Alex Lawther is sitting on a high-legged director’s chair. Behind him, a stand-alone mirror with lightbulbs set into the frame – the sort you might find in a dressing room. Given we’re in a hotel, it’s quite a theatrical setting in which to meet the British 30-year-old star, whose cult status is about to reach new peaks. After Netflix black comedy The End Of The F***ing World and Star Wars spin-off Andor, Lawther is now headlining Alien: Earth, a Disney+ show that acts as prequel to Ridley Scott’s original 1979 horror-sci-fi classic Alien.
Just last week, Lawther was in San Diego presenting Alien: Earth footage to nearly 7000 rabid fans in Comic-Con’s famed Hall H. “There’s something nice about being part of these things with pre-existing fan bases,” he says, “but I don’t spend a lot of time giving too much thought to it. It’s maybe quite crazy-making if you did.” Typical of Lawther’s grounded attitude to the business, it’s why you can’t imagine this reserved, softly-spoken Englishman ever getting his head turned by Hollywood.
Yet Lawther is on the studios’ radars. Playing the idealistic Nemick in Andor introduced him to the Star Wars fanbase, his biggest break since his role as disturbed teen James in The End Of The F***ing World. Now he’s CJ ‘Hermit’ in Alien: Earth, the latest expansion of the franchise that launched the terrifying Xenomorph into our collective nightmares. Set two years before the events of Alien, as rival corporations race to develop artificial life, it all kicks off when a spaceship crash-lands on Earth. On board? Well, you can probably guess.
Created by Noah Hawley, the showrunner behind Fargo and Legion, it’s a taut, tense and often atmospheric eight-episode run (and, no, it doesn’t skimp on Xenomorph action – make no mistake, the bitches are back). Lawther’s CJ is a medic in a military unit – sent in to investigate the crash. Adding to the intrigue is a complex relationship with his sister Wendy (Sydney Chandler), now a hybrid – her consciousness transferred to a synthetic body. And then there’s the unstable force that is the Musk-alike CEO Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin).
For Lawther, it’s yet another stepping stone in his neatly carved journey. Drama clubs. National Youth Theatre. A first West End role in Sir David Hare’s play South Downs. A breakthrough movie part in The Imitation Game, playing the young Alan Turing. Being declared one of BAFTA’s ‘Breakthrough Brits’. A lead in Black Mirror. A king for Ridley Scott. A soldier-playing actor in Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch. And, if that wasn’t enough, taking over from Andrew Scott for a Broadway run of Hamlet.
Throughout all, Lawther steadfastly refuses to be pigeonholed. Or rather his diverse slate of projects – sci-fi, historical, cult, comedy – means he just keeps popping up where you’d least expect him. Case in point: he’s currently shooting The Altruist, a mini-series about crypto company FTX, in which he’s playing business exec Sam Trabucco. Then, having already made two shorts, there are plans to direct. “I don’t imagine that I’d be making anything as big as Alien: Earth,” he smiles. Don’t bet against it…
How familiar were you with Alien and that whole franchise?
“I got shown Alien by my mum. It’s one of the great films, because it does something so strange and interesting. And it is so beautiful to look at. The choices are so interesting. The first half an hour is just conversations, business around the ship and eating breakfast cereal. And yet it’s called Alien, and you’re waiting the whole time for this Xenomorph to appear.”
With Alien: Earth a prequel to the original movie, did that mean you felt less pressure riding on the story?
“Well, we’re in a different environment now, we’re on Earth, and there’s a sort of freedom [to that]. Also knowing that Noah is really good at doing that, of taking original source material like Fargo or Legion…he doesn’t think twice about following his nose, in terms of where his imagination goes. So I didn’t really worry about the lore of it. I just enjoyed the story that Noah was writing.”
Were there Xenomorphs on set you could interact with? Was that strange?
“The Xenomorph is [played by] Cameron Brown – a Kiwi! And a vegan! He’s excellent. It is strange and surprising… it’s almost like being starstruck. Having watched something or someone on the screen and then to be in the same room, it’s sort of a bit uncanny.”
When did you last get starstruck?
“Jamie-Lee [O’Donnell] from Derry Girls. I love Derry Girls! She’s really cool! We did a TV show called Leonard’s Hungry Pool for the BBC.”
You’ve found your way into these huge fandom shows like Alien Earth and Andor. Does that surprise you?
“I’m always suspicious of actors who have plans. I mean, directors, maybe they have plans about films that they want to direct, but actors [are often waiting for a role] and it’s in conversation with many other people’s opinions. But I was also surprised to do The Imitation Game. And what was so beautiful about that job was that I also snuck into that, because I only had a few days filming on that, and the film did really well because of Keira Knightley and Benedict Cumberbatch. And I was along for the ride.”
Were you a huge Star Wars fan before Andor?
“No. When I got the job, I sat down and watched all of them. [When I was young] I thought they were really boy films. And I wasn’t going to watch Star Wars in a cinema. I was watching Sabrina The Teenage Witch! But it’s been a pleasure to revisit Alien and re-watch all of the Star Wars films. And Andor… it’s good writing. Tony Gilroy is really good at what he does. And it’s a good gang. Fiona Shaw, especially, what a person. And it was before Ebon Moss-Bachrach did The Bear. I remember chatting to him. He was like, ‘Oh, there’s this show in Chicago. Thinking about doing it.’ He said he was going to get really fat for it!”
Was there ever talk of a third season of The End of the F***ing World? Would you revisit it?
“I don’t think so. I think Charlie [Covell, the creator] was like, ‘This is it.’ All good things have to come to an end. We joked about it [happening] when we were in our thirties, which I now am, [and] picking up the characters 10 years on. But if ain’t broke, then don’t do it.”
How did you feel securing a role in Black Mirror?
“That I was – hands down – a fan of since that first amazing Rory Kinnear episode with the pig. So brilliant. I think I was 22. And being asked to audition for a lead part in Black Mirror was like gold dust.”
Between commercial genre fare and more arthouse projects, you’re able to slip into different worlds. Do you feel that way?
“I hope that continues to be true. I find it really interesting when people talk to actors about the work they’re doing. I could talk to you very easily about another actors’ work and their choices, but less so me. It’s about what you audition for, the jobs you get, the jobs you don’t. You just cross your fingers that the jobs you do get are with the good bits of writing.”
‘Alien: Earth’ is available to watch from August 13 on Disney+