Byte Episode: Constellation — Parallel Lives, Shattered Realities

0:00In this episode of Bite, I dive into the mind-bending Apple TV series constellation. It's a psychological sci-fi thriller where space, memory, and identity collide. A mysterious object strikes the International Space Station. One astronaut is killed, or so it seems. Another, Joanna, Joe Erickson survives a catastrophic event and makes it back to Earth. Only to find the world she returns to feels suddenly, disturbingly wrong. To unravel the show's layered reality, I zoom with two of its stars, James DRC and William Catlett, both of whom deliver dual performances as characters who exist in fractured versions of themselves. This is exploring humanity through sci-fi. This rebrand continues my mission to get a better understanding of ourselves, through sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and comics, as our motive exploration. As Joe's husband, Magnus Taylor, the RC had the rare challenge of portraying two versions of

1:03the same man, each shaped by different histories, different emotional truths, and different relationships to Joe. How did you guys keep the story straight as far as your performances? Because there's not only twist and turns, but I can't get too specific. It was a bit challenging for you. It was very challenging. I was relieved to discover when I arrived in Berlin to start shooting that we had three directors on the show, the brilliant, incomparable Michelle McLaren, and then two Oscar nominees in Joseph Cedar and Oliver Hershpiegel, and all three of them were scratching their heads a bit as well. And I thought, thank God, it's not just me. It's not just me. And all of us were just sidelover to the genius that is Peter Harness, and quietly say, I'm not exactly sure what's happening here. Can you just talk me through it? And he had all of the answers. It was so calm about it, and always gave us the time and would

2:07walk us through things that seemed maybe should be obvious to us, but it was really helpful, because yeah, it's not straightforward this show. It's pretty mysterious, and it was mysterious to some of us when we were shooting it as well. But hopefully, it's a pretty wild ride and one worth taking. More bite on constellation in a moment. And he thoughts on that, William, especially with your character, there's the twist in terms or a little different compared to the others. Yeah, my thoughts will be, I think I enjoyed knowing and not knowing, and I think we go through that in life. You know, a lot of things we know, a lot of things we don't know, and we explore the unknown, and a lot of times we're afraid of the unknown. And I believe Peter did a great job of putting those in that spaces and in those places where the viewer can also ask themselves that question. So like you being so excited about what you just watched, I'm like, yes, that is great

3:11constellation as a hit, because this is the real goal that Peter is trying to get to at the core is the human psychology and the human condition. And how do we deal with love? How do we deal with loss? How do we deal with regret? How do we have hope when everything seems lost? As far as shooting in different locations, James, you were in the snow, and William, you spent most of your time in the space station. So starting with James, what was that like to kind of shoot in the different conditions you had to? I think that, you know, from an act as perspective, it's lovely to travel and see new countries and have that experience. From the show's perspective, you know, I love watching big epic shows that feel very global in their nature. But what was really exciting about that was that's just the backdrop for what actually is a pretty intimate exploration of the nature of being human, which is, you know, we're not strictly a sci-fi show. I think we've been genres, it's sci-fi or a thriller or a family drama

4:12or whatever. But what sci-fi really does do brilliantly is it helps us to ask questions about who we are as human beings, but in this sort of very fantastical environment. And that's what I loved about, you know, we got to go to Morocco, and I got, personally, I got to ride on a camel, and we got to go to Finland, and I personally got to get on a sled behind a husky. But from the story's perspective, it just gives it this huge scope while still keeping us focused on, you know, who we are as human beings, but the psychology of being human. And what James are going to all these extravagant places. You're in a harness. I'm in a harness. In a dark box. You can see the Constellation TV series on Apple TV Plus. On sci-fi talk Plus, some exclusive episodes have a video version as well. All episodes will feature a podcast and also bonus video. Great for listening and watching on your phone, tablet or desktop. And besides that,

5:14it will feature the best episodes selected by listener downloads. You can save 17% on a yearly plan to get those commercial free episodes, published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, which special episodes as well. Click on the link in the show notes today. The intriguing thing about this series are the alternate realities and how they blend and sometimes oppose each other. So worth the ride. For bite, this is Tony Tolato.