Alec Baldwin has dramatically claimed he didn’t pull the trigger of the gun that killed a crew member and injured another on the set of his latest movie Rust.

The actor made the startling revelation in his first sit-down interview since the incident in October.

The interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC was recorded on Tuesday and is due to be broadcast in the US on Thursday evening.

Baldwin is asked if the script called for the trigger to be pulled.

“Well, the trigger wasn’t pulled. I didn’t pull the trigger,” the 63-year-old replies.

“So you never pulled the trigger?” Stephanopoulos asks.

“No, no, no, no. I would never point a gun at anyone and pull a trigger at them, never,” Baldwin confirms.

Halyna Hutchins, 42, was fatally shot and director Joel Souza, 48, injured, when the actor discharged a live bullet from a gun he believed wasn’t loaded while rehearsing for the Western at a ranch in New Mexico on October 21.

Asked how a live bullet had made its way on to the set, he replied:

“I have no idea. Someone put a live bullet into a gun. A bullet that wasn’t even supposed to be on the property.”

The journalist described Baldwin as “devastated” yet “very candid” and “forthcoming”.

He said that he “answered every question” and freely discussed Hutchins and meeting with her family, along with his account of what happened on set that day.

“I have to tell you, I was surprised in many places over the course of that hour and twenty minutes we sat down yesterday,” Stephanopoulos said.

The special, Alec Baldwin Unscripted, will air in the US on ABC at 8pm ET (1am on Friday December 3, UK time), and will be available to stream later on Hulu.