Warning: Spoilers for the concluding moments of Krypton Episode 4 “The Word of Rao” are discussed within. If you’d like, you can see the particular clip before you start reading.
One of the most exciting moments of the build-up to Krypton was our first look at Blake Ritson as a very comics-accurate Brainiac on the Syfy television series which airs on Wednesday nights. Now, the Voice of Rao is infected by Brainiac’s techno-parasite which gives Ritson another role on the series — that of the “Voice of Rao.”
We caught up with Ritson to talk about this twist as well as what else is coming up for Brainiac in Krypton Season 1.
KRYPTONSITE’s CRAIG BYRNE: Can you talk about how things are going to change for the series after what has happened at the end of Episode 4?
BLAKE RITSON: At the end of Episode 4, we see the Voice of Rao become infected by Brainiac’s techno-parasite. We’ve already seen in Episode 3 how this nanotechnology appropriated Rhom – it consumed her humanity while giving her an array of superhuman abilities: super strength, technopathy, super intelligence.
We’ve witnessed the carnage that a lowly citizen of the rankles district was able to cause, so you can probably imagine the gravity of the threat to everyone now that the Voice of Rao has been infected. He was already the most powerful individual in Kandor, with the power of life and death over every citizen, and he’s now armed with a catalogue of superhuman abilities and an overwhelmingly dangerous agenda with no concern for collateral damage. Without giving too much away, things are about to get pretty messy.
We will obviously be hearing you more; how long will audiences have to wait to see you interacting with others in the flesh, either as Brainiac or another form?
Yes, I’ve largely shed the mask by the end of Episode 4, so the latter part of the season will see a lot of interaction between me and the rest of the cast in both forms.
What was your reaction upon seeing the Brainiac makeup design, and how long is the process of getting it done?
I think the team at Legacy that created the make-up design for Brainiac have done a truly superlative job. I believe it took nearly four months to hone and finesse. It’s reminiscent of the Gary Frank illustrations of Brainiac in Geoff Johns’ Superman: Brainiac, but the team have also added their own nuances to the character. This Brainiac feels somehow more ancient, with an extraordinary twisting torque to the neck. It is also unequivocally the scariest incarnation of Brainiac to date. Which I love. We did days of tests to get the make-up right prior to shooting. As it evolved, we got the whole process down from seven and a half hours, down to about four and a half, thanks to the two wonderful make-up artists who applied it every time.
Does Brainiac feel he is doing the right thing?
Every notion of doing right and wrong requires a particular social context, and Brainiac essentially lives in a vacuum of his own creation, defining his own moral code, so yes, he naturally believes he’s doing the right thing.
Having said that, I think that Brainiac believes he wields his deity-like power with extraordinary compassion, committed, as he is, to the ultimate noble act of saving creation. When he miniaturises a city and rips it from a planet, he is effectively saving a slice of that civilisation forever. He is fixing a temporal deficiency by transposing transient civilisations doomed to eventual extinction to a perpetual state. I always think of it as analogous to Noah plucking out two of every animal and saving them, even while knowing that the rest are consigned to be swept away in the deluge.
Is Brainiac aware of Krypton’s intended future?
As far as Brainiac is concerned, from the moment he designates Kandor as ‘worthy of collection’, he is the very one who will determine Krypton’s future. So yes, he’s entirely aware of its future as he is in the very process of defining it.
Is there any history between Brainiac and Val-El?
There is none that I know of, but that isn’t to say that they won’t cross paths at some point.
How about Brainiac and Adam Strange?
Brainiac may know about Adam Strange, but I couldn’t possibly tell you!
Will the politics of the series on the planet Krypton, especially concerning the voice of Rao, be changing moving forward?
At the start of the Season, Kandor is a theocracy, ruthlessly presided over by the Voice of Rao. But his power is slowly slipping away. There is huge social unrest as the civilisation slides into totalitarianism. Black Zero is running rampant and the divide between the Gilded and the Rankless grows ever more untenable. There has already been an attempt on the Voice of Rao’s life, and in Episode 4, the Rankless are openly contemptuous towards him. And perhaps most urgently, the Vex family have been busy plotting, and are now poised to overthrow him.
So there is definitely a growing call from Gilded and Rankless alike, to change the socio-political climate and sweep away the Voice of Rao and his regime. Having said that, he has just been infected by Brainiac’s parasite, is armed with an array of superhuman abilities, and has no intention of going anywhere, so you’ll have to wait and see how the politics play out…
Is there a specific episode that you are especially excited for fans to see?
I really love episode 9. There are some really crazy, unsettling twists and turns coming up, the stakes couldn’t be any higher and things get pretty visceral. I hope someone’s got a mop.
Catch Blake Ritson on Krypton Wednesday nights at 10PM ET on Syfy. After you watch come discuss the series on our KryptonSite forum!