Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Season 1 of Invasion.

From co-creators Simon Kinberg and David Weil, the Apple TV+ original series Invasion (which has already been renewed for a second season) is a character-driven sci-fi drama that follows families and individuals as they try to navigate their changing world after an alien invasion. For the Maliks, the global event brings secrets to light, and Ahmed (Firas Nassar) must find a way to protect his fractured family, if they have any chance at survival.

During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, Nassar talked about what attracted him to this show, only wanting to read his character’s part in the scripts so that he could play the unknown of it all, developing the family dynamic, the challenge of the “Home Invasion” episode, how he felt about his character’s fate, how Israeli productions differ from Hollywood productions, and how he decides which projects he wants to be a part of.

Collider: This is such an interesting show because if you look at the story for your character, it could just be this family drama, except for these moments that the family crosses paths with aliens. How much were you told, going into this? Did you know about where the alien stuff was headed, or were you attracted to the family aspect of it all?

FIRAS NASSAR: First of all, the character itself felt so appealing for me. There was this huge drama with this couple of Ahmed and Aneesha. What I love about our show is just that it really focuses on the relationship between these souls, and then there’s this invasion with these aliens that come onto our planet. I read the first two episodes, and I didn’t know what was gonna happen next. I just tried to keep playing this, as I read only Ahmed’s [part]. That was my process, to play with the unknown. I genuinely didn’t know what was happening with my wife or my kids, when I wasn’t there. There’s no connection at all. There are no telephones, no internet, nothing. I just tried to understand and feel the situation itself.

This show has all of these separate stories going on, apart from the aliens, that you have to sometimes even remind yourself that there’s been an alien invasion.

NASSAR: For us, as the characters, we had this ongoing drama, all the time, between the characters, with Aneesha and I, the kids and I, and then all of us together. It was like, “Okay, we have aliens, also out there and we’re running from a place.” There are so many levels of drama going on. We had to remember, “Oh, yeah, it’s also an invasion.” That’s what I really love about the show, the drama. They’re real people. We didn’t try to make it a mystery. It’s simple and realistic, if I may say.

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Image via Apple TV+

The “Home Invasion” episode (Episode 6) is such a turning point in the season because the aliens come into the house and we realize just how serious everything really is.

NASSAR: It was a very, very tough process. One of the hardest things for me is to maintain that survival mode for the whole season. That episode, specifically, brought me to a level where it had to be right there. I didn’t have to remind myself because it was just right there. They could have maybe killed me or killed my kids. Not only is something gonna happen, but something bad is gonna happen. I remember shooting Episode 6, it was after we came back with the pandemic and there was a lot of stuff to handle. It was a huge shift.

Did you actually have anything to interact with? Were there designed aliens on set to look at, or was it all added later? When and how did you see what they would look like?

NASSAR: Actually, the first day of shooting the sixth episode, my little game with the unknown was to never see anything, so I didn’t know how it would look. It’s about playing with the unknown, and I love that. I love the fact that I hadn’t really seen the creature, and then suddenly it pops in. It was challenging to play being attacked by an alien, which is not there.

Let’s be honest, your character doesn’t exactly give viewers a lot of reasons to like him or root for him. He’s a challenging character because of things that he’s done before we even meet him on the show. Was that hard for you? Did it ever make you hesitate about wanting to play him?

NASSAR: That’s a great question. First of all, yes. My very first impression was, “No, I don’t wanna do this. I don’t wanna be the one to do these kinds of things.” In general, actors approach the character by never judging them. I had a very deep conversation with (co-creator) Simon Kinberg, (director) Jakob Verbruggen and (co-star) Golshifteh [Farahani]. The four of us were doing rehearsals and talking about this relationship, how to set the tone, and what brought us to this moment. I kept putting questions out there about, why me? The very first scene between me and her, she’s waiting for me, after I did what I did, and she’s asking why. It’s a controversial character, but I really hope that maybe the audience will have mixed feelings toward this man. It’s up to the audience, but I really hope that people end up seeing that there was an arc and that this character had a journey and changed a bit from where we were starting to the moment where we end. It’s really hard when people are like, “Why did he do this?” A lot of my friends and family were asking that. It’s really interesting and challenging.

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Image via Apple TV+

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What was it like to develop this little family bond? The kids are really terrific in this.

NASSAR: Those kids were great. Golshifteh, Azhy [Robertson], and Tara [Moayedi] were all great. For my process, I tried to make genuine funny moments between the takes and I tried to live with that, to keep it moving. The day we shot the scene where I was leaving them, I was less communicative. I hope that doesn’t sound bad, but I was less funny and I wasn’t trying to make jokes. It just depended on the scene we were trying to do. I was trying to make the moments in between, doing tricks, doing silly stuff, talking, and trying to feel them, to get these genuine moments, for me also. It helps me to live it some more and give it a more sincere dynamic and energy on screen.

How do you feel about your character’s fate? Do you feel like he gets redemption? Does he even deserve redemption?

NASSAR: It wasn’t really a conscious choice. I tried to feel it more and bring myself through the journey. I have the whole bag of emotions and experiences, and it just bursts out. I wouldn’t call it redemption. Ahmed just felt that it was the right thing to do, and it was the right time to do it. It wasn’t calculating. It was just what felt right in that moment. We were in this survival mode, so there wasn’t a lot of time to contemplate the decision. You just behave instinctively. It’s just a really great, well-written show that puts us there. After that, you can see it that way, but not in the moment.

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Image via Apple TV+

You had done Israeli television, before doing Invasion, and you got a really positive response for Fauda. How do Israeli productions differ from Hollywood productions?

NASSAR: I would say, with the material itself, it’s totally different material. Also, there’s the budget and time. You have much more time to shoot, specifically on Invasion. On Fauda, we had much less time. That was a really different process for me. Whether I have a trailer or not doesn’t really matter to me, but the time really matters because it lets you dig in and try some stuff. I don’t really see myself as an experienced actor. If you look at my IMDb, I have very few things. All I know is that I try to be sincere about what I’m doing and truthful to the soul that I’m trying to portray.

How do you figure out the projects that you want to do? Is it just a gut feeling? Is it about the people that you’ll be working with? What guides you?

NASSAR: It’s mostly the challenge and if I feel it might be very challenging for me to do it. Challenging could mean that it’s so far from me, or that it could be really hard for me, or that it could be unknown and different from the stuff that I’ve done before. I’m just hoping to feed my curiosity. I’m really curious to dig in and just try to explore something in there. I’m just looking for different stories, whether it’s with humans, zombies, or whatever. And of course, there are people that you want to work with and collaborate with.

Invasion is available to stream at Apple TV+.