Alien: Earth star Timothy Olyphant only needed to do one thing to get into character for the sci-fi horror show on Disney+: 'It does a lot of the work for me'

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Exclusive: 'It was intended to do exactly what you're talking about'

Kirsh sitting at a laboratory table and looking over his left shoulder in Alien: Earth
Timothy Olyphant plays Kirsh, a synthetic created by Prodigy Corporation, in Alien: Earth (Image credit: FX Network/Hulu/Disney+)
  • Timothy Olyphant had a very simple hack to get into character for Alien: Earth
  • The fan-favorite actor plays a synthetic called Kirsh in the sci-fi horror TV show
  • He didn't want to imitate actors who've played android characters in other Alien projects, either

Timothy Olyphant has lifted the lid on the surprisingly easy way he got into character for Alien: Earth – and the one thing he thought it would be "unfair" to do in the sci-fi horror show.

In the forthcoming FX TV Original, Olyphant plays Kirsh, a synthetic created by Prodigy Corporation, aka one of the five multinationals that effectively rule planet Earth. For the uninitiated: synethics are biomechanical humanoids – or, in layman's terms, androids – that carry out various tasks for their human creators.

The Alien franchise is as renowned for its synthetics as it is for its iconic monsters and its bleak, dystopian sci-fi aesthetic. From Ian Holm's Ash in the 1979 original, to Michael Fassbender's David in 2011's Prometheus and 2014's Alien: Covenant, the Xenomorph-fronted multimedia property is full of memorable – not to mention mostly duplicitous – android characters.

So, how did Olyphant set about differentiating Kirsh from synthetics we've seen in Alien: Earth's movie siblings? And what's the mysterious thing he avoided doing so Kirsh wouldn't be compared to Ash, David, or other androids like Aliens' Bishop and Alien: Romulus' Andy?

Kirsh leading The Lost Boys on a mission in Alien: Earth

Kirsh (center) is the mentor and guardian of The Lost Boys, aka six Hybrids created by Prodigy Corporation (Image credit: FX Network/Hulu/Disney+)

"Quite honestly, bleaching my hair was intended to do exactly what you're talking about," Olyphant said when I asked him what he did to make Kirsh as distinct as possible. "That was just to say 'Oh look, now he's separated himself a little bit from what we've seen before'.

"In the first movie, they [Alien's creative team] just made him [Ash] British. I felt it was unfair to do that [play a sinister character with a British accent] again. Quite honestly, no-one wants to hear me do that anyway!

"I do think that, in the simplest way, that little aesthetic adjustment does a lot of the work for me," Olyphant added. "After that, I can just play the scenes and try not to get lost too much with overthinking it and just let all of the puzzle pieces fall into place.

"When a scene's really well written, it does so much the work for you. It gives you a lot of room to play, because I always find it such a fun exercise to see how far you can take it in either direction and still feel like the scene holds together. It's a fun place to work from."

Alien: Earth launches with a two-episode premiere on Hulu (US) on August 12 and Disney+ (internationally) on August 13. Before it's released, read my Alien: Earth review to see what I thought of its first six episodes, and then check out the section below for more coverage of the Noah Hawley-created project.

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Tom Power
Senior Entertainment Reporter

As TechRadar's senior entertainment reporter, Tom covers all of the latest movies, TV shows, and streaming service news that you need to know about. You'll regularly find him writing about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars, Netflix, Prime Video, Disney Plus, and many other topics of interest.


An NCTJ-accredited journalist, Tom also writes reviews, analytical articles, opinion pieces, and interview-led features on the biggest franchises, actors, directors and other industry leaders. You may see his quotes pop up in the odd official Marvel Studios video, too, such as this Moon Knight TV spot.


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