The post David Rysdahl on Alien: Earth, Playing Noah Hawley’s Conscience, and the Ethics of AI: Podcast appeared first on Consequence.
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David Rysdahl sat down with Kyle Meredith to dig into FX’s Alien: Earth, the latest installment of the Alien franchise. Known for roles in Fargo and Oppenheimer, Rysdahl steps into a story that uses sci-fi horror as a Trojan horse for bigger questions — AI, environmental collapse, corporate greed, even the messy question of whether humanity deserves to stick around. Listen above or wherever you get your podcasts.
For Rysdahl, working again with creator Noah Hawley after Fargo meant playing more than just a scientist — he was embodying a piece of Hawley himself. “I do feel like I’m playing a part of Noah,” he tells Meredith. “Arthur is the conscience and the heart of Alien: Earth. Wayne in Fargo was that for his family, and Arthur is that in this story. Both are idealists who have their faith and their world shaken.” He laughed about Hawley sending him a one-line email — “You want to come to Thailand?” — and knew right then he was back in the deep end.
That deep end, of course, comes with the Alien franchise’s weight and a modern spin on terror. Rysdahl admitted the show made him rethink the present just as much as the fictional future. “I was reading so much transhumanism, Ray Kurzweil, all of that,” he says. “Did it give me answers? No. But it let me put my fears into a role and meditate on the warnings. Are we the monster? From a lot of species’ point of view, we are. That’s what’s so compelling about the show — you’re asking these uncomfortable questions while something terrifying is breathing down your neck.”
Listen to David Rysdahl talk about Alien Earth, and more in the new episode above or by watching the video below. Keep up on all the latest episodes by following Kyle Meredith With… on your favorite podcast platform; plus, check out all the series on the Consequence Podcast Network.
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