'Another Life' star Samuel Anderson says William's loyalty lies with Niko first and foremost: 'She treats him normal'
One of the most important characters on Netflix’s sci-fi series ‘Another Life’ is the sentient Artificial Intelligence William played by Samuel Anderson. Over the course of the first season, we see William grow and struggle with his emotions, something that the actor portrays to perfection.
Anderson told MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) in an exclusive interview that the biggest difficulty he had while playing the character was being unable to physicalize his emotions as he would for a human. “The biggest challenge I faced was not having the liberty to physicalize with people and objects on set,” Anderson said. “I remember a teacher at drama school telling me that 'physicalization is a great tool for an actor!' I didn’t realize how essential a tool it was until it was taken away from me.”
Despite those difficulties, Anderson did manage to do justice to the role and the actor did a lot of research while preparing for it. “In all honesty, looking back, the preparation has been going on since about 1996,” he said humorously. “That’s around when I started out acting. But once it became apparent that William was going to be my responsibility I did get into quite a few articles online. (It’s amazing how Google’s AI works, and a little scary!) Also, AI is a huge topic at the moment and it wasn’t difficult to find debates or lectures on podcasts and platforms like TED.”
The British actor also credited the sci-fi comedy ‘Red Dwarf’ with having given him a great example to follow. “As a kid, one of my favorite shows was the sci-fi comedy ‘Red Dwarf’,” Anderson explained. “The ship has an onboard computer called ‘Holly’ played by Norman Lovett and Hattie Hayridge. I thought of those guys every day. Such hilarious characters. One of the notes for William’s character is that he is not robot-like. I couldn’t have had better examples/teachers. Growing up where I’m from, ‘Red Dwarf’ is legendary.”
“I also have to shout out one of my closest friends, Ivanno Jeremiah, who recently portrayed an AI being called ‘Max’ on a great sci-fi show called ‘Humans’,” he added. “Not only did we talk at length about artificial intelligence, he helped me with my auditions and provided me with integral guidance. Ivanno gave me the keys to his car. He was integral to the process and I owe a great deal to him.”
Anderson also told us the character with the greatest amount of influence on William in the show is none other than Katee Sackhoff’s Commander Niko Breckinridge. “William’s loyalty lies with Niko first and foremost,” Anderson said. “She treats him normal. It’s almost as if the fact that she has a child back on earth gives her a better understanding of the growing up William still has to do. Regardless of how intelligent he is, Niko is the one he takes orders from and she is the person that causes him to question his existence the most. The other members of the crew are an immense help in William’s learning curve whether they realize it or not.”
Anybody who has watched the show would understand how important Niko is to William, as she is the one who really makes him question his emotions and humanity, arguable hurting him more than anyone else, even if unintentionally.
“William is arguably the most advanced AI we have met in fiction, so it would be impossible for him not to question his humanity or lack of humanity,” Anderson remarked about how the character might evolve further in terms of understanding his place in the world. “When we meet him he has many child-like innocent traits. But he is an incredibly quick learner and he grows very quickly. All of the questions that we are faced with in real life and ask ourselves about humanity and life day to day are ones that William has to ask himself. I’m excited to see where these lessons take William.”
The show’s stars have teased that the show will bring in new crew members and other surprises if it gets renewed for a second season. Netflix hasn’t confirmed the show’s renewal yet, but fans of the show would definitely love to see more of Anderson’s William and the other great characters on the show.
‘Another Life’ is available for streaming exclusively on Netflix.