From the moment she was born, Alexis Glass-Mason was a very special baby. She could stand on her own even as a baby and she seem to have an inhuman way of staring as if she understood everything around her. She also seemed to age a unusually fast rate, and within months she had gone from being a baby to a toddler to a young child. When we meet Lexi again in Season 4 of FALLING SKIES, she goes through another rapid growth spurt and we shall meet her next as a young woman.
A baby and child no more, Lexi (Scarlett Byrne) has found her place amongst the human survivors and 2nd Mass as a spiritual guide. Her miraculous human/alien hybrid DNA seems to hold the keys to the mysteries of the universe and perhaps the heavens too. While not sure if Lexi could indeed be an angel or emissary of God, some believe that she has been sent to them as a messenger. But is Lexi truly touched by something otherworldly or is she just a young woman who has grown up too fast without her parents to guide her?
In a recent exclusive interview, Scarlett Byrne talked about portraying Lexi as the young woman who seems to have particular sway over those around her, both human and alien.
So you are portraying the mysterious character for this season on FALLING SKIES. How exciting is that?
SCARLETT: It’s been a great ride. This season is just brilliant.
Quite soon this season we see that your character has this shocking white colored hair. How did they ultimately decide that Lexi would have such a shocking look?
SCARLETT: When I first arrived in Vancouver, I wasn’t sure what my character was going to look like, and during the first couple of weeks, I think I tried seven different wigs. We were trying to figure out what we wanted her to look like and where we wanted to go. So as soon as I found out that I was going to be wigged, I thought: “This is going to be great.” So I was in hair and makeup every morning for at least two hours, and it was fun and interesting, but at the same time I had to be in before everyone else. But the white hair really works.
It kind of gives her an ethereal presence because she is not quite of the world yet.
SCARLETT: It does and that’s what she’s all about. She’s got this innocence and this ethereal stillness to her because she’s very different. Yet it is also so exciting.
What drew you to the role of Lexi? What did you see in it that you wanted to portray?
SCARLETT: There’s nothing one dimensional about her at all. When I first read the role, I was really interested to see where her journey was going to go. There is honestly so much. She’s kind of like this child who was just a baby and the last time we saw her in Season 3, she had this dark hair and was like an 8 year old, then suddenly in Season 4 she is this young woman with blonde-white hair and light eyes. So she’s becoming more in touch with herself and her message. There’s so much to her that is truly complex. It was really fun playing her and trying to understand her this season because she does develop a lot. She changes quite a bit.
If you could identify one quality, what would you say that you most admire about Lexi?
SCARLETT: She really does her best for everyone. She has this message of peace and love. All the other characters are quite shocked that she is trying to live this kind of message, especially when they have all been through so much heart-ache and loss and they are going through so much strain for the past 4 years since the alien invasion. So for the rest of the characters, she is just daunting as they just don’t understand her at all. So I think that quality of wanting everyone to be loved and for everyone to get along and for there not to be a war, that’s a great quality to have.
Lexi is aging so quickly. It seems like every few months she ages another 7-8 years. Are we to assume that she is terminal this season or will the rapid aging stop at some point?
SCARLETT: Am I allowed to say? I think that might be a spoiler.
This may also touch upon a spoiler area, but we find out right away that Lexi may have some abilities, which we saw a little bit of when she was a baby. Is there going to be more exploration of what other things Lexi can do?
SCARLETT: (Laughs) I think that may also be a spoiler. You’re asking all the juicy questions!
We see right away that this season that Lexis gets separated from her parents. How does Lexi feel about being separated from them?
SCARLETT: Right away in the first episode everyone is split up. So it’s cool to see not only my character develop, but all of them since they are all suddenly on their own and to see how the relationships change. The next time everyone sees her, it has been 4 months. Like Ben (Connor Jessup), for example, he barely recognizes her. Not just the way she looks, but the way she is and the way she acts. So there’s a sense of trauma in that they missed her childhood. They missed her growing up even though it has been such a short amount of time. For a lot of the characters and especially for her parents, it’s really about having to get to know her again. She’s sort of like this stranger.
In her parents’ absence, Lexi seems to have grown really close to Lourdes (Seychelle Gabriel). What kind of relationship between them develops right away?
SCARLETT: They have a very interesting relationship. For me, Seychelle was so much fun to work with. We got along really well. So it was great seeing Lexi and Lourdes bond throughout this season. Lourdes was there at the birth of Lexi and I think she feels a sense that she has to protect her at all costs; and Lourdes has really changed. She has gone back to her spiritual beliefs, which were shown in previous seasons. A lot of that and how she thinks and what she believes is now based on Lexi’s word and the message she’s trying to get out. So Lourdes is Lexi’s right-hand woman and best friend. So, for Lourdes, she has a sense of so much gratitude and that perhaps she owes something to Lexi.
Lexi because of her rapid-aging has interesting relationships with all the characters, even when Ben returns. Lexi seems to know that he’s her brother, but she has not been close to him during that period of separation. Are they going to be working on that relationship?
SCARLETT: Yes. Ben is her older brother and he loves her. He also saved her when the attack came in the first episode. He picked her up and he risked his life to save her. So all Lexi wants is for him to believe her and support her and to have a good relationship. It’s very important to Lexi. I also think Ben wants to have a relationship with her, but he’s trying to wrap his head around this new world in China Town that she’s set up; this peaceful world that she is responsible for. So I think Lexi does want to have a relationship with all the people there, but especially with her brother, Ben. 
Just who Lexi is and what power she actually wields will be one of the bigger mysteries explored this season. So to meet Lexi as the miraculous young woman she has become, be sure to tune in for the Season 4 premiere of FALLING SKIES on Sunday, June 22nd at 9:00 p.m. on TNT.
Tiffany Vogt is the Senior West Coast Editor, contributing as a columnist and entertainment reporter to TheTVaddict.com. She has a great love for television and firmly believes that entertainment is a world of wondrous adventures that deserves to be shared and explored – she invites you to join her. Please feel free to contact Tiffany at Tiffany_Vogt_2000@yahoo.com or follow her at on Twitter (@TVWatchtower).