In Alien: Romulus, actor Spike Fearn seeks to redefine the on-screen antagonist. “I wanted more for Bjorn’s character than just being the meanbully that you get in movies,” reflects the tousled23-year-old heartthrob on his role as the rebellious human scavenger he plays in the latest instalment of the Oscar-winning Alien franchise. “I wanted to make him a real person with depth and heart. [The film’s director] Fede Álvarez and I talked extensively about the authenticity of his character.”
Collaborating on complex character development with a critically acclaimed director is often considered an actor’s dream. So, how did Spike transition from his modest beginnings to making this dream a reality? His journey began closer to home than the franchise’s intergalactic planet of Yvaga, which he navigates in his latest project. “In Skins, Cook, the character played by Jack O’Connell, has a very similar accent to mine. Hearing his accent on the screen was the first time I realised that people from the Midlands could be actors.” It was in the Midlands that Spike studied at The Television Workshop in Nottingham, where he “did a lot of improvisation”—a skill that carried him through his debut in Charlotte Regan’s short film Paired Up, and small roles in big titles such as The Batman, Aftersun, and Back to Black.
