Sydney Chandler Talks About Drawing Strength from Ripley for ALIEN

Geek Tyrant

4 hours ago

The Alien franchise has always thrived on two things the terrifying Xenomorph and the unshakable presence of Sigourney Weaver's Ripley. While Alien: Earth delivers big on the alien menace, Ripley is nowhere to be found this time.
Instead, the responsibility of leading humanity's fight falls to Sydney Chandler as Wendy, a brand-new kind of Alien protagonist.
Speaking with GamesRadar+ during a London press event, Chandler admitted Ripley wasn't a direct influence on her performance, but Weaver's work still had a deep impact. Chandler said:
"I've been a massive fan of the original for a really long time. So, I just held on to the essence of that and the strength that her character gave to me when I was younger.
"I don't think you can recreate or try and mirror anything from that original film. It stands on its own, as it should. I just went off the feeling that that film gave me.
'Kind of how Noah [Hawley, creator] said he went off the feeling of Alien and then allowed his imagination to explode."
Wendy isn't your standard Xeno-fighting action hero. She's a 'hybrid', a terminally ill teenager whose consciousness has been transferred into a powerful Synthetic body. She's part of a group known as the 'Lost Boys,' terminally ill children given the same transformation, named after characters from Peter Pan by their creator, the enigmatic Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin).
For Chandler, the role came with the unique challenge of capturing a child's spirit within a superhuman shell.
"Noah talked about focusing on the aspects of the personality and being the child and I took that and tried to think of where the personality would override the machine, and what it means to be a child.
"I mean, they're great acting teachers. They're so present and vulnerable and honest. They don't overthink and, especially in Wendy's case, she listens to her gut and stands on her own feet and she goes for it.
'There's a freedom that you get to access when you're playing a child that's really vulnerable and really, really, really rewarding."
Alongside Chandler, the series stars Alex Lawther, Timothy Olyphant, and more, as Alien: Earth brings the Xenomorph to our planet for the first time, right as humanity begins exploring a transhuman future. Creator Noah Hawley has even hinted that the alien itself will undergo some changes this time around.
Alien: Earth streams on Hulu in the US starting August 12, and it looks set to carve out its own terrifying corner of the franchise while passing the torch from Ripley to Wendy in thrilling new ways.