Latest news with #EranaJames
News18
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- News18
Alien: Earth Stars Essie Davis, Erana James Bonded With Adarsh Gourav Over Lagaan
Essie Davis and Erana James star in 'Alien: Earth,' premiering August 12, 2025. It also stars Adarsh Gourav. 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. First Published: Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
NZ Herald
09-08-2025
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
New Zealand actor Erana James joins Alien franchise - and figures out the best way to die in space
'It was amazing, actually,' she says. 'We got to work with a movement coach who kind of helped us find what that physicality would look like, marrying the synthetic with those human features. We also worked with child psychologists, with military specialists, a bunch of people to kind of build what we all were going to be.' It's not the only renegade teen role James, 26, has excelled in as part of her diverse acting resume. She started her career as a supernatural saviour in the Margaret Mahy adaptation The Changeover and went on to play a stranded teen survivor on hit Netflix show The Wilds. Last year, she impressed critics and audiences with her performance as an oppressed young girl fighting against a broken system in the film festival favourite We Were Dangerous. 'That was a very different childlike innocence,' she says, reflecting on the two roles. '[But] Curly has a bit of a chip on her shoulder, so there's kind of like a little parallel there.' Erana James and Rima Te Wiata in Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu's debut feature We Were Dangerous (2024) which tells a fictional story about a rebellious trio of girls railing against the system in 1950s New Zealand. Photo / 818 Alien: Earth is set two years before the disastrous Nostromo incident of the original 1979 Alien movie and features a brand-new set of cast and characters dealing with a new threat to mankind. Hawley, of Fargo and Legion acclaim, pays tribute to the style of the films with a focus on physical effects and tactile visuals. 'The world-building was incredible,' James says of the shooting schedule in Bangkok. 'I'd never been in like a sci-fi universe before, so I think stepping onto set and seeing the world that's been created in front of us by the production designer, and then also seeing what the plan would look like down the line was amazing.' A longtime admirer of Hawley, James said the director's respect for the Alien IP was incredible, and he had done 'something very special with the franchise'. 'It's maybe something a little different to what people might expect. People should go in with an open mind,' she says. 'Hopefully, you'll have some of those feelings that you might have felt the first time you saw the Alien films, if you were a fan." Now coming up to 10 years in the acting business, James admits she still feels 'very new to the industry'. She credits acting coach and Kiwi theatre legend Dame Miranda Harcourt and her classes for helping fuel her passion from a young age. 'My mum enrolled me when I was a teenager, and we'd go there every Saturday,' she says. 'I think Mum and Dad probably wanted to get me focused on something rather than just being a teenager.' Erana James stars in The Changeover with Timothy Spall. Photo / Supplied Harcourt also helped get her into her breakout role in The Changeover. 'Honestly, it feels like what got me into acting was sort of The Changeover. I kind of didn't think too deeply about it, and then when it ended up happening, it just felt really cool. I didn't know if I could keep doing it or if I wanted to keep doing it, but then obviously here we are." James is based in Melbourne but grew up in a rural area of Whangārei, where her folks still live. Her love for her Northland home remains as strong as ever. 'It's an amazing place to grow up,' she says. 'I'm over in Melbourne now and I love it, but nothing beats the naughty north.' She's excited to see the series - and the on-screen sci-fi chaos - when it airs, but if she was living in the Alien universe, how would she like it all to end? 'Personally, I prefer [the act of death by] Xenomorph because of the drama. I think the adrenaline, the spike in all your cortisol, and like all of those reactions, it's quite iconic,' she says. 'But personal preference in terms of what I would rather experience? Facehugger, because you don't know what's going on, and you're done.' The first two episodes of Alien: Earth premiere on August 13 on Disney+. Mitchell Hageman joined the Herald's entertainment and lifestyle team in 2024. He previously worked as a multimedia journalist for Hawke's Bay Today.
