When the mysterious USCSS Maginot crash-lands on Earth in the initial episodes of Alien: Earth, we are given very little details about what actually happened on the ship before impact. For closely following fans of the show, they’ll be excited to know that Episode 5 of Alien: Earth, titled ‘In Space, No One…’, finally uncovers what happened, and it’s a visually disturbing yet rewarding watch. Directed by series creator Noah Hawley (Fargo) the episode celebrates the claustrophobic atmosphere of Alien while bringing something new to the franchise. STARBURST talks with actress Richa Moorjani (Captain Zoya Zaveri) to dig into her brilliant character and a very crucial episode, which has just been released today, on Disney+!

STARBURST: With the USCSS Maginot being the exact same design as the Nostromo, I was wondering if you could tell us about what that set was like to step onto for the first time, and what else you remember the most from that day?

Richa Moorjani: The first time I stepped onto set, it was before I started shooting. I just came to visit when I arrived in Bangkok. My mind was blown to be honest. I couldn’t believe that they had built such an extraordinary set that really honoured the DNA of the original sets from the movies, and it didn’t feel like I was on a soundstage. I really felt like I was walking onto the Nostromo, or onto a spaceship. It really made everything feel so much more real for me, in my preparation, knowing that that was the set that I was going to be working on.

The design for the original Nostromo in Alien had windows, and then they took them out to create a sense of isolation. Did you feel that same sense of isolation with the Maginot?

Yeah, absolutely, when you’re inside there are no windows, no natural light coming in, and we are also on top of that inner soundstage. It was easy to feel like I was in space. We were really isolated inside this vessel together.

Noah Hawley directs the episodes you are involved with. Since you also worked together on Fargo, we’re curious to know what he was like to work with on Alien, and maybe how your working dynamic has evolved going into Alien: Earth?

So Fargo was the first time that I worked with him, so obviously, we were getting to know each other more on that set, but even on Fargo, and on this set as well, he has always been someone who is so incredibly open to collaboration. He is such a team player; he always asks for input. Everything from character choices to how my voice should sound. We talked about all of these things. Even when it came to naming my character in Alien: Earth, originally, my character’s name was not an Indian name. After he cast me, and after he asked me to do it, he asked me if I would like to have an Indian name for my character. That meant so much to me. That’s just one example of how thoughtful he is and how much he tries to work together with his actors.

Can you tell us a bit more about how you built Captain Zoya Zaveri with Noah, and was there maybe something specific that Noah wanted to see from her?

Yeah, so when I first got the script, and I read it, and we talked about it, he first of all emphasized how important this character is to this story, not just to this episode, but to the whole story, because you see the horror of what’s happening on this vessel, and that’s just before the vessel even crashes into earth. In the first episode, you don’t really get to know my character, so when I die, it’s awful, but as a viewer, you don’t really feel too sad. When you get to know the characters in this episode, everything feels so much more horrific and devastating. He really made it a point to make, not just my character, but every single character in this episode feel like a fully realised human being. I think he really wanted to create empathy with the audience, for each one of these characters’ deaths, so that none of them felt expendable. For my character specifically, one thing we discussed was that she is somebody who obviously puts her crew before anything, even before herself. That’s what drives her: her community and protecting her people. Sometimes that means she has to go against protocol. She’s tough, and she doesn’t take bullshit, but at the same time, she isn’t perfect. She doesn’t always know what the right thing to do is, and that’s what she is struggling with in this episode. She knows that the right thing to do is to protect her people, but she is caught between her morals and her duty. What MU-TH-UR is telling her to do, or what Morrow (Babou Ceesay) is telling her to do, which is to prioritise the cargo. So, we talked about all of these things, and how her struggling with that, and not always knowing what to do is really what makes her human. I think that’s why, when Morrow doesn’t let her into the impact room at the very end, it feels like the worst, most betrayed part of the whole episode. That’s worse than her being attacked by the Xenomorph.

The Alien movies are known for having a memorable dynamic between a very small group of people, so was there anything you really wanted to see from the back and forth between your crewmates? What was that like to build?

I think it was so incredible. First of all, it was the most international crew and cast I’ve ever worked with. In my episode, I think there were only two or three of us that are from North America. Everybody else was from the UK or other parts of the world, so it was truly such an internationally diverse cast. I think that was so wonderful. This is supposed to take place in the future, and a future that isn’t diverse, I don’t think that would make any sense. It wouldn’t feel authentic. I think Noah was really thoughtful about that. We had all met for the first time before we started shooting that scene of us all in the mess hall together. Most of the beginning is all ad-libbed by the actors. The first dialogue happens a couple of minutes into it. I was just amazed at how my fellow cast were able to create these relationships with each other so quickly, that you as the audience really feel like this crew on this spaceship has been together for 65 years. These are not people who just started working together. I was really amazed at how my cast was able to do that, and really make you feel like we’ve known each other for this long, been together for this long. I was really excited about that scene. I think it’s also what I think fans will be excited about because it is so much of a nod to the original film.

Your confrontation with the Xenomorph is brutal, and vicious, can you tell us about what it was like to work opposite a Xenomorph?

Yeah, getting to work with Cameron Brown, our lovely Xenomorph, it was all practical; there was no CGI, no green screen that I was working with. I was really working with Cameron the Xenomorph, and it was terrifying. Everyone told me about what it was going to be like. I was like, “It’s not going to be that scary, it’s just a costume” but when I was actually on set with him, and we were doing that scene, it was genuinely terrifying! I feel so blessed that Noah gave us the gift of working in that way, because I think it really helps to make the performances feel so much more real, than us having to work with someone wearing a green outfit.

Watching an Alien movie for the first time is a core memory for many, and one of the exciting prospects about Alien: Earth is that people can start their journey into the Alien franchise with the show. Can you talk about what you would love for Alien: Earth to do for someone who chooses the show as their starting point?

I just hope it gets people excited about the franchise. I personally had never seen the movies until I got this role. I watched them before we shot Alien: Earth, but I had also read the script before I watched the movie, so for me, after reading the scripts that I was about to do and then going back and watching the movies, I thought it was so exciting. It was exciting to see how this show was able to honour the original movies while also expanding on them, and making it totally fresh and relevant to the day that we are living in right now. I really hope that people who are new to the franchise and maybe see Alien: Earth for the first time, I hope it gets them excited and that it makes them want to go back and watch the old movies.

Episode 5 of ALIEN: EARTH ‘In Space, No One…’ crash lands onto Disney+ today!