{"id":2010360,"date":"2025-09-10T01:23:55","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T01:23:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2010360"},"modified":"2025-09-10T01:23:55","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T01:23:55","slug":"earth-arthurs-fate-and-his-love-of-chess","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/earth-arthurs-fate-and-his-love-of-chess\/","title":{"rendered":"Earth,\u2019 Arthur\u2019s Fate, and His Love of Chess"},"content":{"rendered":"

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This interview contains spoilers for <\/em>Alien: Earth episode 6.<\/em><\/a><\/strong>
<\/p>\n

David Rysdahl has me cornered. I\u2019m playing chess with the Alien: Earth<\/a> <\/em>actor in Brooklyn\u2019s Prospect Park (his idea), and his rook is staring down my king from across the board.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn Chess.com, I\u2019m in the top 90 percent. But there\u2019s probably five-year-olds who are playing better than me,\u201d Rysdahl says before moving another piece. \u201cOkay, that\u2019s check.\u201d <\/p>\n

Rats. Check already? Rysdahl is very<\/em> good at this game. He stays humble by not naming the specific gambits or defenses he\u2019s pulling off, though I\u2019m sure he\u2019s working through some highbrow stuff\u2014even to beat a novice like me who makes one mistake after another. \u201cYeah, it\u2019s not a normal opening,\u201d he says, encouraging me after I move my first piece. Later, he remarks: \u201cSee, another bold move that I would never see coming.\u201d I\u2019ll take the compliment. (Or the sly trash talk.) This game is full of surprises, just like Rysdahl.<\/p>\n

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Before Alien: Earth<\/em>, the 38-year-old actor starred in season 5 of Fargo<\/em> on FX. He played Dorothy \u201cDot\u201d Lyon\u2019s (Juno Temple) husband, Wayne\u2014a sort of reimagined version of William H. Macy\u2019s celebrated role as car salesman Jerry Lundegaard in the original 1996 Coen brothers film. In Fargo <\/em>season 5, he\u2019s mainly just the one guy in this small Minnesota town who is trying to do the right thing. <\/p>\n

The same goes for his latest role in Alien: Earth<\/em>, as scientist Arthur Sylvia. Helmed by Noah Hawley\u2014also the showrunner of Fargo<\/em>\u2014the first Alien series for TV blends the space monster\u2019s usual rampage with storylines about AI, human evolution, and highly advanced human\/robot hybrids implanted with children\u2019s brains. Rysdahl\u2019s scientist is one of the leading researchers developing the AI robot children, and he\u2019s one of the only characters who looks after them like a parent. <\/p>\n

His character\u2019s plot finally picks up speed in episode 6. Arthur pulls the rug out from under his trillion-dollar corporate overlords, making a daring move late in the game to try and help his pseudo-children escape. \u201cNoah told me, \u2018You\u2019re going to be light in the first part, but I got some fun stuff coming for you,\u2019 \u201d Rysdahl recalls of his initial meetings for Alien: Earth<\/em>. \u201cAnd he did. He always delivers.\u201d <\/p>\n

Spoiler alert if you haven\u2019t seen episode 6 yet, but it doesn\u2019t work out so well for ol\u2019 Arthur. He runs into the lab to save one of his robot children from some giant, acidic space flies when he\u2019s attacked by one of the franchise\u2019s famous face-huggers. Though he\u2019s likely dead at the end of the episode, just remember that anyone attacked by this monster throughout the Alien <\/em>films<\/a> goes on to carry a Xenomorph inside them until it bursts out of their chest. <\/p>\n

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\n
<\/p>\n
Patrick Brown\/FX<\/span><\/figcaption>

Rysdahl stars as Arthur Sylvia, a scientist who works on the human\/robot hybrid children. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

But quite unlike Alien: Earth<\/em>\u2019s carnage, our chess game goes on for a while without shedding any blood. Rysdahl\u2019s play style is a bit more like the show\u2019s highly celebrated new eyeball tentacle monster<\/a>\u2014biding his time, thinking out his next move, and waiting for the right moment to strike. Then, before you know it, you\u2019ve lost. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the horror that comes back to get me,\u201d he says of his character\u2019s fate in episode 6. \u201cI\u2019ve failed them as a father. And as Noah asked once, \u2018Where are the adults right now?\u2019 I think we all feel that way. We\u2019re having a hard time trusting experts or anyone who doesn\u2019t say the exact same things that we say. I don\u2019t know the answer. But as it is now, we\u2019re just going to act out of self-interest and emotion, and then the aliens are going to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when Rysdahl makes his final play. Checkmate. It wouldn\u2019t have been smart to bet against the actor in this game, but I\u2019d put good money down that it\u2019s not the last word I ever hear from him. Two more episodes remain in Alien: Earth<\/em>\u2019s final season. Plus, Rysdahl is currently developing an upcoming series for FX that he\u2019s writing himself. <\/p>\n

For now, read on for more from our conversation in between my chess blunders, as we discuss his character\u2019s fate in Alien: Earth<\/em>, working on projects with his wife, fellow actress Zazie Beetz, and the ideas behind his FX series currently in development. <\/p>\n

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\"david<\/p>\n
Emily Assiran<\/span><\/figcaption>

\u201cActing\u2019s all about being loose,\u201d Rysdahl says. \u201cYou got to take chances and risks.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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ESQUIRE: You\u2019ve worked with Noah Hawley a lot now. What\u2019s your relationship like? Do you two just click on the same ideas?<\/strong><\/p>\n

DAVID RYSDAHL: Extremely. I am a huge fan of Noah, so it\u2019s a little intimidating. You just don\u2019t want to fuck up. But that\u2019s the best part about our businesses. You gain these relationships and trust, and they see something in you that they can push you a certain direction. There\u2019s a level of comfort. And for me, acting\u2019s all about being loose. You got to take chances and risks. And when you have somebody that is a talented writer that believes in you, I still pinch myself about it. <\/p>\n

Did he reach out to you for this role after Fargo<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, when I finished Fargo<\/em>, he emailed and said, \u201cDo you want to come to Thailand? I have something for you.\u201d And I was like, \u201cHell yeah, let\u2019s go.\u201d Very few times when you come in doing a role, do you talk about your whole life. But with Noah, you\u2019re talking about the fears of the world, transhumanism, AI. You get to spend six months in Thailand talking. That creates a friendship that is different than a normal corporate job, which is why I\u2019m just a big fan of his.<\/p>\n

Do you think he looked at your Fargo <\/em>character and thought, Okay, here\u2019s another guy who\u2019s sort of just trying to be a good guy in a fucked-up scenario.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh, clearly. I told him, \u201cThis guy, they\u2019re parallel characters.\u201d They really are. They love their wives, but their wives have a secret that they don\u2019t know. They believe at the beginning of the show that they\u2019re doing the right thing, and then they have a crisis of fate. They go through traumatic experiences that they don\u2019t have any control over, and then they come to a new understanding. There\u2019s a similar arc. Actually, the first meeting with Noah, I mentioned that I wanted to play off that myself. I didn\u2019t want to do something similar. The world Wayne\u2019s in, he\u2019s never going to get hurt. That man is a powerful optimist. Arthur has a lot more doubts as the season goes on, which I can really empathize with right now because of where we are in the world. <\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

We\u2019re just going to act out of self-interest and emotion, and then the aliens are going to win.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/section>\n

It\u2019s such an interesting trope of a character: the father of a robot is the person who couldn\u2019t have children of his own, so he channels it into something else. Like Frankenstein, or Geppetto. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Essie Davis and I talked a lot about this in the lead-up to that first pilot. W<\/em>hat happened here? Did we have failed experiments before? Did we create ethics for this? How often were we trying to have a baby and it didn\u2019t work? <\/em>And then, just like anything in life, you end up filming and feeling different about it than how you did before. <\/p>\n

I feel like Arthur is surprised by how much he cares for these kids in the show. He doesn\u2019t think he\u2019s going to care about these kids as much as he does, and then he ends up just really loving them. He loves this science, and he believes in it. His wife is above him. She\u2019s the one thinking about the ethics. I just get to do this really great work, thinking that we\u2019re going to help children who are sick and dying live forever. Plus, I was really thinking about Oppenheimer<\/em> a lot too, and the Manhattan Project. <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"david<\/p>\n
Patrick Brown\/FX<\/span><\/figcaption>

Rysdahl stars in Alien: Earth <\/em>alongside actress Essie Davis as Dame Sylvia, his character\u2019s wife. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

Well, you also had a small part in Oppenheimer. <\/em>Did you ask anything about the job from the scientists on Christopher Nolan\u2019s set ahead of Alien: Earth<\/em>? I\u2019m sure a lot of people didn\u2019t know that a lot of the background actors in Oppenheimer <\/em>were all real scientists.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, that was the coolest part. I remember there was a formula that our department had put up. And one of the scientists was like, \u201cThat\u2019s wrong.\u201d I said, \u201cGo tell him!\u201d And he went out there and fixed it. Christopher Nolan also said on set once, \u201cLook around. These are the people you got to play.\u201d Because, as actors, you learn to be emotive. He\u2019s like, \u201cNo, no, no. Look around.\u201d Not saying scientists aren\u2019t emotive. They definitely can be, but they\u2019re trained to like actors. You need to remember that you\u2019re playing a real person. You\u2019re not playing an actor playing a scientist. That was so helpful for us, to be surrounded by people who were actually doing the work. <\/p>\n

Could you ask them anything about AI for Alien<\/em>, or was it too early?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was a little early. But I read so much about transhumanism before the roll. I read Ray Kurzweil and Yuval Harari. And I had an old chemistry professor that I loved. He would make his own LSD and he was just so present with his students. He loved the beauty of molecules and earth and was such a nerd. That\u2019s who Arthur is. <\/p>\n

Where you a fan of Alien <\/em>growing up?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My cousin showed it to me when I was 14. He was a little older, and he was sitting there excitedly waiting for the reaction to the chest-burst scene. I did not see it coming. Of course, who did? The first one is still my favorite. But when I watched it again, I was like, Oh, the monster is also the greed, the corporate hierarchy, the inequality of life. They don\u2019t care for these people\u2019s livelihoods at all.<\/em> That stuff resonated a lot more once I got older. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s also what Noah\u2019s done so well\u2014incorporate that horror into the show by asking, \u201cWho\u2019s the real villain?\u201d And if you ask most of the species on Earth who the real villain is, they\u2019re going to point at us. As we go into the next phase, with climate change and all these technologies coming, we need ethics or we\u2019re going to have a terrifying experience. I think that\u2019s what this show is exploring. <\/p>\n

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\"david<\/p>\n
Patrick Brown\/FX<\/span><\/figcaption>

Episode 6 seemingly marks the end for Rysdahl\u2019s Arthur Sylvia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

I work in the same business as my fianc\u00e9e, and we often get asked questions about what that\u2019s like. I think it\u2019s nice to talk shop and understand each other. But do you and Zazie go through the same thing? <\/strong><\/p>\n

We do. We\u2019ve been together 11 years, and it was hard for the first, say, four years. Right away when we met, it was lovely. And then I remember six months in, she was scared to show me her acting again. I would say, \u201cWell, I think you\u2019re good. If I didn\u2019t think you were good, then I couldn\u2019t date you.\u201d She was so offended by that comment. It\u2019s like, if your wife, or your fianc\u00e9e, wasn\u2019t a good writer, you probably couldn\u2019t date her the same way. You want to impress that person. But saying that created this vulnerable atmosphere. And then she got well-known, which was also a wild thing to experience. She was on Atlanta<\/em>. Then Deadpool<\/em>. And suddenly I\u2019m dating this famous actress. And that was a whole bag of strange that put pressure on our relationship.<\/p>\n

But that process helped us learn how to talk about acting again and be vulnerable. So it is hard, but now it\u2019s amazing. You both understand what it takes, and you get to share this thing you both love. You get to champion each other and grow as artists together. And she also knows my bullshit as an actor so well. So if I\u2019m doing something that\u2019s not truthful or honest, she can call me on it and vice versa\u2014in a loving way, of course. They know you so well that you can\u2019t hide. As an actor, that ends up being a good thing.<\/p>\n

What will I see you in next?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have a show in development with FX, actually, that I wrote. I\u2019m fascinated with faith\u2014I come from faith, and then that changed immensely\u2014and now I feel like our society is having a crisis of faith. I was a chemistry major, but I was also an English double major and I was writing short stories all the time. Seeing AI through a spiritual perspective, in the future, is something that I\u2019m writing about that I find compelling. <\/p>\n

We\u2019re trying to figure out how to make community again, right? We\u2019re lonely, we\u2019re isolated, and religion for a long time was a place to come together. Not saying that spirituality will get you there, but I\u2019m drawn to projects that explore meaning and faith and the radicalism of where a lot of us are today. Science can only take you so far, and there\u2019s so much that we can\u2019t answer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.esquire.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This interview contains spoilers for Alien: Earth episode 6. David Rysdahl has me cornered. I\u2019m playing chess with the Alien: Earth actor in Brooklyn\u2019s Prospect Park (his idea), and his rook is staring down my king from across the board. \u201cOn Chess.com, I\u2019m in the top 90 percent. But there\u2019s probably five-year-olds who are playing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2010361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[274717,367512,310911,285684,367511],"class_list":["post-2010360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-ea71e53c-9a20-496a-b318-80db70bd7bd6","tag-displaytype-long-form-article","tag-locale-us","tag-shorttitle-david-rysdahl-is-keeping-alien-earth-in-check"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Earth-Arthurs-Fate-and-His-Love-of-Chess.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2010360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2010360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2010360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2010361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2010360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2010360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2010360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}