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SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from “Observation,” Season 1, Episode 4 of “Alien: Earth,” now streaming on Hulu.
After Wendy (Sydney Chandler) fought off a Xenomorph and suffered severe internal damage in the previous episode, Episode 4 of “Alien: Earth” takes place immediately as she wakes up to the sounds of the newly collected alien specimens from the USCSS Maginot being experimented on. With Episode 3 ending as Wendy begins investigating on Neverland Research Island, the grotesque sounds grow stronger inside of her head, causing her to collapse due to the high frequencies.
Since Wendy possesses a unique ability to conduct direct contact with the alien specimens, Prodigy Corporation CEO Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin) runs a test to bring her audio processors back online with the assistance of Arthur Sylvia (David Rhysdahl) inside of the laboratory. As a loyal follower of Kavalier and the lead technician for the company, Arthur begins to take notice the inhumane treatment of the hybrids as the episode progresses, posing the question: Are the hybrid bodies being used for scientific purposes?
Left to right: Alex Lawther, Sydney Chandler and David Rysdahl
Courtesy of Patrick Brown/FX
Rysdahl spoke with Variety about his character’s growing fondness for The Lost Boys, the revealing argument between Arthur and his wife Dame Sylvia (Essie Davis) and how his college chemistry professor inspired Arthur’s ’70s attire.
“Observation” immediately follows Wendy hearing the alien specimens for the first time. Arthur is in the room being forced to comply as Boy Kavalier makes Wendy recreate the alien sounds through her system. Is this the moment when Arthur begins to question his loyalty to Prodigy Corporation?
I thought about Arthur as if he was in the Manhattan Project, and this idea that there were scientists behind the Manhattan Project who loved science and loved being a part of it. I definitely circled that this is the episode where it all changes, because Prodigy Corporation had created this code of ethics with very clear guidance. Arthur trusted his wife and the process behind making the hybrids, and then all of a sudden, he’s starting to feel like he’s part of the problem.
Arthur confronts Dame Sylvia about his worries about having Wendy communicate directly with the aliens and the rest of The Lost Boys being in close proximity to the unknown specimens. She tells him that their work is for the good of science and humanity, but Arthur disagrees with that statement. Why do you think Arthur has grown to care about the kids, even though they are technically his experiments?
It surprises him. He keeps saying in the beginning of the show that these kids are hybrids, and trying to distance himself from them emotionally. He keeps getting emotional about these children, and so does she. For Essie and myself, our characters are the pseudo father and mother, and it becomes a little bit about growing up for them. As a father, you start to watch your kids do things that surprise you, and you start to care in ways that you didn’t think you [could], you have fears that you didn’t think you were going to have. For me, the metaphor of fatherhood is a part of his journey and the arc of the unknown. They’re scientists, but their love and care for these kids, and therefore their complicity in harming them, starts to subconsciously bother him.
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Rysdahl and Essie Davis
Courtesy of Patrick Brown/FX
After this conversation, does Arthur see himself as the main parental figure for The Lost Boys after what they’ve been subjected to?
There’s a lot of cognitive dissonance in Arthur. He’s similar to where I am right now with AI and transhumanism, and his idea in the future where we can download someone’s mind and put it in a robot shows that we don’t know what how we’re going to feel when that happens. We can have ethics and ideals, but then the reality of what happens overwhelms him. Consciously, Arthur would say no, but subconsciously, he would say yes to being their parental figure.
As Wendy is being experimented on, Joe (Alex Lawther) and Arthur are beginning to be on the same page about their changing feelings towards Prodigy Corporation as workers. Between the looks they give each other in the lab as Boy asks Arthur to continue Wendy’s hearing test to the way that Joe is being treated after his surgery, the gears are slowly turning in their heads.
Arthur sees how much Joe loves his sister, and it reminds him that this is a real person. This is a real brother, and even though the scientists have been talking in science [terminology for the hybrids], it is affecting real people. For Joe’s presence to be there, it sparks change in Arthur. He sees how much he loves her and how much he’s been affected. Arthur starts to see this, and realizes that of course Joe would feel that way about Wendy. Arthur starts realizing that this corporation is heartless, and I think he starts to take a lot of that from seeing Joe and starts to change his internal state.
Everyone at Prodigy Corporation has a unique style, from Boy Kavalier’s loose pajamas-esque attire to Arthur’s retro aesthetic. How did getting into Arthur’s wardrobe help you bring his character to life?
Suttirat [Larlab], who is the costume designer, and I were going back and forth on Arthur’s look, and we had all these images of ’70s scientists working at NASA who had big beards and flower-printed shirts. The inspiration was hippies who love the science of it all. I was actually a chemistry major in college, and I had a biology professor with a massive beard, and he was the kind of guy that would come to class and had grabbed an insect on the way, and would be like “Guys, look at this cool bug! We’re gonna show him under the microscope!” and he loved it so much. That’s sort of who Arthur is. He loves the work, and that allows you [as an actor] to put blinders on to the bigger ethics of it all.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
