That ‘Sugar’ Twist: Colin Farrell and Team Explain His Character’s Big Episode 6 Reveal

Chris O'Falt
·5 min read

[Editor’s note: The following interviews contain spoilers for “Sugar,” Episode 6.]

When showrunner Mark Protosevich began writing Apple TV+ series “Sugar,” he knew two things: He would start with the story of a throwback anti-hero and then completely flip the perception.

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“To pull off almost a genre switch,” Protosevich told IndieWire. “You’re introduced to this guy and story, and the rug gets pulled out from under you.”

Protosevich rips out the carpet at the end of episode 6 when it revealed that private investigator John Sugar (Colin Farrell), who loves dogs and old movies and metabolizes alcohol 50 times faster than anyone else…

…is an alien.

IndieWire talked to Farrell, executive producer/director Fernando Mierelles, editor Fernando Stutz, and Protosevich about the big twist.

The Twist Used to Be Much Earlier

Protosevich didn’t pitch the show to Apple. He wrote the first two episodes on spec, believing that studios and stars needed to read the story to understand his intent.

“The reveal was in the first episode when I read it,” said Farrell, who signed on as star and executive producer based on Protosevich’s scripts. “We decided — and not that it can ever be proven whether it was the right or wrong decision — but we thought [the] drama should be strong enough to stand on its own, and then we would have the reveal explain things later.”

Protosevich’s early readers agreed. He said the most common note he received was that a too-early reveal would disorient the viewer. At one point, he planned to use Episode 6 to seriously hint there was something different about Sugar but withhold the reveal until the season finale.

Executive producer and director Fernando Meirelles never read Protosevich’s original specs, but thinks the series would have worked just as well with the earlier reveal.

“I watched the whole series imagining we knew that he’s an alien from the start,” said Meirelles. “It would be different because it’s a secret that we know, but nobody else knows, so it could be interesting as well.”

Sugar’s Arc: The Build to the Reveal

For Meirelles and his longtime editor Stutz, the bigger question involved Sugar’s arc leading up to the reveal at the end of Episode 6. They described it as his “most human moment.”

“In our backstory, what’s happening is aliens don’t feel emotions, don’t feel hate, maybe they don’t feel love,” said Meirelles. “And as he gets involved with humans he sees himself hating, or getting angry, or losing control.”

Leading up to the breaking point in Episode 6, Stutz said the trickiest balance was how to slowly build the idea that Sugar is starting to have violent feelings. This is where Farrell’s willingness to do multiple takes, ranging from serene to enraged, gave Stutz the ability to fine-tune and modulate.

‘Sugar’<cite>Apple TV+</cite>
‘Sugar’Apple TV+

“For Fernando the violence was a major thing throughout,” Stutz said. “Sugar starts to become human and therefore more violent.”

Meirelles and Stutz wanted to balance his sincerity and honesty with increased violence as they raised the the stakes. Farrell said it was important to play it straight and not be caught up in the “I’m playing an alien” of it all.

“I approached the character Sugar as being as a being, whether it was human or otherworldly,” said Farrell. “He was a thinking, feeling, sentient being who was affected by the experience of being a human.”

The Reveal

When it came to the moment of reveal, the studio wanted something big. “Apple had this sense, ‘This whole show is to take us here and it should be spectacular,’” said Meirielles. “I decided to go in a different way.”

Meirielles believed it should be understated: No cuts. Handheld. No music. Simple, everyday life and a hard look in the mirror.

“He’s homesick, he wants to see himself, he’s losing himself,” said Meirelles of the moment Sugar sheds his human skin. “He’s getting some human emotions and he’s not understanding it; maybe he doesn’t like it. In that moment, he goes to the bathroom to see himself, to go back [to], ‘That’s me, I’m not this guy who hurts people.’ He wants to look at himself. I like the simplicity of it. It’s almost poetic.”

Sugar the Anthropologist (and those Old Movies)

Knowing Sugar is an alien, his empathy and understanding of humans plays differently. In the first two episodes, he takes time to notice a homeless man, learn his story, and provide a sense of self-worth that could get him off the streets. The idea that it takes an alien to do that, Farrell said, is an indictment of humanity.

“It’s a bit of an admonishment on the fact that we don’t pay attention to each other enough in life,” he said. “Not all the time, but sometimes we, me, whoever don’t observe each other and take each other in. We’re not as open to each other as maybe would benefit us, even selfishly.”

Protosevich and Farrell see Sugar as an outsider whose empathy and understanding stems from his desire to connect. “I wanted him to love being on Earth more than maybe even his home,” said Protosevich.

Colin Farrell Sugar classic noir Double Indemnity Apple TV+
‘Sugar’Apple TV+

Sugar is fascinated by humans’ complexities, failures, and disappointments. In this sense, Meirelles sees Sugar as an anthropologist. Stutz imagined that before Sugar came to Earth, he studied old movies to learn how humans feel. This led to Meirelles and Stutz’s idea of intercutting old movie footage.

“He learned about us by films Meirelles said, “and he loves film noir.”

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