Sydney Chandler had terrible eyesight as a child. The 29-year-old star of Alien: Earth (and daughter of Kyle Chandler) grew up with severe vision impairment that was eventually corrected through surgery. She still remembers her first time seeing the world with clear eyes..
“When I first saw leaves on trees, it blew my mind,” Chandler tells Polygon. “I was wide-eyed, taking in the world. I gave that to Wendy.”
On Alien: Earth, Chandler plays Wendy, a young girl with a terminal illness who agrees to an experimental treatment that will transfer her consciousness into a synthetic body. She becomes the first Hybrid, representing a technological breakthrough in the quest for immortality.
She’s so much cooler than me.
For the actress, figuring out how to perform both physically and emotionally as a child in the body of an adult was a challenge — one she’s still not sure how she solved. However, she says that incorporating her own personal experience was a breakthrough moment in figuring out the character.
“I like to find a physical body point to lead from — nose, hips, mouth. For Wendy, it was the eyes,” Chandler says. “She wakes up with better-than-20/20 vision, so she’s constantly taking in her surroundings. A lot of her performance is in her eyes and facial expressions.”
While Alien: Earth’s biggest selling point is undeniably the aliens themselves (the iconic Xenomorph and several other species invented for the series), Wendy and the other Hybrids help anchor the show while expanding the Alien franchise into heady new territory. What does it mean to be a human mind in a robot body — let alone an undeveloped child’s mind in a super strong and agile body?
To find out, Polygon talked to Chandler about her experiences on the set of Alien: Earth, Wendy’s complex relationships with her brother Joe (Alex Lawther), and how she figured out how to speak in the Xenomorph language.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Polygon: One of the most unique things about your character is that she can talk to the Xenomorphs. I assume you’re not making those sounds with your own voice, but what did you do in those scenes to make it seem believable.
Sydney Chandler: Well, I hope it feels realistic and believable. It was an addition to the scripts, and it was scary, but also a fun new challenge. There was a lot of creative freedom on my end to figure out what that looked like. It was me and my mirror playing around with different ideas.
What I ended up doing was playing with inhales and exhales, constricting my throat, and making this rolling R whistling sound with both inhale and exhale. Everyone in the room had to listen to me making this very strange sound, but it brought to life what was happening, instead of just a hanging jaw.
It was very daunting. When you read, “Wendy’s mouth opens and an alien sound comes out,” it’s like, well, what does that look like? We haven’t seen that before. I hope it works, and our sound design team did a great job with all the cadences and the actual alien language.
Beyond being able to talk to it, Wendy seems to have a legitimate bond with the Xenomorph. Why do you think that is?
Wendy has been isolated and raised in a lab setting. Same with this Xeno. There’s a connection there — being one of a kind, being lost in an alien world on both ends.
I wouldn’t say maternal, but there’s a protective element that comes out of Wendy toward this alien species. She understands what it feels like to be seen as an experiment, to be looked at under a microscope. The Xenomorph is the perfect apex predator. Wendy is starting to realize she is as well.
Wendy’s relationship with her brother Joe is very complicated. She’s a small girl in an adult-sized synthetic body, but she’s still his little sister. Do you think Joe sees Wendy as a human, or slightly lesser because she’s a hybrid?
It’s a really layered relationship. I think he wants it to be her. He’s also terrified of what it means if it is her.
When Wendy first sees Joe, her initial instinct is he’ll recognize her despite her new body. He’ll know that’s his sister. But he doesn’t. As scary and heartbreaking as that is, it’s also frustrating for her. She walks this line of frustration and patience, waiting for him to come around to the fact that she is who she is.
Their dynamic is also different now. He was the older brother, the protector. He was physically taller, bigger, stronger. Now she’s taken over that space. What does that mean for their relationship? It’s heartbreaking because they can’t be what they want to be for each other, and they deal with it in very different ways.
What was your favorite scene to film in Alien: Earth?
I really loved filming episodes seven and eight. They were personally some of the hardest months, endurance-wise and mentally. Falling into Wendy, finding her own, solidifying her path — it was therapeutic for me.
I specifically loved filming the end of episode eight. There was a stillness, stoicism, and strength to her that felt incredible to step into. She’s so much cooler than me.
What was the most difficult part of making Alien: Earth for you?
A lot of the action. We started night shoots and did two and a half weeks straight. I felt like I’d done a triathlon by the end. You’re doing 20, 30 takes back to back, sprinting from 2am to 5am, then doing it again the next day.
Watching Alex [Lawther] do it alongside me — he had more stunts than any of us — made me up my game. He never complained. He’d throw himself on the ground 20 times, give 110%. We’d do jumping jacks, push-ups, running in place before each scene, then jump in. It was fun but very challenging. I’ve never done anything like that, but I’d love to do more action. Working with the body is so rewarding.
Out of all the Alien movies, do you have a favorite?
The OG. I’ve watched it over and over. I love Prometheus, too. I can’t ever pin down the tone of that film. Every time I finish watching it, I’m like, what happened? I need to watch it again. Both are unique in tone and performance.
But the original has such an organic quality. You don’t know who the protagonist is until 35 minutes in. You just don’t see that anymore. That movie is iconic.
In the last season finale of Alien: Earth, you have that fight scene with the eyeball monster, which has become a fan-favorite monster on the show. Why do you think people are obsessed with this tentacle eyeball creature?
It’s the cutest thing in the world. I want one. I think my cats would eat it, but if they didn’t, I’d love to have one. It’s like the hand in The Addams Family — so disturbingly adorable. Who wouldn’t love it?
I agree, although I think it might eat your cats.
That’s true. But my cats are pretty monstrous. They’d have a chance.
