Childhoods Endis not your typical alien invasion drama.
(Watchthe trailerbelow.)
They were worried about nuclear holocaust, and were worried about people being crucified on Madison Avenue.
Credit: (Photo by: Ben King/Syfy)
All our fears and terrors are very, very similar.
So thematically, its a good time or shall we say an appropriate time.
I would rather it wasnt a good time, for obvious reasons.
If they werent going to make it, then there was no other home for it.
How close to the book are you staying?
We are pretty close.
The big changes are the time.
Obviously, we set this in modern times, in our time.
You have to put it in the now for it to have the impact.
This is obviously Clarkes philosophy that I wanted to keep and maintain.
But I dont think we would think like that today, in terms of drama.
Now we think of the United Nations as a slightly hamstrung bureaucracy.
I found that intrinsically interesting rather than going to the head of a world organization.
Those are the big changes we made.
But I was really adamant that every major event of the book would happen in our show.
How do these aliens compare to what weve seen in film and on TV before?
The point about the Overlords is that they are challenging.
Their appearance, when we get to them, is very challenging to us.
But I think theres something uniquely, profoundly challenging dramatically about the Overlords.
When you see them, you think, Oh, thats going to generate story.
Its not about seeing them and going, Oh my god!
Even Guillermo del Toro could not have given me this!
Ive never seen anything like this!
Its about looking at them and going, Ah!
That appearance will generate story.
And that, I think, is what Im pleased about, the fact that weve maintained that look.
How does their arrival divide the world?
Very simply, of course, it divides the world into Are they here to help us?
or Do they have an ulterior plan?
There is a degree of distrust about it, but it is not the prevalent feeling.
I think we all feel a bit like that.
Ive run out of things to be outraged about.
And now Im being told were going to run out of antibiotics.
Thats what makes it unique.
Youve introduced us to Ricky, can you talk about some of the other characters were going to meet?
Well, Rickys living with his girlfriend Ellie (Daisy Betts), who he hopes to marry.
In the book, there is a character called Jan Rodricks, who is an astrophysicist.
In our show, we have Milo Rodericks (Osy Ikhile).
Then theres Peretta (Yael Stone).
Peretta Jones is a new character who isnt in the book, and thats the biggest departure.
She represents religious faith, in particular Christian ideology.
That one page is a novel for most writers.
That felt very much like the middle act, was exploring religion through her.
I feel very much that Clarke wrote a book that was designed just to be a book.
He didnt write a book hoping it would be made into a movie or a TV series.
Some of it reads like a philosophical essay.
I hope Ive been successful in doing that.
What themes willChildhoods Endexplore across the three nights?
The first theme is: Why are they here?
Are they here to do good?
And then the second theme is: What do we do with the utopia they help us create?
Does the best of man flourish in such an environment?
The three-night event kicks off Monday at 8 p.m.
