Sandra Yi Sencindiver has a presence that’s impossible to overlook, whether on screen or off. Her career spans epic fantasy and sci-fi, with roles in The Wheel of Time and Foundation. Now, she is stepping into one of the genre's most iconic universes. In the highly anticipated FX series Alien: Earth, she plays Yutani of the infamous Weyland-Yutani Corporation. Set on Earth before Prometheus, the series explores the early rise of corporate power and the race to create android life.
Beyond acting, Sencindiver continues to make her mark as a filmmaker, creating work that blends vision with versatility. Her short film, Seeking Hwa Sun, which she both wrote and directed, earned nominations at several film festivals and for a Robert Award; the Danish equivalent of an Academy Award. Sencindiver also spearheaded the award-winning campaign A Bigger Picture, which tackles representation for actors and filmmakers of colour in major Danish films and television.
We spoke with her online about entering the Alien universe, her creative process, and the forces that inspire her.
ESQUIRE SINGAPORE: Alien: Earth marks a major moment for the franchise with it being set on Earth for the first time. How did you approach stepping into such a legendary sci-fi world while also bringing something fresh to your role as Yutani?
SANDRA YI SENCINDIVER: Well, I find it rather easy as I’m just a small cog in a really, really big machine built by some truly amazing and very experienced people. They’re the ones reinventing things and bringing the fresh elements. I just take my little cog and make the best of it. I’m also fortunate as this character has never been portrayed before, so there aren’t any expectations about who she is or what the company represents. I think people are simply more excited to see how it all unfolds, to get to know her, and to discover more about this mysterious, faceless corporation that has played such a major role in the earlier films—with which we’ve never really had a direct relationship.
ESQ: What was the audition process like?
SYS: They’d auditioned for the role quite early before filming began. The brilliant casting director, Kate, saw my tape and thought it was perfect. She wanted to send it to Noah [Hawley, series writer and director], but I wasn’t fully free until 1st September, and he needed everyone to start immediately. My good friend Diêm Camille, had landed the role of Siberian [in Alien:Earth]. I thought, how often do you get the chance to work on a project this big alongside a close friend? But I was already filming Geek Girl, so there was nothing I could do. However, I kept wondering who had been cast in the role so I asked Camille to check. Eventually it turned out that because of the strike, it still hadn’t been casted. When shoots resumed after Christmas, I got another audition, and was then offered the part.
ESQ: The Weyland-Yutani name carries so much weight among Alien fans. What was it like knowing you’d be giving life to a character that’s been part of the franchise’s mythology for decades?
SYS: I was already a huge Alien fan. I watched the second film on repeat on VHS. Because when I was about eight or nine, we lived in Greenland and didn’t have access to much. We just had the same ten tapes playing over and over, and Aliens was one of them. I knew I was stepping into a major franchise, and was thrilled to be part of something I’d loved myself. But to be honest, I don’t think I thought too much about filling big shoes, especially as this character hasn’t been seen before. Since she only has a guest role in the first season, I was quite relaxed. I only joined in the last three months; it felt like hopping onto a moving train. Everyone had already been together for so long. I just came in, did my scenes, and joined this enormous family for a little while.
ESQ: Did you feel you had enough time to get into your character, or maybe even more time to explore it than some of the rest of the cast?
SYS: Of course, Yutani has been part of the universe for ages. I had enough time to get a sense of the tone and meet other people on set. And because Camille was on the show, I was included in the family quite early. I also re-watched everything and had all my scenes in advance, so I think I was pretty well prepared. Plus, Yutani isn’t an action character, she’s power. She walks into a room, the scene is very much about her and what she wants, and it’s mostly talking scenes. They're straightforward to shoot and quick compared to the early episodes with all the action and chaos happening. They shot for weeks on something that’s only part of one episode, whereas I can come in and do my one scene in half a day.
ESQ: Playing a character tied to corporate power in the Alien universe must have layers of moral complexity. Without spoilers, how did you navigate her motivations and moral compass?
SYS: The thing about Yutani and the Weyland-Yutani corporation is that they don’t have any moral complexities. For them, it’s very much about the stock and the shareholders: how to maintain power, how to dominate the market, how to deliver the next brilliant innovation that can solidify their influence and profits. I don’t think morality enters into it at all. It’s just about the bottom line and inventing the next big thing; there wasn’t much to navigate in terms of poise, stature, or authority [because she is the very essence of poise, stature and authority].
ESQ: I love the costume, makeup, and hair. I think they really elevated your character, so that people aren’t just watching you, but truly experiencing who you are as a whole.
SYS: Noah actually put it on the page. He wrote that this character walks as if she owns a fifth of the world and most of the universe—that’s because she does. I also remember him writing something like, she walks on water. I took that very literally; this is a woman who’s not there to please anyone. She’s there to please herself, to run this firm, and to uphold the legacy her grandmother left her. She takes a room as if she was born into power. Physically, she’s not trying to be pretty or be an object to be looked at. She just enters and commands the space.
She’s very soft-spoken because she’s used to people listening to her. I thought it would be fun to draw inspiration from the Alien universe. The creature itself is very reptilian, and during one of the first costume and hair and makeup tests, the hairstyle in episode two looked like the profile of an alien. I thought, brilliant; I’ll make that part of her DNA and let her mirror herself in that way. I also think the set design and locations really matter too. It’s not just about what she looks like; it’s also about the kind of spaces she moves through, lives in, and owns.
ESQ: The Alien franchise has always had strong themes about survival, humanity, and power. Did working on this project influence how you think about those themes in today’s world?
SYS: Science fiction is often seen as one step ahead of where we are, but because we’re living in such a mad world, it’s not actually that far ahead of our own time. It really reflects the world we live in, where these conglomerate companies amassing enormous wealth also wield huge power and influence our lives beyond borders, beyond nations, beyond organisations like NATO and the UN. It’s pretty frightening when the people deciding how this planet is treated, or how its inhabitants are treated, are mostly motivated by making money.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
