Alexander Ludwig, Jessica Frances Dukes, and Aaron Tveit On Hopeful Journey Through Earth Abides

Based on the book by George R. Stewart comes a TV adaptation of Earth Abides. Ish finds himself in isolation when the world has fallen to a mysterious illness, but eventually leads his way into developing a new civilization. Pop Culture Planet’s Kristen Maldonado spoke with Alexander Ludwig, Jessica Frances Dukes, and Aaron Tveit about the new MGM+ series.

When it comes to what Ludwig and Dukes learned from Earth Abides, “gratitude” was the the biggest lesson they took away. “For me, it was just a tremendous amount of gratitude for what we have. The fact that we get to live in this beautiful world and see it through each other's eyes. I think just having experienced this through Ish's eyes I've just further realized what's actually important and what really matters,” Ludwig told me. “I'm so happy that you said that you felt like it was hopeful because that's exactly what I experienced when I read the book and when I read the screenplay. I've never seen a more true post-apocalyptic show and the fact that it ends the way it does is very special.”

Tveit was “very moved” by the story. “We're conditioned in a post-apocalyptic genre like this to be waiting for a big baddy or a monster or a zombie or an alien. Instead this is just a really human story about this group of people that is trying to survive. They ultimately succeed because of the love they have for one another and the care that they have for themselves and for the environment,” he shared. “It's a fascinating question to ask like if we got to do this and a small group of people survived, could we do it better? Could we treat each other better and just lead from that place? I’d not really seen that before. In our culture and society where we see the opposite of that a lot, I was very moved by it when I read it.”

Dukes rediscovered herself in the role of Emma and hopes others can do the same. “One of the things was so exciting to me [was] the idea of stripping away the things that we deem important. Unfortunately, due to this virus, everything is stripped away and you're left with who you are at your core. One of my favorite moments on set was sitting there looking in the mirror as a woman that is not a spring chicken, getting lines painted on her and age makeup painted on her, and seeing something so absolutely beautiful in the mirror,” she expressed. “I hope that people see themselves. I hope that people fall in love with themselves. I hope that people discover themselves and release all that other stuff that actually is not going to get us moving forward. We need to be with each other. We need to open up and give and receive.”

The series takes place over the course of 50 years, which means that Ludwig and Dukes were aged up multiple times. “Luckily I had experienced a version of this on Vikings where I basically played from 19 to 45, but I think the hardest thing with this show was remembering where we were in the story,” said Ludwig. “Not only have these characters experienced mental trauma, but Ish has experienced physical trauma. Is this before or after this specific attack? Is this before or after this specific birth? These were things that we had to constantly remind ourselves of where we were in the show, so that was the most challenging for me.”

“In some crazy stroke of luck or whatever it was, a lot of very big things in my personal life were happening as I was shooting the show,” he explained. “When something very big happened to my son on the show, my first son was being born and […] I had this well of emotion that I could draw from and that was super, super helpful.”

Dukes was able to tap into the different time periods with help from the young actors coming onto the set. “One of my favorite things about the time jumps and the living this life on screen were the kids. It was just a joy to, especially as a woman, walk around with that weight that you're holding in your belly, then you actually meet this infant. Then you actually meet a three and five year old. Then you actually meet an eight, nine, and 10 year old. Then you actually meet a 17 [year old],” she said. “It was just so wonderful to live this life and create this family and world. It was just really fun, That helped me because I was like, ‘What age are you? I know where we are!’”

While Ish and Emma represent the hope of a new future, Tveit comes in adding some harsh reality. “I knew right away that my purpose was basically to represent this other thing, right? The characters […] are leading and surviving in one way and I think Charlie's meant to represent the way that we see far too often in our society today,” he explained. “I really got to lean into that and to bump that idea up against this thing that everyone else was doing. It's a lot of fun when you get to do that. There's a lot of freedom in it. To try to make somebody who's not a good person […] charming is a lot of fun.”

“When you get to play a character like this, you get to be a bit of a bulldozer. You get to put forward hopefully this trick where you're getting the audience to be on your side for as long as they can until you see the shoe drop,” continued Tveit. “The actors on the show are just wonderful and so welcoming to me and to get to go toe-to-toe with Alex was super, super fun.”

The heartbeat of the show though is Ish and Emma’s realtionship. “It didn't take a lot of work. I felt like our connection was pretty instantaneous and Jessica is such a generous actress and a generous soul in general,” said Ludwig. “I speak for both of us when I say we both felt very safe and and ready to take on this huge challenge together. So much of this show relied on the chemistry between Ish and Emma so thank God I had the amazing Jessica Frances Dukes to do it with.”

“It's interesting that Ish and Emma, when they see each other, they see each other. There are no masks. There are no walls. It's just open and I think in order to play that you have to be that. Day one, Alex was just this walking heart,” Dukes continued. “It was just this opening, welcoming experience. When you have an environment like that and set was like that as well, you were able to just go there because you trust and you know you can fall and somebody's going to be right there. You're not going to hit the ground. Alex never let me hit the ground and I'm damn sure I didn't let him hit the ground.”

New episodes of Earth Abides air Sundays on MGM+.