Diksha Sundriyal
FX’s ‘Alien: Earth’ presents a new twist to the world introduced by Ridley Scott in his 1986 film, ‘Aliens.’ The show takes place merely two years before the events of the film, and that allows it to explore the grounds that weren’t previously explored. The main focus is on a girl named Marcy, who becomes Wendy, after her consciousness is transferred to a synthetic body, making her a Hybrid, the first of her kind. This revolutionary technology is invented by a trillionaire named Boy Kavalier, who runs a company called Prodigy, one of the five companies that basically rule the world now, and the power he wields is not unlike what we see in the real world. SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Fictional Boy Kavalier and Prodigy Reflect the Real-Life Billionaires
Played by Samuel Blenkin, Boy Kavalier is a genius, mercurial figure, with immense power in his hands. In creating him, the show’s creator, Noah Hawley, looked towards real-life billionaires and infused the fictional character with a similar level of power and unpredictability, though he did take it a notch higher to make the character more dramatic and dangerous to suit the world of ‘Aliens.’ Referencing the original movie, Hawley talked about how the “nameless, faceless, Weyland-Yutani corporation” holds the fate of the people in its hands. While we see the characters who are soldiers sent into space to explore the unknown and fight the dangerous battles that most of them won’t survive, they are, at the end of the day, at the mercy of their employers, who don’t really seem to care about anything other than their own profit.
Thinking about this in terms of the present world, Hawley could see the same thread running through the capitalistic greed of billionaires. He remarked on the corporations that have “faces and the faces of these young technocrats, who are celebrity CEO billionaires.” To adapt the story for the modern audience, he wanted to present this side of capitalism, rather than present the version depicted in the original movies. With that in mind, he also knew that when someone has as much money and power as Boy Kavalier, they start to feel like the whole world is at their whim, and that’s what forms one of the core ideologies for the character.
Sure enough, as the episodes of ‘Alien: Earth’ roll on, it does start to feel like Boy Kavalier’s unpredictable nature keeps everyone, mostly his own employees, on edge. Additionally, Hawley also looked towards the character of Peter Pan, and wrote Boy Kavalier in his image, like a mischievous boy who never grows up, making Marcy and the other kids a version of his own Wendy and the Lost Boys. Thus, the world that the Hybrids navigate is what Boy Kavalier creates as his own personal Neverland, complete with Captain Hook-like monsters and whatnot.
Samuel Blenkin Tried to Have Fun With the Character
While Noah Hawley drew from real-life billionaires and their “boy genius” persona to create Boy Kavalier, there is no particular person that the character was based on. In the same vein, actor Samuel Blenkin also did not refer to any real-life figures to find a footing for his character. Instead, he surrendered to the writing and focused on exploring the core of the character to discover the quirks that bring out his true form. While Boy Kavalier is entirely focused on keeping his kingdom of Prodigy afloat, Blenkin believes that, in his own way, the trillionaire is trying to do what he believes is best for humanity, and he is ready to go to any lengths to do that.
The actor said: “There are clear resonances there with what’s happening right now in the world, and the joy of this character who is strange and has his own weird tendencies and that kind of thing. I get to inhabit that.” He also talked about how the power and influence that Boy Kavalier now wields have given him such a twisted view of the world that most of the time, he doesn’t take anything or anyone too seriously. The actor revealed that he improvised certain things about the character, which not only helped him get into the skin of Boy Kavalier but also made him understand what the character is all about.
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