At nearly 45 years old, the Alien franchise remains the pinnacle of sci-fi horror, having produced plenty of iconic characters and creatures that remain influential to this day. Some of my personal favorite touches within these worlds are the names of these heroes, villains, androids and beyond. And I’m pleased as punch that Noah Hawley’s upcoming FX project, the first TV series set in this universe, is going hard on that element in ways I can only approve of giddily.
Its newest cast member was revealed to be Kit Young, of Shadow and Bone and The School for Good and Evil, and Deadline reports he’ll be taking on the role of…wait for it…
Tootles
Has anyone really lived without an Alien project that features a fully grown adult hollering out "TOOTLES!" in a manner that's both stern and worried? I should say not.
Not much at all is actually known about the character, though that doesn't affect my enthusiasm in the slightest. It's stated that Kit Young joined the show later than the rest of the cast. But since filming in Thailand was shut down in connection with the SAG-AFTRA strike, it's unknown when we'll learn more about ol' Tootles, though it's stated that Young has a one-year contract that won't impede him from starring in Shadow and Bone if Netflix orders up Season 3.
In the meantime, let's celebrate this moniker joining the other character names that were previously reported on, as noted below, along with the actors playing them.
- Tootles (Kit Young)
- Dame Silvia (Essie Davis)
- Slightly (Adarsh Gourav)
- Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin)
- CJ (Alex Lawther)
And let's be clear here: even though Alex Lawther's soldier is rocking the seemingly normal name of CJ, you just know the initials stand for something baffling, like "Cleeco Namboochi" or "Clown Nards" or something. Maybe it's an in-universe reference like "Clemens Newt."
Filming for the Alien series kicked off in mid-July in Bangkok, with its progress unimpacted by the WGA writers strike, as all of the scripts were finalized months prior. But it started up without its star Sydney Chandler, who is part of SAG-AFTRA and was unable to film after that strike began. A month of filming was completed with other cast members, with a reported risk of breach-of-contract lawsuits for anyone who aimed to walk off the set to side with American guild members.
The filming break is apparently a planned one meant to incorporate strike-related delays, with the cast sent home on August 25. Meanwhile, crew members remain busy working on building up and preparing sets to get right back into work one the strikes are resolved, with that outcome hopefully happening sooner rather than later . After all, the world needs its Tootles and CEO Boy Kavalier, dammit.
The Noah Hawley-created Alien series will ideally hit FX at some point in 2024, with episodes also available to stream with a Hulu subscription. And with all of the Alien films streaming in some capacity or another, there's enough outer-space chaos to keep us all busy at least through the weekend, if not the next year and a half.
