How Alien: Earth Season 2 Can Follow in Aliens’ Footsteps

This article contains spoilers for Alien: Earth episode 8. The true horrors of Neverland have finally been unleashed, and in the Alien: Earth finale, showrunner Noah Hawley ensures the episode lives up to its namesake of “The Real Monsters”. While Wendy (Sydney Chandler) and the rest of the Lost Boys realized their adult carers were […]

The post How Alien: Earth Season 2 Can Follow in Aliens’ Footsteps appeared first on Den of Geek.

This article contains spoilers for Alien: Earth episode 8.

There’s a long-standing tradition in storytelling: If you introduce a parasitic alien eyeball in the first act, it had better take over someone’s brain by the third act.

While it certainly made for a stunning, downright demonic visual, the so-called “eye midge” of FX’s Alien: Earth couldn’t occupy the orbital socket of that sheep all season. At a certain point, the little buddy known as T. Ocellus would have to find a human host like it did aboard the USCSS Maginot when it commandeered the engineer Shmuel (Michael Smiley). Fan theories regarding the eyeball’s next host ran the gamut from the obvious (Samuel Blenkin’s Boy Kavalier) to the unlikely (any of the hybrids) to the wickedly creative (the xenomorph herself).

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In the end, however, the eye-opening moment doesn’t belong to any of those candidates but rather humble egghead Arthur Sylvia… or, more accurately: what’s left of Arthur Sylvia. Near the conclusion of the Alien: Earth season 1 finale “The Real Monsters,” the action cuts away from the claustrophobic confines of Prodigy Corporation’s Neverland compound to the sunny Thai beach outside. There Arthur’s corpse has washed ashore, with the fatherly scientist having been killed in the previous episode by the a more familiar Alien foe: the chestburster. The loose T. Ocellus skitters across the sand, removes Arthur’s moldering left eye, and crawls in. Arthur’s body jolts up, now host to its second extraterrestrial invader in as many days.

FX's Alien: Earth -- "Emergence" -- Season 1, Episode 7 (Airs Tues, Sept 16) -- Pictured: David Rysdahl as Arthur. CR: Patrick Brown/FX

“I’ve been thinking a lot about the fact that I’ve never played an alien before,” Arthur Syliva actor David Rysdahl says. “There’s such an absurdity to this T. Ocellus that I think it’d be really fun to play.”

Rysdahl is one of several Alien: Earth performers who have previously worked with series showrunner Noah Hawley in his FX anthology effort Fargo. Den of Geek caught up with the affable Midwest-born actor to discuss how that Hawley connection led to Arthur’s big moment and what he hopes to see through that cursed eye in Alien: Earth season 2.

Den of Geek: What was your reaction when you heard that the Eyeball would be going into your head?

David Rysdahl: The Eyeball was a last minute thing. It was the night before the episode eight scripts came in and Noah texted me ‘I’m not done with you yet.” I thought I was gonna be done for the season! It was a moment of discovery for both Arthur and for David.

Have you been following the online chatter for Alien: Earth at all? “Whose brain is the Eyeball ending up in?” has been a hot topic of conversation.

A little bit. I try to dabble in it. I do find it interesting – you make something and then it’s not yours anymore. It’s the world’s, it’s everybody’s, it’s all of ours now. I had seen some of the speculation of like “who’s it going to go into?” [The cast and crew] all actually thought similarly to the fans when we were shooting it. We were like “it’s gonna go into somebody in episode eight.” Little did we know it would be Arthur’s corpse. We actually had a very similar and parallel experience to what the fans are having now.

Has Noah let you in on what’s in store for Arthur in season 2 at all? What are you hoping for?

We’re still figuring it out. Noah’s got a lot of ideas but he’s always a little tight-lipped. I’ve been thinking a lot about the fact that I’ve never played an alien before. I’ve never played something that’s seen a lot of the universe but also has a sense of humor. Like the pi episode with the shit on the floor. That’s funny! There’s such an absurdity to this T. Ocellus that I think it’d be really fun to play. I mean, there are already a lot of rules for this little creature from season one. What does it do to the brain that it’s in? It uses this new lens to see the world, and Arthur’s a new lens so how much of Arthur can I bring in? I’m having a lot of ideas as an actor already, so we’ll see how Noah wants to shape it.

Your one scene in the finale obviously packs a punch but I feel like the penultimate episode is Arthur’s finest hour. What was it like playing that scene with Slightly (Adarsh Gourav) and Smee (Jonathan Ajayi) in which you’re very gentle with them, holding their hands and teaching them about lying, just before the chestburster moment?

Noah and I talked about this idea that I’m a scientist and I’m a dad. And slowly through the course of the season, the dad wins out. That last scene needs to feel “full father.” I’m no longer seeing them as hybrids; I’m seeing them as two children who I care for deeply.

We’ve all seen what the chestburster does. So the “what” is not in question, but the “how” is interesting. We were like “well, what makes this chestburster moment distinct and interesting from the ones that have come before us?” This is a father being chestbursted by his “son” to birth a new “xenomorph son” in a way. It was actually the simplest scene because all the science has faded, and it’s just me being a father to two troubled sons.

From a physical acting perspective, what is it like to be chestbursted? Did you do research into previous chestburstings?

Definitely. You know that you’re entering canon so you have to pay respect to what’s come before you and then also try to do it your own way. I watched John Hurt in that original chestburster scene a lot. We shot the exterior beach scene, and then we showed the actual chestbursting on a platform made of sand, where half of my body is not mine. It’s a puppet being worked on with three puppeteers. The “burster” itself is its own puppet and it’s all mechanical.

The moment is not just mine. It’s this group of people who’ve come together who have researched it and practiced it every couple of weeks. You just kind of trust that whatever’s happening feels correct and unique. You don’t have to imagine too much because it’s actually happening to you in that moment. That’s kind of what I love about being an actor. When else would you be able to go through something like that? Well, hopefully never, but I crave that experience as a person. And acting allows you to have these experiences that are literally extraterrestrial.

As one of the few performers who Noah brought over to Alien: Earth from Fargo, what was it like working with him on this versus that original experience?

For myself, [Fargo season 5 character] Wayne and Arthur are kind of mirror images. They’re two fathers who go through crises with their families. Wayne is so optimistic that he’s never going to be hurt, right? Arthur has so many conflicting emotions and this sense that he’s doomed. And then you have the contrast of a very cold place [of Fargo‘s Minnesota] and a very hot place [of Alien: Earth‘s Thailand]. Fargo is musical and melodious in its language. Alien is very ’70s with the naturalism of this heightened science fiction.

They’re still Noah Hawley’s magic and he is still paying tribute to the source material and then wanting you to make a choice. Noah’s always like “just make a choice. I’ll tell you if it’s right or not. Just make a strong choice.” It’s a collaboration because he’ll then be able to write for you as you go forward. He sees things happening in the beginning of the season that he wants to amplify or change course on throughout. They’re two different beats but it’s still Noah Hawley’s brilliant brain.

Is there anything else you want to mention about your Alien: Earth experience that you haven’t gotten the chance to say yet?

I think I haven’t talked enough about how Thailand is a character in the show – the people, the landscape – it’s a really special culture. Just being in that allows for new ideas and new perspectives to infiltrate your actor body. Talking about Alien with a crew that doesn’t speak English: it’s a story about people and I think that’s important right now. Being taken care of by these amazing Thai people and even being invited out to play pickleball or whatever on weekends really helped me feel like this is a global show. And I think that’s translated into the work.

All eight episodes of Alien: Earth are available to stream on Hulu now.

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