Eoin Macken Donal O’Donoghue meets the star of the Netflix drama, Nightflyers, on the set of the sci-fi thriller in Limerick
In space no one can hear you scream: which is just as well because there’s lots of screaming in Nightflyers. Donal O’Donoghue visits the set in Limerick and talks with lead actor, Eoin Macken
“It’s a psychological horror journey into space that explores the darkest depths of humanity and whether we should try and meet extra-terrestrial life or not,” says Irish actor Eoin Macken, boldly going where he hasn’t ventured before with the sci- - horror Night yers. Based on a 1980 George RR Martin novella of the same name, and previously made into a 1987 B movie, Night yers goes global with Net ix, a ten-part show lmed entirely at Troy Studios in Limerick and featuring an international cast (Gretchen Mol, Jodie Turner-Smith) and a few familiar Irish faces including Brian F O’Byrne and Macken. “It’s a haunted house story set in a space ship, Psycho in space,” is how the Game of rones author, Martin, pitched it. I visited Troy Studios last June, where all three sound stages on the eight-acre hub had been completely swallowed up by the Syfy production. e former Dell factory’s innards have scooped out and converted into the echoing interior of the colony spaceship, the Night yer. Walking the maze-like corridors, with their shiny steel ducts and coiled tubing, triggered memories of other genre classics. A curved gangway that seemed to run forever echoes 2001: A Space Odyssey; the ‘Memory Room’ with its throne-like chair suggests that other George RR Martin show. We might be lost on the Nostromo ( Alien) or wandering the corridors of the Overlook Hotel ( e Shining) or perched at the edge of a black hole ( Event Horizon).
Adding to this sense of emptiness was the fact that this was the nal day of principal photography ( lming started in January 2018) and most of the cast had already le the ship and the set. But there were signs of life everywhere, from the medical bay to the mess hall and the crew’s quarters, with photographs of Macken’s character D’Branin and his family revealing the Dublin actor’s hang-out.“ e sets were so vast that occasionally you would get lost on them, which was pretty cool,” says the UCD psychology graduate. “Also, because they built so much of the spaceship, using very little CGI, it felt like you were physically in this giant cra . at heightened the sense of claustrophobia such that the sets seemed to close in on you.”
Set in 2093, Night yers follows the crew of the spaceship on a mission from a dying Earth into deep space to track down extra-terrestrial life, the Volcryn, and hopefully save humanity. e crew are led by astrophysicist Karl D’Branin (Macken) and among their number is a psychiatrist (Gretchen Mol) and a malevolent telepath known as an L-1 who is capable of killing all on board. “Karl is a man tormented by his own personal demons,” says Macken. “In that opening episode you see that everything that went on with his daughter haunts him and will continue to do so throughout the show. at torment pushes him to make choices that will a ect him, especially in extreme situations. He also changes quite a lot which was very enjoyable to play.”
On set, the director, Andrew McCarthy (the former brat-packer from Pretty in Pink and St Elmo’s Fire), stops by to say hello, as does straighttalking producer Sean Ryerson, who in a short lm promoting the series, famously said that if he could choose three words to describe Nigh yers they would be “just f**king awesome”. He repeats the line again before adding: “And that’s the last time I will say that.” Showrunner Je Buhler adapted the George RR Martin novella for the small screen. “In my original pitch for this show, I used the tag-line, ‘ e Shining in Space’” he says. “ ere’s horror in the book but we have amped it up and there’s lots more blood.” Later con rming the gore factor, the props man reveals an array of grisly weapons, all created with the magic of a 3-D printer, some still splashed with red.
Night yers is a new genre for Macken, a former model who played a drug dealer in Fair City before landing the role of dishy Sir Gwaine in the BBC series, Merlin, followed by the role dishy doctor TC Callahan in the US medical drama, e Night Shi . “What was really good about doing e Night Shi was that the crew were from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul so creatively it was very exciting. I learned a lot about acting and also got to direct an episode.” His own writing helps too. “ e reason I wrote my rst book, Kingdom of Scars (2014), was to explore character at a deeper level. at’s what I like about writing as you get to spend time with a character. Once you fundamentally know your character you can then understand how they will interpret the various situations they nd themselves in.”
Apart from his two novels – Kingdom of Scars was followed by Hunter and the Grape (2017) – Macken has written a number of screenplays, including an adaptation of Rob Doyle’s acclaimed coming-of-age novel, Here Are the Young Men which he also directs and has a cameo in (“although I just might cut myself out”). He once said that writing is much easier than acting. “I love acting because you get to explore someone else’s character and re-interpret it but I nd that a bigger challenge than writing my own story, because the only person creating the parameters is myself,” he says. “Acting is also more emotionally exhausting because you have to push yourself to places rather than sit at your desk having a whiskey or a co ee as you write.”
Shortly a er his father, James, died, Eoin discovered that he had been writing a novel. “It’s only a few pages but it was quite a strange thing that he had written it. e only tattoo I have is something that he wrote. It was a bittersweet discovery, that writing. He may have written more but all that I was able to nd were these eight or nine pages. It was nice to hear his voice in those words written on the page but it was also sad because I’d like to have discussed with him where he got his characters from. at is something I also enjoy doing. He had also written some law books but this was ction and that is di erent. is was his voice as opposed to an interpretation of a planning law or whatever.”
He credits both his parents as his guiding lights. “It was my mum and my dad who encouraged me in getting my rst short lm made and to create stories. I wasn’t sure if I could write but it was my mother especially who pushed me.” Six months ago, he started work on another novel (“I’m not sure where it’s going yet”) and his next lm is the Lee Cronin horror, e Hole in the Ground with Seána Kerslake. As for Night yers, no one is saying whether there will be another series, not least Macken, who says such speculation is way beyond his pay grade. But he has watched all ten episodes and is con dent. “Night yers goes to places you never expect,” he says. A lot of people are hoping that includes a second season.