[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Space Cadet.]

The Big Picture

Tom Hopper discusses his fascination with space and his experience working with Emma Roberts and Gabrielle Union on the Prime Video movie ‘Space Cadet.’
Hopper talks about how they shot his fun phone conversations with Poppy Liu, and who read her lines for him when they shot those scenes.
He shares his thoughts on saying goodbye to his characters in ‘Black Sails’ and ‘The Umbrella Academy.’

From writer/director Liz W. Garcia (Purple Hearts, The Lifeguard), the Prime Video comedy Space Cadet follows Rex Simpson (Emma Roberts), a bartender and party girl with dreams of getting herself into NASA’s astronaut training program, even if she doesn’t quite have the necessary qualifications. Determined not to let her lack of scientific training hold her back, Rex goes all-in with her training, in order to become one of the top trainees and get herself sent to the International Space Station. Along the way, she captures the attention of the program’s deputy director, Logan (Tom Hopper), who’s attracted to her wit and instincts without knowing just how close he is to uncovering the truth.

During this one-on-one with Collider, Hopper talked about his desire to be a part of a feel-good comedy, playing a character whose identity is more wrapped up in his job than letting go and having fun, the appeal of someone like Rex, his own fascination with space, embracing the height difference between himself and Roberts, picking a karaoke song, and the wild phone conversations Logan has when checking on Rex’s references. He also shares the end of Black Sails compared to wrapping up The Umbrella Academy, and why he never really says goodbye to the characters he plays.

Space Cadet (2024) Space Cadet follows Tiffany “Rex” Simpson, a party girl from Florida, whose lifelong dream of going to space seems far-fetched. However, a fluke lands her in NASA’s highly competitive astronaut training program. Despite her lack of scientific expertise, Rex relies on her quick wit, determination, and moxie to navigate the challenges of the program. As she tries to keep her true background a secret, she captures the attention of NASA directors Pam and Logan. The film humorously explores Rex’s journey as she strives to prove that she has what it takes to reach the stars.Release Date July 4, 2024 Director Liz W. Garcia Cast Emma Roberts , Tom Hopper , Poppy Liu , Gabrielle Union , Kuhoo Verma , Desi Lydic , Sebastián Yatra , Sam Robards Runtime 110 Minutes Writers Liz W. Garcia

Collider: This movie is so much fun.

TOM HOPPER: Oh, great. I’m really glad. That’s what we hoped it would be for people. It’s just feel-good. I think people need a bit of feel-good these days. I like being a part of that feeling for people. I think it’s important.

I love a messy character that you can root for. There’s just something so fun about that.

HOPPER: Because we’re all a mess, really, aren’t we? We can all relate to that.

Why Is Tom Hopper’s Straight-Laced Character Attracted to Emma Roberts’ Human Wrecking Ball?

This feels like a character that’s pretty reserved. He’s professional, at least when we see him at work. When you’re reading a script with a character like that, is it more of a challenge to get a read on him? What most stood out to you with him?

HOPPER: I’m always looking for characters that are somewhat relatable, or as I read them, I see my version of them or how I can relate to them. For me, Logan represents the people out there who have gone through a system to become something, to become a job. And then, their identity becomes their job and no longer them, and people see them as the job. He’s fallen into that trap. He’s had a great career. He’s very successful. But who is Logan? Who is this guy? I like to think that Logan, up to his teen years, was probably pushed into this educational system by his parents, but he was actually a bit of a party animal and was always fighting with that duality of, “Do I go out and party, or do I have to do my work?” There was always that side of him, and it’s probably a side that he’s feared coming back, creeping back in, and he’s never allowed it to. Rex then comes flying in like a wrecking ball, and that’s why he’s so drawn to her. She represents that slightly crazier side of him that he’s shut away, and then he allows that to come out again through her and that is probably why he falls for her, really. She represents what he ultimately wants to bring back in himself. He’s too tidy. He’s too together.

In setting out to do a comedy that also happens to be a feel-good movie, was that all on the page in the script from the beginning, or did that evolve? Were there ongoing conversations, especially as you guys figured out how your humor best fit together?

HOPPER: It read that way. That’s why I liked it. I wanted a comedy. That’s what I was looking for when I was reading scripts at the time. It was very unique in that way. I was like, “Oh, you really leave this movie feeling better and like you should follow your dreams and go after what you want. And at the same time, you’re laughing throughout.” For me, it’s quite rare to have that kind of message at the end of a movie, as well as it being funny. And then, when speaking to Liz [Garcia], and collaborating with her and Emma [Roberts] and [Gabrielle] Union, it was all about, how can we lift it even more? How can we bring more laughs to it? How can we make it more fun? The entire ensemble brought themselves to these roles and lifted it even more, and Liz did a great job in guiding us through that.

Related ‘Space Cadet’: Emma Roberts’ Party Girl Becomes NASA’s Only Hope in First Image From Florida to space!

Probably everyone has considered going to space or thought about what it might be like, at some point. Because it is kind of that big unknown, if you think too long about it, it seems kind of terrifying, and most people don’t ever actually attempt to do so. Is it something you had ever thought about? Had you ever dreamed about being an astronaut or wondering about what going into space would be like?

HOPPER: I’ve never dreamed about being an astronaut, but I have always been fascinated with space and what’s out there, mainly due to my fascination with extraterrestrials. I’ve always been like, “Well, it can’t just be us.” I’ve gone down crazy rabbit holes on alien encounters and watched a bunch of documentaries where I’ve been like, “They’ve definitely been here, for sure.” There’s too much evidence. Either that, or there’s a greater thing on this planet that is something none of us know about, or there’s some kind of simulation theory. Space, as a thing, fascinates me, but I’ve never had the desire to want to go out there. It’s more about, what is out there? It becomes scary if you delve too far into it in your mind. You start to just freak yourself out.

‘Space Cadet’s Tom Hopper and Emma Roberts Embraced Their Dramatic Height Difference
Image via Prime Video

The hug between you and Emma Roberts when you first meet is funny because you’re so much taller than she is. What was that like to figure out?

HOPPER: We embraced it, really. We embraced the height difference, and that she could just jump on him and climb on him and use him as this big climbing frame and have no qualms about it. The fun of it, really, is that where she’s from, that’s what you do, and where he’s from, it’s just not what you do, at all. For me, that was great. I was like, “Let’s just lean into it.” There’s definitely a big height difference between me and Emma, for sure.

I also really loved the karaoke duet you and Emma have with “Mr. Jones.” Who chose that song? Did you get to rehearse it? Do you never want to hear that song again?

HOPPER: Sometimes it leaves you with great memories, and sometimes it leaves you with absolute dread of ever hearing it again. This was probably the former. I really love doing that scene. We actually didn’t know until the night before we shot it, and it was my first scene to shoot on the movie. I’d just flown in, and we had to go straight for a rehearsal. It could have been one of three songs, and they finally picked, “Mr. Jones,” which worked out great. I was pleased they chose it because that was the one I was most familiar with. It worked out really great. It was a really fun scene to shoot, in the end. We were both quite nervous about it, but it actually turned out great.

Related Emma Roberts Aims for the Stars in First ‘Space Cadet’ Trailer The movie debuts this July on Prime Video.

You also have a lot of phone conversations with Poppy Liu, doing different voices and different sound effects. What was actually going on for you, in those scenes? Did you just have some random person reading lines off-camera? Did you get to know what she would be doing, at all?

HOPPER: People took turns. It was either Liz, the director, reading the lines, or Liz’s assistant. They’d already shot a lot of those scenes from the other side, so I got to watch all of those and I knew what was going on. But Liz was like, “Feel free to react in your own head to whatever and throw whatever you want in.” So, I had a great time on my own, doing pretend phone conversations. I just got to react as I wanted, really, within the realm of the scene. It was actually really fun for me. Sometimes phone conversations can be hard if you don’t have the actual person there, but it actually turned out to be quite fun.

You and Gabrielle Union are pretty much side by side throughout the film. What do you think the history of those characters was, prior to when we meet them?

HOPPER: That’s a good point. I’ve never really thought about that. They’ve obviously worked their way up together. I think she’s always been slightly ahead of him, but they’ve been working very closely with each other for a long time. This is group 40, or more, of these cadets. They do this all the time. This is just the first time that they’re trying to mix it up. They know the way that each other works, quite well. It’s a fun dynamic. It was great to work with Gab.

Tom Hopper Was Very Satisfied With the Endings of Both ‘Black Sails’ and ‘The Umbrella Academy’
Image via Starz

I was such a fan of Black Sails and such a huge champion of that show, which I wrote about a lot and will always be one of my favorite shows. How did the end of that series and your time on that series compare to the ending of The Umbrella Academy with that cast? Do you feel like you reached a satisfying conclusion with each of those characters and their stories? What were the endings of those experiences like?

HOPPER: Black Sails was an incredible experience. In terms of a character arc, you can’t really wish for much better than that, as an actor. I was satisfied with the end of Black Sails. I felt like we got Billy Bones to a place where you could see how he became that man in that tavern at the start of Treasure Island. I saw that man by the end. Going from that fresh-faced pirate in Season 1, a young man starting off in that world, to then becoming that damaged man in that tavern down the line, I saw that, and I was pleased with how that ended. I think the boys – Dan [Shotz] and John [Steinberg] and Robert [Levine] – actually did a great job on that. They were brilliant. I was very pleased with that. I’m still best friends with a lot of the guys from Black Sails. I’m very close to Luke Roberts, Toby Stephens and Luke Arnold. We talk regularly. I just worked with Luke Roberts again on something because we’re so tight. We see each other all the time.

In terms of how The Umbrella Academy compares, we were like a family. It was a weird ending to shoot. We finished shooting it last June/July, just before the actors’ strike, and it was a very emotional end. It’s an emotional end to the show, which you’ll see. I’m about to do the press tour with those guys, for the final season, and I think that’s when that will hit me. It didn’t really hit me on set because that was just about finishing the show. When I see us, as a group, for probably the last time, that’s probably when it will hit me. I love those guys so much. I’m close to all of them, in such a unique way, because we really did become a family. They’re like my siblings, really. It will be emotional. But I’m really pleased with how we ended that, as well. It’s always great to finish a show properly. I’ve been in the fortunate position to never have been in a show where we’ve had to end it abruptly, or it just gets canceled. I’m very fortunate that we’ve gotten to complete shows.

Related Tom Hopper Teases an Exciting Ending for ‘The Umbrella Academy’ “There’s bucket loads of [fun].”

You know the ending of a movie is inevitable because it’s all right there in your script. With a TV show, it feels so different because you don’t know how long the show will go for, and those two shows felt like they had such close ensemble casts.

HOPPER: Yeah, it’s very, very different. They’re completely unique experiences. It’s also saying goodbye to your character. Someone said to me, “Have you said goodbye to Luther?” And I was like, “Oh, my God, I’ve never even thought of that.” Some actors will say goodbye to their character, but I’ve never done that. I’ve never thought of it that way because, for me, they live on. They live on, on a platform like Netflix or whatever. It’s done, but that character will forever exist. For me, it’s not about saying goodbye, but about creating that thing and going, “Right, there we go. That’s done.” I’m really pleased that they are the way they are because you do get attached to them. You get attached to the cast, you get attached to the character, you get attached to the writing. It’s different to a movie where you have seven or eight weeks to shoot a character, and then that’s that. It’s a more immersive, unique experience, and then it’s done.

Space Cadet is available to stream on Prime Video. Check out the trailer:

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