Tom Felton and Natalia Tena Head to New Frontier in YouTube Sci-Fi Thriller
Tom Felton and Natalia Tena are reunited in YouTube Premium’s upcoming original series Origin. The show is about a group of strangers on a spaceship who wake up to the realization that everyone else on the massive spacecraft has left due to an unknown emergency. The remaining people must learn what has happened and protect themselves from unknown dangers, and possibly from each other. At this year’s New York Comic Con, we were treated to a scene from the show in which the characters nervously explore their newly abandoned environment.
MuggleNet got to speak with Tom and Natalia, as well as their costars newcomer Sen Mitsuji and Philipp Christopher (The Bridge, Meridian), and the series’ creator, Mika Watkins (Stan Lee’s Lucky Man, Troy: Fall of a City). The first thing we asked Natalia and Tom was how their Potter characters would fare in this high-stress situation, as well as how they themselves thought they would do. Natalia immediately said, “I would probably have a panic attack, definitely. Tonks, what would she do? I mean, she’s got a wand, so I think she’d be able to deal with a lot of the bad stuff that happens by just going, ‘Latin words. Go away.'” This remark was accompanied by a bit of wand flourishing movements. “[Tonks] is not as damaged as this character, so I think maybe she’d be more fun to hang out with. My character in this one doesn’t smile. I think she smiles once.”
As for Tom, “How would Draco do in space? Pretty shit, I would imagine. I can’t imagine he would do too well.” And about how he would do, he answered, “Pretty equally poorly, I imagine. […] Probably better than Logan and better than Draco.” He did admit, “I’m quite glad to be on planet Earth!” He added that if he were trapped on a spaceship, he would want his skateboard, guitar, and dog with him.
Although Tom and Natalia were both in the Potter films, and in fact, portrayed cousins, they never met on the set. Said Natalia, “I didn’t really hang out with [Tom] at all. I got to know him at other conventions [and] Harry Potter conventions over the years, but we were never together.” Both said it was a thrill to go to South Africa for filming and see each other. Natalia said, “[Working with Tom] is very fun because he’s…” Mitsuji then chimed in, “He’s dreadful,” which drew laughs from all.
We asked Tom about the benefits of working in film versus television. He answered, “I like that in a film you know the ending before you’ve started. It’s less daunting. With a series, you don’t really know what it’s going to end like. I could end up a transvestite alien by the end.” He joked, “Yeah, that’s Season 2. But it’s also very exciting.”
When asked about his personal opinion on the existence of extraterrestrial life, Tom said, “I think you have to be fairly confident, yeah. Especially after something like this, I think the idea of saying, ‘Well, there definitely isn’t anything out there’ is fairly ignorant and fairly closed-minded.” Watkins added, “We’re so teeny in the universe,” and Tom finished with “We know absolutely nothing. The only thing I’m pretty certain of is that we know bugger all.”
All episodes of Origin will be available on YouTube Premium on November 14.
