Noah Hawley’s ‘Alien’ Adds David Rysdahl
EXCLUSIVE: After working with Noah Hawley on the fifth season of his Emmy-winning drama Fargo, which just debuted last week, David Rysdahl has solidified his place in his FX family with a series regular role in his Alien prequel series, Deadline can exclusively reveal.
Details as to his character are under wraps. But Rysdahl joins a cast that includes Sydney Chandler as the meta-human Wendy, Alex Lawther as soldier CJ, Samuel Blenkin as Boy Kavalier, a CEO, Essie Davis as Dame Silvia, Adarsh Gourav as Slightly, and Kit Young as Tootles. Announced as joining prior to Rysdahl was Timothy Olyphant, and while his role has not been confirmed, Deadline hears he’ll be playing Kirsh, a synth who acts as a mentor and trainer for Wendy, a character with the body of an adult, but the brain and consciousness of a child.
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The new Alien series, exec produced by Ridley Scott, is set in a time period before Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley and is the first story in the franchise that takes place on Earth, roughly 70 years in the future. Production began in Thailand July 19, four days after the start of the actors strike, continuing for more than a month thereafter, only with members of the cast affiliated with British trade union Equity. All scripts had been completed prior to the May kickoff of the WGA strike, and production is expected to resume in Bangkok as soon as January.
Over the summer, Rysdahl was seen portraying Los Alamos chemist Donald Hornig in Christopher Nolan’s historical epic Oppenheimer, which grossed over $950 million worldwide. Prior to that, he starred alongside Havana Rose Liu in the 20th/Hulu thriller No Exit, and in Edson Oda’s Sundance prize winner Nine Days, released by Sony Pictures Classics. Additional TV credits for the actor include Black Mirror and The Family for Netflix, and Bull on CBS. The up-and-comer is repped by WME, Entertainment 360, and Granderson Des Rochers.
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