Science fiction has a way of holding a mirror up to society and reflecting back some truths in a way that is not just entertaining, but also relevant.
Such is the case of Syfy's latest series, Hunters, which follows a top-secret government organization created solely to hunt down alien terrorist threats. The show takes inspiration from the Alien Hunter novel by Whitley Strieber.
During a press call, Hunters showrunner Natalie Chaidez, along with stars Julian McMahon and Britne Oldford, discussed how the series relates to the real world, as well as how the show's production team created a world with aliens that still seemed relevant.
In the real world, aliens aren't real (yet), but humanity does struggle with the very real threat of terrorism. Hunters touches upon the difficulties of that battle and how it affects people in a very real way.
"Hunters had been in development for three years and the role, you know, allegory of terrorism, at least, and terrorists has been, creatively around," Chaidez said. "And you know, sadly, it has just become more relevant in the last couple of weeks. And our hearts go out to the victims in those recent events. It's tragic.
"I mean these terrorists are the monsters of our time. And you know, science fiction has always been a way to explore relevant social issues in a way that is palatable and to deal with our fears. And we're living in a time when we're scared of going out in public. We're scared of who is beside us. We're scared of what might be coming at us. And the show is really about that fear, and now it's something as a monster, and also wrestling with some of the larger issues that those fears create in our culture."
McMahon agreed with Chaidez and elaborated.
"This is a difficult time that we're in, and terrorism is the new monster," said McMahon. "And it - the launch of the show coincides with something that has happened that is horrific. So your concern immediately goes to people that have been affected by this and your heart goes out for them, and your prayers go to them.
"As a television show, I think I'd echo what Natalie has already said, and that is an opportunity to be able to express our fears and to be able to do that through an alien world. As a piece, it's interesting; as a statement, it also has its interesting qualities to it."
What makes really good science fiction, though, also depends on the characters. Oldford's character, Regan, in particular, comes with her own challenges: although she is an alien, she's joined the team that's hunting down others of her kind.
"She's a strong woman and I've been very fortunate in the five years that I've been doing this acting to have portrayed a string of fairly strong female characters," Oldford said. "And I think that's a great representation as well of the people behind the production and that is Natalie and Gale Ann Hurd.
"And she's strong. She's intuitive but she's still incredibly sensitive to her surroundings and the people around her. And I think that's very complicated - it's a very complicated role. So it's quite beautiful navigating in that world and it was pretty powerful and I found out a lot about myself during the process."
The world of Hunters relies on the existence of aliens, which always provides a lot of initial questions for the production team. What do the aliens look like? How do they speak? How do they behave? Chaidez explained how her team came up with what viewers will ultimately see on the series, starting with the book that inspired the show.
"I began a relationship with the scientist named (Seth Borowitz)," she said. "He's a former Brown University neurologist, and he was really fundamental in the development of the creatures. We started from the ground up. We started by talking about their planet, what kind of gravity it would have, how that would affect their anatomy, how that anatomy moves through space."
But the alien creatures' look wasn't the only thing Chaidez and her team considered. The aliens also base a lot of their lives around sound: they're very auditory-focused beings.
"I thought about conspiracy movies of the '70s and how important sound was," she said. "And that led to creatures that were sound-based and lived in a very auditory world. That led to the development of our sonic weaponry, and the idea that the aliens, the hunters themselves are communicating their, you know, they have a language that's like dolphins or like bats."
The aliens also have a unique way of passing messages, using a click-like language that they embed in music files.
"And that their click language which we spent literally months in the development of, with our sound designer is embedded inside music, and that they're using social media much like the bad guys and terrorists of our time," Chaidez said.
Hunters premieres on Syfy on April 11.
Photos: Syfy
