'Moonhaven': Dominic Monaghan Is Excited for Sci-Fi Where the 'Future Improves' (Exclusive)
Moonhaven is not like other sci-fi shows, and star Dominic Monaghan is just fine with that. In an exclusive interview with PopCulture.com, the actor discussed how Moonhaven plays on existing tropes while presenting a more positive outlook on Earth's future. In today's ongoing climate crisis, he believes this is the kind of story that can actually affect a positive change.
"We're playing around with this idea that the future for human beings has improved as opposed to what we normally see, which is a kind of dystopian, negative future, of a sort," Monaghan said. "I was refreshed with the idea that these mooners think that everything about their future is great and that, you know, we kind of end up figuring a lot of these problems out. I thought that was an interesting way to look at our lives because, you know, if we don't — if we don't adopt that kind of mindset, then there's no way that we'll solve these problems anyway."
Moonhaven is a new series on AMC+ set in far in Earth's future. While problems like climate change, war and pollution only seem to have gotten worse, humans in this future have developed a few key technological breakthroughs, including a superintelligent artificial intelligence that may be capable of solving humankind's problems. That A.I. has been confined to the moon with a small colony of humans for a century, where its creators hope it can learn humanity's faults and develop solutions to its problems.
On the show, Monaghan plays one of these moon colonists, while in real life he has a strong interest in nature conservation. Since breaking into the mainstream as a Hobbit in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Monaghan has used his wealth and notoriety to help preserve natural resources and explore the unknown, including a species of spider discovered in 2013 which was named after him — Ctenus monaghani. Monaghan also hosted a nature show called Wild Things from 2012 to 2016.
With that in mind, Monaghan said that he loves the optimistic outlook of his Moonhaven character and of the show in general, though he does not want to hang his hopes for the future on any specific part of its world-building. He said: "I mean, look, I like the idea that people think that the future improves. That's how I think about life. I personally think that every single day that I live on planet Earth, I'm getting better, that things are getting better around me, and that there's a chance that things are constantly improving. It's the only way to be, even if it's not real, even if it's not really happening, it's like positivity and happiness is just a choice, you know, and you have to choose to be that way."
"So, I like the fact that maybe this show can influence people to be a little bit more positive about their life," he continued. As for practical environmental practices, Monaghan said that he supports a lot of efforts for systemic change. He said: "We have to get away from a lot of harmful chemicals that we use, a lot of harmful practices... I think there is a push by a lot of major cities to try and limit the amount of vehicles coming into those cities on a daily basis. I think they should pay a heavy tariff or a heavy tax if they want to come into the town center. I rarely use my car, even though I drive an electric car."
"I think we just need to all be mindful about the waste that we create and how we're making our choices to live our life. And the mooners on this show seem to be a little bit more mindful about their decisions," he concluded.
The first three episodes of Moonhaven are streaming now on AMC+. New episodes are on Thursdays.