Alien: Earth Stars Essie Davis, Erana James Bonded With Adarsh Gourav Over Lagaan
The Alien franchise is going somewhere it's never been before, right to our home planet. Alien: Earth, releasing August 12, 2025, brings fresh faces, new storylines, and a few surprising off-screen friendships. At the centre of it are Essie Davis and Erana James. Essie plays a powerful scientist with big ambitions, Erana is a synthetic learning to find her place and somewhere between fighting aliens and filming action scenes, the two bonded with co-star Adarsh Gourav over the classic Indian film Lagaan on the sets.
Unlike previous instalments, Alien: Earth focuses on a new set of characters and ideas. Davis portrays Dame Silvia, a high-ranking scientist in the world of Prodigy who serves as a maternal figure to a group of synthetics known as the Lost Boys – beings with the consciousness of children housed in adult bodies.
'These characters are fantastic introductions," Davis told ETimes. 'My character is one of the highest-ranking scientists in the world of Prodigy. She's a geneticist and psychologist creating synthetic hybrids — putting the consciousness of a human child into a super-powerful, man-made body. The fact that she's been able to do that is incredibly powerful."
She added, 'The synthetic human hybrids are an amazing idea — they explore both the dream of human immortality and the danger of where artificial intelligence can lead. Synthetics are a wonderful creation that may or may not go the way their creators intended."
Building the world of Alien: Earth
Erana James plays Curly, one of the synthetics introduced in the series. Reflecting on the show's direction, she noted the balance between honouring the franchise's roots and venturing into uncharted territory.
'I've heard Noah [Hawley] say that season 1 is almost like a group of concepts, and there's so much room to grow. What's established in this first season is huge. There's a lot of world-building. You really meet the world where it's at in season 1, and I think there are lots of branches to build from," she said.
An Indian connection on set
Among the newcomers is Adarsh Gourav, playing a synthetic named Sightly. James recalled the preparation process with him: 'I got to have weeks, and at some point months, of training with him, finding the inner child. We played a lot of music, a lot of instruments, just a lot of play to find that inner child."
Davis shared a more personal anecdote about working with the Indian actor. 'No, he didn't introduce me to any of those [Indian sci-fi films]! I'm going to have to go have words with him about that! But one of my favourite films ever is Lagaan, so we bonded over that on the first day we met. He actually sang a lot of beautiful Indian music to us. He's a beautiful singer, a fantastic actor, and a super delightful man. It was really good fun working with Adarsh."
Gourav is widely recognised for his role in the Academy Award-nominated The White Tiger and has appeared in international productions such as Apple TV+'s Extrapolations.
Story and ensemble cast
Set in the Alien universe, Alien: Earth follows a young woman and a group of tactical soldiers after the space vessel Maginot crash-lands on Earth, unleashing a deadly threat. Building on Ridley Scott's original vision, the series blends high-stakes survival with an exploration of artificial intelligence and human ambition.
The ensemble cast includes Sydney Chandler, Alex Lawther, Timothy Olyphant, Babou Ceesay, Samuel Blenkin, Jonathan Ajayi, Lily Newmark, Kit Young, Sandra Yi Sencindiver, Adrian Edmondson, and David Rysdahl. Episodes will air weekly on Tuesdays, with the season finale scheduled for September 23, 2025.
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