Across the Alien movies, there’s been a rich tradition of outstanding android performances. In Ridley Scott’s original, you had Ian Holm’s Ash; then Lance Henriksen’s Bishop in Aliens; Michael Fassbender’s meddling in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. So, since Elle Fanning’s character in Predator: Badlands, Thia, is confirmed to be a Weyland-Yutani synth, in a thrilling bit of crossover world-building, she had plenty to draw from.
But there was one synth performance that really stood out, a particularly recent one: David Jonsson’s Andy, as seen in Fede Alvarez’s Alien: Romulus last summer. “We went to see Alien: Romulus while we were shooting,” Fanning tells Empire. “[Jonsson] is such a great actor.” Across the film, Jonsson plays Andy in various modes – firstly as the slightly stuttering brother to Cailee Spaeny’s Rain Carradine, before he gets a slick and sinister software upgrade that changes his demeanour entirely. “That was informative for me, to see him step outside of other synths and create his own version,” says Fanning. “It gave me confidence to create my own thing, too.”
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Like Jonsson, Fanning has her work cut out for her. As well as playing Thia, she’ll be playing a second role in the film – Tessa, another model of synth. “Luckily, I [rarely] had to play both the same day,” Fanning laughs. “But it was daunting playing Weyland-Yutani synths. Think about the list of people who’ve played one!” Hopefully we’re in for another great in that long lineage.