It may be something new for you, but for me, it is something I will never truly get used to. I have been experiencing it for quite a long time now, so it has become part of me—a way of life.
“I say this jokingly, but it is also true: I will never get used to it because receiving so much love fills my heart. Without it, I would not have been happy.
“Over the years, I have also learned how to handle it better—to experience it without anxiety or stress. Five or six years ago, perhaps I found it a little stressful. My God, if you had seen me back then, you might have thought, ‘What is this crazy man doing?’
“Today, however, I deal with it in a more professional and mature way. I have learned how to protect my private life.
“At the time, people knew my home address, and for perhaps two years I lived with the kind of crowd you saw here in Taormina today gathered outside my house. Now I am much calmer. I make myself available to people at festivals and events, and I am learning to enjoy it more and more.”
We will soon see you in a comedy. Are you tired of being cast as a sex symbol?
“Not at all. I am not tired of anything, not even acting in romantic comedies. But I needed to take a break from them for a while.
“You all know Matthew McConaughey, right? He made romantic comedies for many years. He also wrote a book and spoke about this in podcasts and interviews, and I really saw myself in what he said.
“He spent many years making romantic comedies, and then he had to wait more than a year. He received many offers, including some for substantial sums of money, but he wanted to move forward in his career by exploring different genres. By remaining patient and resilient, he eventually achieved what he wanted.
“In my case, I had to change countries and act in different languages. I was fortunate because Sandokan came along while I was still living in Turkey. I prepared for it, but then it was postponed, and no one knew whether it would actually be made.
“I was lucky because I received other opportunities and worked on other series. I challenged myself with different genres, and that gives me satisfaction.
“Recently, I filmed an action project in Spain, another genre I had never explored before, and now I want to challenge myself with this comedy. Perhaps afterward, I will return to a romantic comedy or to something different—or something I have already done—and I will feel even more relaxed.
“At this stage, however, my goal is to broaden my professional range and become as complete an actor as possible, for as long as I can, while I still have the opportunity and the good fortune to work with people willing to bring my ideas to life.”
There is great anticipation surrounding the return of Sandokan. We live in an era when television series are usually produced very quickly, with filming on a new season beginning almost as soon as the previous one ends. That does not seem to be happening with Sandokan. Why has the second season been delayed?
“I actually disagree. In Italy especially, things move slowly. Whenever you want to make another season, you have to wait two years, and that applies to every project, not just Sandokan. There is hardly ever a television series where one season is filmed immediately after the other.
“In Turkey, it is not like that. This is not criticism; it is simply an observation. It is the truth. In Turkey, we film 150 minutes of television in six days, and a season can consist of 150 episodes. When the series is sold internationally, each episode is divided into three, creating an enormous number of episodes.
“In Europe, it does not work that way. Everything moves slowly. When a project is made, they wait to see whether it will be successful. Then the executives and the platforms make their decisions, and many people have to decide whether another season will go ahead.
“In the meantime, if an actor is doing well, they may have signed with another production because they cannot simply sit around waiting for you.
“In fact, I ask myself, ‘How will they manage to bring that entire group of actors back together? They may have taken on other commitments. It will be difficult.’
“I would have preferred to film three seasons in a row. That would also prevent the actors from visibly aging. They are ready, they have already immersed themselves in their characters, and they have undergone specific preparation.
“Playing a role like Sandokan over the course of ten years is difficult. I am still getting older, the character requires a certain level of physical fitness, and each time you have to start all over again with the preparation and choreography.
“It is not easy. It is not easy for the platform or the production company to bring everyone together again and reorganize everything. It is all about these production schedules, but it is not only an issue with Sandokan. This is how every project works here.
“It was the same with Viola come il Mare. The second season came two years later, meaning you film three seasons over six years. For Turkish people, that kind of schedule seems ridiculous because we produce in four months what you produce in six years.
“Commercially, this is also one of the reasons Turkish series sell more. It is more worthwhile to purchase 60 episodes of a season.
“In Europe, you may have 12 episodes lasting 50 minutes each, and then the second season arrives three years later. That is not commercially worthwhile for anyone.
“In Spain, for example, Sandokan could not be broadcast immediately for that very reason. It will be released eight months later because they did not know how to fit eight episodes into a schedule that had already been planned a year in advance.
“Soap operas and Turkish dramas perform better because broadcasters can air them every day and fill an entire year. With series consisting of only eight episodes, all that scheduling becomes more difficult.
“Everything moves slowly because the second season arrives two years later. When the cast includes highly sought-after actors, it becomes even more complicated. They may receive many offers and have numerous opportunities. Unless you sign them to a three-year contract from the beginning, they will move on.
“Here, people are accustomed to working differently. They almost take it for granted that an actor will remain available. Then, when they cannot get them back, they are shocked. But the actor has moved on—you should have signed a contract with them.
“All these delays involving management, platforms and the limited number of episodes make things difficult. But this is not just about Sandokan. You asked me about Sandokan, but the same problem exists with every television production.”
But given how much demand there is for you, is it guaranteed that you will remain in the role of Sandokan?
“Sandokan is an exceptional project. It is the kind of project you would never walk away from, even if filming could not begin immediately.
“In fact, I waited five years before I was finally able to make it. But you only make that kind of commitment for one project in your career. You cannot make yourself available like that for every production.
“If you wait a year before deciding whether to make another season and then discover that I am no longer available, you should not be shocked. You should have acted sooner.”
Is that why you left Viola come il Mare?
“Of course. You announced the next season after a year, but by then you should already have had the contract in place. I had moved on. Was I supposed to wait for you to make up your mind?”
Beautiful actresses often face the problem of beauty becoming almost a curse. People may say, “She is incredibly beautiful,” but then assume she is not particularly intelligent. Do you think the same applies to men?
“I have been very fortunate. I am not saying that arrogantly—it is simply how things happened for me.
“I say I have been fortunate because I was asked the question, not because I want to philosophize and then have everyone say they agree with me.
“Whether someone is attractive or unattractive is a question people often ask about. I do not know how to answer because I do not know how my life would have turned out differently.
“What I do know is that I did not grow up thinking about beauty. I did everything as though I were an ordinary person—not unattractive, simply ordinary. I never considered my appearance while I was growing up.
“I dreamed of becoming a lawyer. Thanks to my mother, I attended excellent schools, learned languages and studied law. I did all of those things without considering the fact that I might be regarded as particularly attractive.
“Then, once I had accomplished all those things, my appearance helped because it complemented my other qualities. That was when it became valuable—as something additional. On its own, it would have created difficulties for me.
“Perhaps that is why beauty can become a problem for some people: if the other qualities are lacking, appearance alone can create difficulties.”
Would you return to Turkey to act?
“Perhaps, because I receive many offers there as well. Turkish production companies have now realized that they need to become more international. They are beginning to collaborate with Spanish production companies, for example.
“Il Turco, which I filmed, was a Turkish production, but it was international and filmed in English. We are now exploring collaborations with the same production company in Brazil and Spain.
“Thanks to streaming platforms, the world has become smaller. Everyone now has the opportunity to create something international.
“The more Turkish production companies move in that direction, the more open I am to working with them. That does not mean I would move back there, but I am open to those kinds of projects and to the international ambitions of Turkish producers, provided they want to work in that way.”
Besides Sandokan, you also hosted the Sanremo Festival this year. What was that experience like?
“I was very frightened because it was something I had never done before. But it went very well. Laura Pausini and Carlo Conti made me feel comfortable.
“They did most of the heavy lifting. I was there as an additional presence, but it was still an important experience in both my life and my career. It would have been important for anyone. Once again, I was fortunate.
“Now I feel much more comfortable taking on different kinds of work.
“Until now, I had always turned down offers outside acting. Whenever someone asked whether I wanted to host something, I always said no. Partly because I was afraid, and partly because I did not want to do anything other than acting.
“But Sanremo, even though my appearance was brief, gave me confidence and greater faith in what I might do in the future. I feel even more relaxed now. Perhaps age has also made me calmer, but Sanremo helped me greatly from a psychological point of view.”
You also met Kabir Bedi onstage. What did the two of you say to each other backstage?
“It was a meeting people had been waiting and asking for for years, but we had never had the opportunity to come together.
“The fact that it finally happened at Sanremo made the encounter even more meaningful. I jokingly told him, ‘It’s a good thing we didn’t meet earlier because it made this moment even more magical.’”
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