Additional cast announced and production has begun (without SAG actors on set)

[Nightmare Asylum]

'Alien': Alex Lawther & Samuel Blenkin Among Quartet Cast As FX Series Starts Production With No SAG-AFTRA Actors Amid Strike

FX's Alien series has started production in Thailand but without its stars who are SAG-AFTRA members due to the ongoing strike.

So far, Sydney Chandler is the only officially confirmed cast member, playing the female lead. Deadline can reveal that Alex Lawther, known for his starring role in Netflix's young adult drama The End of the F*cking World, has been cast as the male lead, a soldier named CJ, with Samuel Blenkin (Black Mirror) as another main character, Boy Kavalier, a CEO. Additional cast members include Essie Davis (Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries) as Dame Silvia and Adarsh Gourav (The White Tiger) as Slightly.

The deals for the actors were made well before the SAG-AFTRA strike started August 14, and those who are members of the American union are not currently in Thailand working on Alien, which is an Equity production, sources tell Deadline.

Production began Wednesday, July 19, at The Studio Park with crew filming scenes that don't include SAG-affiliated actors.

Reps for American Chandler, who is best known for her role in Don't Worry, Darling, confirmed she was "not in production." Equity-affiliated English actor Lawther is in Thailand, filming, sources tell Deadline.

Equity performers have been told that they risk being sued for breach of contract if they walk off set in solidarity with American colleagues.

Noah Hawley's prequel to the Alien franchise, with Ridley Scott on board as executive producer, has booked out most of the sound stages in Bangkok, as well as a big chunk of its camera and lighting equipment.

According to sources, three of the cast are SAG-AFTRA members and it's understood the production has reworked its shooting schedule to delay their participation for as long as possible. Some of the other main cast are members of UK acting union Equity.

Hawley created the series, which had been in prep for four months, and was less than one week away from the start of production when the SAG-AFTRA strike was called.

A source close to the production said the shoot hadn't been affected by the WGA strike as all the scripts were completed before it was called in May. But the actors' strike had thrown them another curveball, and while cameras rolled Wednesday morning, all cast were told they could choose not to work.

Around 400 Thai nationals are employed in the production's crew; no details have emerged about Thai cast. Among the Thai facilities booked out by the production are Bangkok's Studio Park, where Netflix's Thai Cave Rescue and Disney's Ms Marvel were also shot.

Studio Park and the series' Bangkok-based producer Chris Lowenstein, who also worked on Ms Marvel, declined comment when contacted by Deadline.

The Alien series is reportedly set in a time period before Sigourney Weaver's Ripley and is the first story in the franchise that takes place on Earth.

Separately from the FX series, 20th Century Studios is producing a ninth Alien movie, directed by Fede Alverez and starring Cailee Spaeny and Isabela Merced. That film is already in post-production.

Thailand is one of Asia's biggest hubs for inbound production, also recently hosting HBO and A24's The Sympathizer, which wrapped a location-based shoot a few months ago.

The third season of HBO's The White Lotus is also set to shoot in Thailand but has already been paused by the writers strike.

https://deadline.com/2023/07/alien-alex-lawther-samuel-blenkin-cast-fx-series-production-no-sag-aftra-actors-strike-1235443713/

Sounds like Hermit's name has shifted to CJ.

I wonder how far they're actually going to get, shooting around the SAG actors like this, before this whole shoot comes grinding to a halt as they can't get any farther without them...

[SiL]

Boy Kavalier, CEO.

Sigh.

[Local Trouble]

That can't be real, right?  It...just can't be real.

[Gimitko]

Essie Davis was the lead of The Babadook, she gave an incredible performance there. Also it sounds like there are only three american actors including Sydney in the series? They can work with that.

[𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔈𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯]

Deadline can reveal that Alex Lawther, known for his starring role in Netflix's young adult drama The End of the F*cking World, has been cast as the male lead.

He also recently played the mad King Charles VI in the Ridley Scott half-helmed, The Last Duel.



Was a good performance.

[Corporal Hicks]

Boy Kavalier, CEO.

Sigh.

I'm so disappointed they stuck with that name. But from what I know of the role, Blenkin looks fantastic for the part. Eager to see how he does in the role!

I loved Lawther in End of the f**king World. It's hard to imagine him as the lead in this though, I know he's 28 but he looks really young still. But you know me, open mind and all that!

[SiL]

The fact the name got through makes me think Hawley maybe doesn't get the franchise as well as he likes to think.

[skhellter]

Dark Horse comic style shenanigans coming soon.

there's a non-zero chance of ninjas with this show.


But also

He's "Boy Kavalier" so.. our Peter Pan? Searching for Immortality?
And he brings "Wendy" into "Neverland" (a secret research site?)

[SiL]

Heavy-handed literary references: check.

Cyborg ninja sword fights: check.

Anything resembling an Alien film: pending.

[Nightmare Asylum]

Essie Davis was the lead of The Babadook, she gave an incredible performance there.

Aye, she is wonderful in that. She's also great in Jennifer Kent's "The Murmuring" from Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities. Very exciting bit of casting for this.

[T Dog]

That the description of The Prodigy Corporation is very intriguing.

[Nightmare Asylum]

Deadline can reveal that Alex Lawther, known for his starring role in Netflix's young adult drama The End of the F*cking World, has been cast as the male lead.

He also recently played the mad King Charles VI in the Ridley Scott half-helmed, The Last Duel.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/charlesvi.jpg
Was a good performance.

Ha, somehow totally missed this connection.

So him and Sydney Chandler are playing siblings (though I think we're still a bit hazy as to whether Chandler's body actually looks like the body that Wendy was born in, right?).

[Kane's other son]

Alex Lawther was really solid as the intellectual revolutionary in Andor.

And the CEO of the company being an extreme version of our era's tech bros is perfect. Remember that sci-fi is always about the times it is conceived in.

[Nightmare Asylum]

Alex Lawther was really solid as the intellectual revolutionary in Andor.

And the CEO of the company being an extreme version of our era's tech bros is perfect. Remember that sci-fi is always about the times it is conceived in.

I still need to get around to watching Andor. I'm sure I'd love it, I've just been pretty burnt on the total onslaught of Star Wars as of late.

The only thing I guess I've seen Samuel Blenkin in is The French Dispatch (but he's credited in that as just Cadet #4 and I honestly have no specific recollection of him, so I guess it was just a background part) so I don't have anything to really base him off of other than the provided headshot, but I do like the idea of a smarmy tech bro type running Prodigy (which will likely be a smaller corporation than Weyland Industries/Weyland-Yutani, I'm assuming), as a sort of contrast the very different type of asshole executive that is Peter Weyland.

[RidgeTop]

A source close to the production said the shoot hadn't been affected by the WGA strike as all the scripts were completed before it was called in May. But the actors' strike had thrown them another curveball, and while cameras rolled Wednesday morning, all cast were told they could choose not to work.

I'm not seeing this bit (in bold) in the Deadline article?