- One of Alien: Earth‘s antagonists isn’t based on tech bros like Elon Musk
- The actor behind the character didn’t seek inspiration from real-world examples
- He let series creator Noah Hawley’s writing do the talking
One of Alien: Earth‘s stars has denied that specific examples of real-life tech bros inspired the duplicitous character he portrays in the FX TV Original.
Speaking to TechRadar, Samuel Blenkin, who plays Boy Kavalier in the sci-fi horror franchise’s first-ever TV project, said he simply relied on how the character had been written.
For the uninitiated: Boy Kavalier is the 20-something CEO and founder of Prodigy Corporation. One of five megacorporations that essentially rule planet Earth in the Alien universe, Prodigy is at the forefront of unlocking human immortality via its Hybrid program – an experimental procedure that transfers the consciousness of a human child into an artificial adult body.
However, not long after Prodigy successfully creates six Hybrids, the USCSS Maginot – a deep-space research vessel owned by Weyland-Yutani, one of Prodigy’s rivals and the Alien franchise’s most famous multinational – crashes into Prodigy City. Upon discovering that the Maginot was transporting five dangerous alien lifeforms, including one of the franchise’s iconic Xenomorphs, to Weyland-Yutani, Kavalier takes ownership of the potentially lethal extra-terrestrials for experimental purposes.
Anyone who’s seen an Alien movie – or even a Jurassic Park one – knows that playing with things you don’t fully understand is a recipe for disaster. Regardless of the consequences, though, the arrogant and so-called ‘boy genius’ Kavalier is hell-bent on unearthing the bioweapons’ secrets in the Hulu and Disney+ TV Original.
If Kavalier’s self-important and rebellious personality seems familiar, it might be that you’re reminded of supposed ‘tech revolutionaries’ who, like Kavalier, claim their technological advancements are for humanity’s benefit in spite of concerns about their use.
Need examples? How about the uncanny valley nature of Elon Musk’s Tesla Bots, which some observers have likened to the Terminators from the James Cameron-created dystopian sci-fi franchise? What about artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots, such as ChatGPT, that use the OpenAI software co-created by Sam Altman? Or, take a look at Facebook founder and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s all-consuming quest to make the Metaverse a real thing.
For what it’s worth, Blenkin rejected – or, rather, strongly sidestepped – the notion that any or all of the above, or any other tech guru, influenced his portrayal of Kavalier.
Nevertheless, he also indicated that projects penned by series creator Noah Hawley (Fargo, Legion) are often a commentary on people who’ve been in the public eye for the last few years, and/or the ever-changing nature of our own world. In Blenkin’s view, then, it’s possible that characters in the franchise’s inaugural TV show might be crudely influenced by certain individuals who exist right now.
“I think that Noah did such a good job of painting a vivid character,” Blenkin told me. “Like all of Noah’s characters, they clearly have strands of the stuff that we’re facing today and what’s resonant right now.
“But what I love is that he [Kavalier] has very specific mannerisms and obsessions,” Blenkin continued. “[He has] this Peter Pan obsession, he never wear shoes or socks, he has a little ball he throws about, his attention span is lacking, and he has an obsession with childhood and childhood innocence equating with the kind of genius [he is] and seeing himself as a boy who never grew up.
“He’s able to break rules and not be held to the same account as an adult with that kind of morality,” he added. “Everything that was written about him was so vivid on the page, so I kind of let the rest of the character threads take care of themselves.”
Alien: Earth launches with a two-episode premiere on Hulu (US) on August 12 and Disney+ (internationally) on August 13. Before it arrives, read my review of Alien: Earth or get the lowdown on the series our dedicated guide on Alien: Earth.
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tom.power@futurenet.com (Tom Power)
