Posted in: FX, TV | Tagged: alien: earth

Alien: Earth Stars Olyphant, Ceesay, Blenkin on AI, Xenomorphs & More

Alien: Earth stars Babou Ceesay, Timothy Olyphant, and Samuel Blenkin spoke with us about working with Noah Hawley, AI, xenomorphs, and more.

Alien has become one of the most nuanced horror franchises in sci-fi, because not only does it deal with the common theme of humanity battling external threats it doesn't understand, but it also taps humanity's inherent need to abuse power by any means necessary, often by tampering with nature before things ultimately fall into utter chaos. On top of those narratives, it also asks what it means to be human with humanity's ongoing relationship with artificial intelligence in the form of Synthetics, artificial bodies programmed with human minds to co-exist with humans. Those exact things are getting explored far more in-depth with FX's Alien: Earth.

Stars Babou Ceesay, who plays the cyborg Morrow; Timothy Olyphant, who plays Kirsh, Wendy's (Sydney Chandler) synthetic mentor and trainer; and Samuel Blenkin, who plays Boy Kavalier, the human CEO of the Prodigy Corporation that helped transfer the human consciousness of a dying 12-year old to Wendy, spoke to Bleeding Cool about how creator Noah Hawley tackled the themes as the franchise's first entry as a live-action TV series, if the franchise's history toward AI affected modern sensibilities, tackling the first xenomorph scene, and if Hawley modeled Boy Kavalier after any contemporary eccentric influential figures. When the mysterious deep space research vessel USCSS Maginot crash-lands on Earth, "Wendy" (Sydney Chandler) and a ragtag group of tactical soldiers make a fateful discovery that puts them face-to-face with the planet's greatest threat.

Alien: Earth Stars Babou Ceesay, Timothy Olyphant, and Samuel Blenkin on Diving into the Psychology and Suspense of Noah Hawley's Take on the Franchise

What intrigued you about 'Alien: Earth', and how does Noah build on that legacy?

Blenkin: I got a long, visceral connection to the original film when I watched it when I was about 14, so that has been a big part of my love of sci-fi. I loved 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,' which is the other end of the sci-fi spectrum. That was part of my film education growing up, and then I couldn't picture what a Noah Hawley series based in this 'Alien' universe would look like. Before I read the script, I'm like, "What's this guy going to do with this universe?" That made me excited, and then I got the script and I went, "Okay, super exciting!"

In the series, we see Wendy's synthetic origin story as that of a former human. How do you guys feel about humanity's attitudes have evolved with AI, and the way it's been presented with Sydney Chandler's Wendy?

Olyphant: How do you feel about AI in real life or on the show you're talking about?

How do you feel the show presents AI, given our current attitudes?

Ceesay: Even our current attitudes.

Olyphant: Well, to some degree, I represent AI in the show, and to some degree, I'm not sure you could trust it. [Ceesay laughs].

Babou, how does it feel to be part of "Alien: Earth's" first xenomorph encounter scene and navigating through that?

Ceesay: Exciting, having the opportunity to meet the xenomorph up close and personal since I'm a huge 'Alien' fan, and that was a wonderful moment. The fact that we had the actual xenomorph person in the suit was a dream come true.

Sam, beyond the script, were there any figures, perhaps eccentric genius entrepreneur-types, you might have modeled Boy Kavalier after?

Blenkin: Absolutely not. There's no one. There's no one in the real world right now whom I took inspiration from.

Olyphant: I love that's a laugh, every time he gets a laugh.

Blenkin: To some extent, it's kind of true. I feel like in my job, I must turn up and I must embody this specific character. I got a clear image from talking to Noah, but also from the script about who he was going to be. Sometimes, like the best stories, if there's any resonance with what's happening in the world, that must come through without hitting the audience over the head. I wanted to stay true to this wild, specific character Noah had written, and the resonances with right now, they can take care of themselves.

Joseph Iberti, Dana Gonzales, and Clayton Krueger join Hawley, Ridley Scott, and David Zucker as executive producers. Alien: Earth, which also stars Alex Lawther, Essie Davis, Adarsh Gourav, Jonathan Ajayi, Diêm Camille, Lily Newmark, Kit Young, David Rysdahl, and Adrian Edmondson, premieres its first two episodes on August 12th on FX.

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