Alien anarchy
Scientist Bill Ward and the survivors are facing a renewed threat in season 2 of sci-fi epic War Of The Worlds on FOX.
Author HG Wells created panic when his 1987 novel The War Of The Worlds was read on radio in 1938 and people thought that visitors from space were attacking Earth. It’s a story that is still relatable, explains Gabriel Byrne (Earl Heraldson in season 1 of historical drama series Vikings, 20132020), who plays Bill Ward in sci-fi series War Of The Worlds (2019-now) – season 2 starts with a double-bill on Monday 24 May on FOX (*125) at 20:45.
“My character is a neuroscientist and he tries to understand the world around him. In season 1, when the aliens came, he wanted to research them while the rest of the world was fleeing for their lives. He put science first, life and faith a distant second,” says the actor who read the original sci-fi story as a boy growing up in Ireland. “If you look at the modern world we are living in, we have many different forms of aliens. People from other countries are called alien invaders, even this terrible pandemic that we are living through, it’s alien to the world we once lived in. And that is the genius of this novel by HG Wells, that 125 years later, we are still able to be gripped by the story and to understand and relate to it and the situation, albeit in a slightly removed context.” Season 2 is going to take a slightly different journey, one that Gabriel says will allow viewers to understand the characters better and what they are going through.
IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD
Season 2 is taking place more than a year after the arrival, so what has changed? Our position (as a show) is in a different way to other apocalyptic shows that dwell in this World War theme. We are trying to change perceptions and understand the situation: aliens have arrived and they are not friendly. We don’t have hidden propaganda in our show. We are looking at this situation, this is what we need to do, this is how we’re going to do it. So our characters are going to change, to develop and become more aware of their position in this very different world they live in.
The alien drone robots, the quadrupeds, don’t look terrifying… And that is exactly why they are terrifying. We fear what we don’t understand. Threats to our survival and fiction – the ability to create the alien robots that walk on all fours like dogs but are vicious killers – allow us to resolve our fears and our desires about existence. We have made changes from the book, which is still a brilliant work of art, to fit into today’s world. And the terrifying thing about season 2 is that things aren’t going to get any better right away. Bill has lost his family, all that he has left is science and the need to understand. But for some of the other characters, they’re trying to save their families. That is something we all worry about in today’s world.
How is Bill doing? He’s had to build himself up again. You know, he lost his exwife and child. Because of his profession and his knowledge, he has been maybe able to deal with the situation from an “outside” stance because he’s a scientist and those people think in a very specific way. He’s going to deepen emotionally. It’s pretty tough to make a scientist seem exciting, yet our viewers bond with Bill. They have a connection because of what he’s going through. Filming under COVID-19 lockdown must’ve felt a little strange. Absolutely. It felt like we were in the midst of this alien invasion and the streets were empty, like in the series. It’s surreal because it felt like life is stranger than fiction right now. There weren’t aliens in the sky flying around Wales (where season 2 was filmed from July to October 2020) but the streets were empty like the world was at war with these beings.
What should viewers take away from the show? Listen to scientists. Listen to these people who know what they’re talking about. They say that before an earthquake, dogs start to bark, the birds go quiet. And the scientists were the dogs that were barking (in the real world). Look at us now (with the pandemic). We were warned and while some of us listened, others didn’t. Look at us now. Bill is a scientist, he’s trying to figure out, through science, what the answer is. Science is not a conspiracy. And it’s something my character – and others – are using to save the world. NB! See p5.
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