EXCLUSIVE: Olivier Award nominee Moe Bar-El (The Peripheral) has been tapped for a major recurring role in the first season of Noah Hawley’s Alien series for FX, Deadline has learned. Details as to his characters are under wraps.
The actor 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, Kit Young as Tootles, and David Rysdahl in an undisclosed role. Also aboard is Timothy Olyphant, and while his role has not yet 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.
Exec produced by Ridley Scott, the new Alien series 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, with production finally resuming this month.
Last seen in the Amazon series The Peripheral and Count Abdulla for ITV, Bar-El scored his Olivier Award nomination for a role in the Hampstead Theatre production of Everyday I Make Greatness Happen. Upcoming projects for the actor on the feature side include the indie Anna, opposite Ciarán Hinds and Jason Issacs, and The Return opposite Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche. He is repped by 42 and Atlas Artists.