An Apple TV+ original Constellation is a sci-fi thriller/psychological horror that revolves around an astronaut named Johanna Eriksson, who returns to Earth after a disaster on ISS. This accident claims her teammate’s life, and following the incident, several strange events begin to torment Joe. In this series, we will see Joe on his quest to uncover the hidden truth about her space travel and find out what caused her to undergo such drastic psychological changes after returning home. The series introduced us to so many interesting characters, which already set the mood for a gripping thriller. Let’s discuss the characters we have been introduced to in the first three episodes of the series so far.
Spoilers Ahead
Johanna “Jo” Ericsson
Played by Noomi Rapace, Johanna “Jo” Ericsson is the central protagonist of the story. Jo is an astronaut, working on the International Space Station (ISS), jointly run by NASA, Roscosmos, and ESA. She’s been away from her family and living on the space station with her fellow astronauts to research a device named CAL. Five years ago, when she was posted in the space station, one day before her scheduled spacewalk, an accident took place on the ISS, claiming one of her teammate’s lives. Ever since, Jo has been mentally tormented and longed for her return to Earth so that she could meet her daughter, who was everything to her. But upon her return to earth, everything seemed to be changing for her, as she began to forget things and have recurrent hallucinations, probably caused by her prolonged stay in space. In the initial three episodes, we’ve already seen her on the run from the authorities, as she had the CAL device in her possession. She was also with her daughter Alice, but she was still bewildered as to whether this Alice was real or not.
Alice Ericsson
Alice Ericsson (played by Rosie Coleman and Davina Coleman) is Jo’s daughter, who attended her classes at a school in Cologne, Germany. This school was supported by ESA, and her father, Magnus, was also working there as a teacher. Alice had been going through the same psychological changes ever since her mother returned to earth. She has seen very strange happenings surrounding her friend Wendy’s behavior, but it seems like Alice has been hallucinating things. Let’s see if her mother will be able to unravel the mystery regarding these strange occurrences in the upcoming episodes.
Magnus
Played by James D’Arcy, Magnus is Jo’s husband, who has always been there for his wife through thick and thin. However, after seeing Jo having a hard time coping with the loss of her friend and her own psychological turmoil, he is a little confused and torn between trusting her words and taking her to see a doctor. It seems that before Jo left for the ISS, her relationship with Magnus faced problems, but the distance between them seems to have reduced upon her return to Earth.
Henry and Bud Caldera
Played by Jonathan Banks, Henry Caldera is the chief scientist from Rocket Propulsion Systems and a former astronaut who had previously researched a project named the CAL device. He had sent this device to outer space to discover the existence of any form of life in space, and that’s why this device became the most precious thing in his life. But his attempt to discover this took a toll on him as well, just like it did with Jo. In a different reality, we saw Bud Caldera, either a twin brother of Henry or another version that existed in an alternative reality. Bud has also been struggling with hallucinations, which have brought about a lot of changes in his behavior.
Irene Lyschenco
A former astronaut from Roscosmos, Irene Lyschenco (played by Barbara Sukowa), is suspicious of Jo, who claims to have seen something unusual in the capsule of the ISS. Irene doesn’t trust her and worries that Jo has been having problems remembering things. She has an on-and-off relationship with Henry Caldera, with whom she spends some quality moments before breaking the news to him that she has been suffering from a terminal disease.
Paul Lancaster
Played by William Catlett, Paul Lancaster is Jo’s fellow astronaut who lost his life in a terrible disaster that took place on the ISS. Paul’s hand got struck by a sharp object, and due to excessive blood loss, he succumbed to his injuries. His daughter, Wendy, initially became Alice’s best friend, but later a misunderstanding caused a rift in their friendship.
Frederic
Played by Julian Looman, Frederic is a space researcher and one of the members of the ground team at ESA. It seems like he had a special relationship with Jo, but upon her return to earth, she had completely forgotten that there was any connection between her and Frederic.
Sergei
Played by Lenn Kudrjawizki, Sergei is another member of the ground team. He constantly communicated with the ISS and Jo when she struggled to return to Earth via her space shuttle.
Audrey Brostin
Audrey Brostin (played by Carole Weyers) is one of Jo’s teammates in the ISS. Audrey was the one who did her best to revive Paul Lancaster by constantly giving him CPR. But she failed in her attempt as, due to extreme blood loss, Paul was unable to survive. Audrey seems to be friendly with Jo, but after they return to Earth, she begins to have doubts about Jo’s claims to have seen a dead cosmonaut in the capsule of their space station.
Ilya Andreev
Played by Henry David, Ilya Andreev is one of the closest friends Jo had on the ISS. Ilya never wanted to leave Jo alone in the space station, but as instructed by Jo, he had to follow her commands. It was Ilya who rescued Jo and brought her safely inside the station when she almost drifted away from her cable after finding the dead body. Ilya probably wanted to trust Jo, but he was also in doubt, like Audrey was.
In these three episodes of the series, we learned about these characters and their purpose in the storyline, but in later episodes, we’ll dig deeper into their arc to know what will eventually happen to them at the end of the show. This sci-fi thriller has introduced to us a very interesting and tricky plot that has several horrific elements that are still unexplained in these episodes, so we hope to get a more logical explanation about these events in the forthcoming episodes of Constellation.
