YouTube’s ‘Origin’: ‘Harry Potter’ Star Tom Felton is Game for Playing the “A**hole”

YouTube Premium’s new original sci-fi drama Origin puts a familiar face in a strange location. Harry Potter star Tom Felton — aka Draco Malfoy — plays Logan, a man who wakes up to find himself abandoned on a spaceship headed for a remote colony. He and a number of other travelers must figure out what’s gone wrong on the journey, and who, if anyone, they can trust. Each episode of the series introduces us to the back story of one character, and it takes a while to figure Logan out. Creator Mika Watkins has constructed Origin to be part sci-fi, part mystery.

Decider caught up with Felton during this summer’s TCA press tour. However, before we talked about Origin and Felton’s favorite YouTube clips, we had to settle something once and for all: Is the Harry Potter star a genre fan…or not?

First thing’s first…Coming in, I think I overheard you say you’re not a sci-fi fan, or are you?

I want to say I’m a fan. It’s just I’m not as engrossed in the genre as some of our cast. (laughs) I’ve had a few sci-fi references thrown at me about characters that I have no idea who they were talking about. But yeah, there have been many a sci-fi film that has been influential on me growing up.

Like what particularly?

Well, the Aliens franchise was the one that really opened that world to me. But other than that, this is a sci-fi thriller show. It’s heavily based, set in that world, but it’s also 10 humans in a terrible position trying to figure stuff out. You definitely don’t see it leaning into the fantasy market as much as it does a character-driven piece.

So what drew you to the project? Was it the scripts? And how many did you get in advance?

Only two! And I’m not really comfortable not knowing how things end before…so largely it was the script. Only the first one I read. I thought the writing was fantastic and then I had the chance to speak to Mika for an hour and a half. And she didn’t spoil it for me. She didn’t tell me everything that was going to happen, but she definitely told me more about my character and the reasons he was taking the trip to Thea. So I want to say it’s 50% the quality of the work, but I’m definitely more motivated by who I want to be working with, than just the work. And I could tell just from the phone that Mika [Watkins] had a strong image of what she wanted to make. And it was ironic, really, because I don’t know what I had in my head, but I didn’t think she was going to be a 28-year-old English girl.

What about your character inspired you most as an actor?

He’s flawed and he seems to be an asshole, really. But he’s not, he’s just never really been shown too much love in his childhood. A lot of this is all speculation as well. Although we do get to learn more about his character when we see his flashback, a lot of it as well is left to my interpretation. So I liked how much of a dick he came across as in the first three episodes and then slowly but surely getting to know why he is that way. Actually, he’s a bit of a softie.

You’ve been acting a long time. People have grown up watching you. Even before Harry Potter, you were in Anna and the King. If you could go back and give your younger self a piece of advice, what would it be?

I feel quite lucky to say that I wouldn’t. Instinctively, there’s no horrendous regrets or mistakes I’ve made. I was going to say, ‘Have more fun,’ but I pride myself on being a bit of a goofball on set and never taking it all too seriously.

Obviously Origin is a YouTube original. Did you have any qualms about working on a show on a streaming site?

Yeah! Initially, I was like suspicious, or I didn’t quite know what YouTube were planning on doing. First year of YouTube making TV shows, you think, “What? Are they going to be recording it on our phones? How serious are we taking this here?” And then realizing what YouTube was set to do. At first, it was uncertainty, but then after it set in, I realized it was the best possible platform for it. One in the sense that we’re helping launch their new platform, and the other two sides…One, this is a small company. They have resources and they have data and information. They know exactly what people are watching. I’m sure they thought very strategically about which shows to use and which not. And then the other side is that there was a pressure to succeed. That made me feel quite confident knowing they put so much money, time, and investment into the show.

My friends and I all have our own favorite YouTube videos we’ll watch when we want to get in a good mood or get psyched up. Do you have a favorite YouTube video that made you a fan of the service?

Music videos. And I don’t mean music. I mean like live music videos. There’s a lot of acoustic guitarists that I’m big fans of that simply, just by listening to it, you don’t get to see the full scope of what they’re doing. Tommy Emmanuel is my favorite acoustic guitarist and watching him play as well as listening is a huge revelation in my enjoyment of music.

So nowadays, I like hearing things from streaming services and what not, but if I get a chance to go on YouTube and find a live performance…you see all these ones, these Tiny Desk Concerts, all these weird boutique performances you simply would not get anywhere else.

The first season of Origin is now available to stream on YouTube Premium.

Watch Origin on YouTube