The first season of FX‘s Alien: Earth ends with Prodigy, one of the five corporations that rule humanity in 2120, being conquered from within.

**Spoilers for Alien: Earth Episode 8 “The Real Monsters,” now streaming on Hulu**

In Episode 8 of Alien: Earth, titled “The Real Monsters,” Boy Kavalier (played by Samuel Blenkin), the brilliant owner of Prodigy, finds himself outwitted by his own creations. Wendy (portrayed by Sydney Chandler), a young girl transformed into a powerful synthetic being, has developed new abilities that allow her to dominate Boy K’s faithful synthetic aides, completely neutralizing the menacing Atom Eins (Adrian Edmondson). However, a different fate awaits Prodigy’s other significant synthetic, Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant).

Throughout the first season of Alien: Earth, Kirsh, the cold synth, has encountered a natural adversary in Morrow (Babou Ceesay), the steadfast cyborg enforcer for rival company Weyland-Yutani. The season finale of Alien: Earth witnesses their climactic confrontation. Having escaped from his holding cell at Prodigy’s Neverland facility, Morrow clashes with Kirsh in his lab. During their intense fight, Morrow likens himself to the legendary American folk hero John Henry, known for defeating a machine. Kirsh, however, wittily reminds him that John Henry ultimately succumbed to exhaustion.

Despite being able to overpower Morrow, subduing him by strangulation until he loses consciousness, Kirsh pays a steep price. With his back broken, he is left immobile until he can undergo repairs. When Slightly (Adarsh Gourav) and Smee (Jonathan Ajayi), the newly freed hybrids, arrive, Kirsh mistakenly believes their intent is to assist him. Contrary to his assumption, they have come to seize him.

Alien: Earth ends with the show’s former power players locked in the same cage Boy Kavalier had placed the hybrids in at the start of the episode. Wendy lords over them and promises, with the help of her Xenomorphs, to “rule.”

DECIDER caught up with Alien: Earth star Timothy Olyphant over Zoom last week and he walked us through all these major finale moments, as well as the secret to playing a sweat-free synth in infamously hot and humid Thailand…

DECIDER: We sort of learned in the finale that Atom Ein was maybe Kavalier’s first synth. Did you and mliss1578 Noah Hawley discuss what Kirsh’s history with Boy Kavalier was, where he came from, if he even was created by Boy K?

TIMOTHY OLYPHANT: Yeah. The only thing I recall was Noah telling me that Boy Kavalier created me and so we were clear that I was probably programed not to harm him. That’s the only conversation I recall having.

One of the things I thought was really interesting over the course of this season is his relationship with the different hybrids. He seems to really close with Curly and Tootles, whom he respectfully calls Isaac. I thought it was interesting that he called Isaac, “Isaac,” when so many other people in Prodigy want to stick to the Lost Boys theme. What did you make of that choice from him to to respect the the hybrid’s decision to be called Isaac?

I mean, I felt like he was going along for the ride with what these what these kids were were wanting. You know, it felt like he was always just encouraging them to explore, right? I mean, it felt very parental, like you get what you get and then you just do the best with what you got. Just kind of giving them room to be who they want to be and what they want to become. It seemed like that’s kind of what we were dealing with.

In the finale, you have the great fight between Kirsh and Morrow. It’s so like aggressive and fun to watch. What was it like to film that with Babou?

Well, filming anything with Babou was a treat. I just have a tremendous amount of respect for him and his work and also just he’s a lovely to be around, just a lovely human being. So any day on the set with Babou was was a good day. The fight, in particular, was a ton of fun to do. I think we both were having a ball. You know, at the end of the day it’s all playtime and those kind of days are particularly fun.

I love the John Henry metaphor that comes out mid-fight. Kirsh was like, “Well, didn’t he die?” He’s got such a great sense of humor, Kirsh. But it’s curious that he does not kill Morrow. He actually lets Morrow live. What do you think the math in Kirsh’s haed was for that? Because he could have killed Morrow.

Yeah, he could have. You’re right. To be honest with you, and I don’t remember thinking that through, but I like the choice. I don’t know. I don’t know, but I was so fond of Babou. I just remember thinking that whenever we did scenes together, I always thought as much as we were taking shots at one another, I always felt like there was a little bit of mutual respect behind it all at the same time.

Another funny Kirsh moment in the finale is when Slightly and Smee show up and he’s like, “Couldn’t you have been here two minutes ago?” What was it like working with those guys? Did you notice a shift in their energy? And at what point does Kirsh kind of realize that, “Oh no, they’re not here to help me”?

Right? I loved all of that. When they start tying him up and he seems to be a little lost in the woods about what exactly is happening here. It’s like the first time, as I recall, where he’s not ahead of things. He certainly genuinely seems to be surprised by their actions as opposed to just observing. It was a definite shift. It makes me look forward to a Season 2.

I love working with those guys. All of them, the Lost Boys, as we call them, they were wonderful. They all showed up so prepared and professional and on time, all of those things. And then they also just had such enthusiasm and curiosity and were willing to kind of mix it up. I was just very appreciative of all of them. Nothing but good things to say.

I want to circle back to something that you mentioned about how Noah told you the one thing about Kirsh is that he can’t hurt Boy Kavalier. There’s a really interesting kind of moment in the finale where Kirsh is sort of talking to Boy Kavalier and is like, “Don’t be mad. Be smart.” I’m just so curious. How does Kirsh see Boy Kavalier? Because I think more than anyone else in Boy’s orbit, he’s willing to point out his boss’s foibles

Well, I think the game that I enjoyed was, even though Noah gave me those rules, I always thought it was fun to see how far we could potentially break those rules. How close we could come to the fantasy of breaking those rules. Because isn’t that what we’re all afraid of with artificial intelligence? The idea of whether they’re going to help us or destroy us? And I guess the real joke would be that the only way they decide to help us is by destroying us. I always thought, as much as that’s probably the case, that there’s some sort of “do no harm,” there’s still a possible contradiction, right? There’s still the possibility that the best way to help Boy Kavalier is taking him out. So I didn’t look at it as a limiting note.

That whole thing of, [chuckles], telling him he should be taking medication, it’s such… It’s Noah Hawley at his best. As I recall, that wasn’t in the original draft, in that scene. He and I had a conversation where I was kind of poking around to see if I could get a little more out of him. And I was, quite frankly, pointing him in a totally different direction and then he came back to me with that addition about his ADD, which was better than anything I had suggested to him.

One of my favorite things is just watching Kirsh study the aliens or the hybrids. There’s a really great line earlier in the season where he tells Hermit, who wants to take care of Wendy, that he’s like an onion taking care of a star. How does Kirsh see the aliens and the hybrids in terms of a hierarchy with humanity?

I mean, I saw what you saw. First of all, those lines, I told Noah many times that he should have just gift wrapped the pages before he sent them to me. He just gave me so many delicious things to say and do. So, I’m very appreciative of that. As far as how he sees them, I mean, it seems, as far as I can tell — what I’m seeing, I’m watching the show like everybody else — he sees this as just evolution. These hybrids are the next step. They represent possibility. I always kind of saw it as an opportunity to be enthusiastic about something better than yourself. Like, every parent, you hope for your kids can go further than you did. You want to just set them up for that possibility and that opportunity. And they represent such hope and possibility. I just kind of assumed that’s how we saw the hybrids and then everybody else was less than.

I want to ask you about the very end of the season. I just think it’s so fun to watch Wendy dress down Boy Kavalier. You’re just lying there. Your back is broken. You’re on this ledge. I’m just so curious, on the day of, what was it like to just be lying there listening to this incredible scene?

At the end of the day, my job is to show up and listen, so I wasn’t doing anything different than I do on any other day. But I do recall on that day particularly thinking this is a good scene and this is a good ending. Something about it made me think I felt like I was in The Breakfast Club or something. I don’t know if you see any parallels there, but something about that ending reminded me. Someone should walk off the campus and throw their fists in the air at the end.

I was watching some of the behind-the-scenes featurettes and there was a really interesting note made by the makeup artist. Part of the difference between Morrow and Kirsh is Morrow’s very sweaty and your character’s very pristine. Knowing that you filmed this in Thailand, which is notoriously hot, I’m just so curious about the logistics of being a non-sweating synthetic in one of the hottest places on earth.

Well, easier said than done. Easier to do when when you’re shooting interiors. So I don’t know if you noticed, Kirsh spent most of his time indoors.

This interview has been edited and formatted for clarity.