Alexander Ludwig: ‘Earth Abides’ characters seek purpose after apocalypse

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1 of 5 | Alexander Ludwig and Jessica Frances Dukes star in the limited series, “Earth Abides,” premiering Sunday. Photo courtesy of MGM+

NEW YORK, Nov. 30 (UPI) — Heels and Vikings alum Alexander Ludwig says he wanted to star in Earth Abides because the limited series is a realistic look at what could happen after a cataclysmic pandemic.

Premiering Sunday on MGM+, the adaptation of George Stewart’s classic novel follows Ish (Ludwig), a geologist and one of the few survivors of a global disaster, who, after several years alone, finds a mate in the resourceful Emma (Jessica Frances Dukes).

“You hear ‘post-apocalyptic’ and you think zombies and monsters, right? And to me, this is the most true of what would actually happen in a post-apocalyptic scenario,” Ludwig, 32, told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.

“It’s about finding purpose and meaning and it’s about people. The monsters lie within and it’s about humanity and what really matters at the end of the day when everything else is stripped away,” he said. “Those are the kind of themes that we get to deal with. I love the idea of what happens if we become a primitive species again. How do we rebuild and can we get it right?”

Ludwig said he thinks viewers who experienced the recent coronavirus pandemic and its associated lockdowns will connect to what the characters on his new show are going through.

“Most of us have asked ourselves a version of that question, ‘What would happen if it got worse? What would we do?'” he said.

“Really great pieces of [artistic] work make us turn to our friend or our partner, or anybody we’re sitting with and viewing it with and ask these questions,” Ludwig added.

“‘What would you do in that scenario and what would I do?’ And you might not agree with everything the characters do. But you’ll certainly understand why they do it,” he said. “Nobody’s right, nobody’s wrong, but we’ve got to figure out how we’re doing this together.”

Ozark and The Gilded Age actress Dukes, 34, said she fell in love with this series the minute she read the script for the first episode.

“The way that Todd Komarnicki writes is so poetic. It’s so beautiful. The imagery … Read More