The science-fiction television series Invasion has found major success on the Apple TV streaming platform. Prior to the show's finale, it was announced that the characters and aliens will live to see another season as it was renewed for another season. Well, "live" might be an overshoot given the life-or-death situations presented in each episode.
One character whose fate has been tested is Caspar Morrow, a scrappy, young boy battling epilepsy. Morrow slowly breaks out of his shell as the series plays on, striking a friendship with his school-aged peer Jamila Huston (India Brown). But his storyline isn't as straightforward as such, it is discovered that he can use his subconscious state — often brought on by his seizure activity — as a channel for communication. As the series came to an end, his livelihood was placed in danger as he induced a seizure to try and put an end to all of the alien madness.
Playing Morrow is 14-year-old English actor Billy Barratt. This teenager is way too cool to handle. Not only is he credited as being the youngest person to win an International Emmy Award (a title he received for his work in the 2019 television movie Responsible Child) but he's also incredibly laidback and spends his free time "snoozing" his alarm clock, playing video games, and jamming out on his guitar.
In his chat with Game ZXC, Barratt shared that the last three video games he's played were Call of Duty: Warzone, Phasmophobia, and Grand Theft Auto — "but like, not anymore" for that last one. We went on to talk about Invasion's renewal, the challenges he faces while playing Casper, and how the bullying storyline in the series affected him.
Game ZXC: Invasion Season 2 was confirmed recently. What was your initial reaction? Where were you when you got the news? Tell me everything.
Billy Barratt: I was at home somewhere. I was writing either a song or script. I had my phone up and I was recording some lyric or something that I just came up with. Then I saw a notification pop-up from my mom who texted me like, 'Oh Billy, Invasion Season 2. It's just been renewed.' And I was like, 'What?' And then I ran downstairs, like 'what's going on?' And yeah, it was great. So then, I think I posted about it. And yeah, I mean, I went back upstairs and started playing my guitar again. But I just couldn't stop thinking about it.
GR: If you could choose what your character is going to do in the next season, what would you like to see happen?
Barratt: I'd like to see a lot of action. I know there was a lot of action on Shamier's [costar] behalf and well, most of the people. There's a lot of action [in the show]. But I'd like to see some more action from the English team. Because it would be really fun to do an action-based thing. I feel like fighting in a film would actually be really fun to do. I don't know why, I just feel like it would be. I'd like to see Casper or Jamila— that'd be sick if Jamila pulled out some sort of weapon and ended some aliens. That'd be sick. Yeah, I think that would be pretty cool.
GR: What's the most challenging part about playing Casper?
Barratt: The most challenging part is that he's kind of isolated from everyone. And also the fact that he gets bullied for something that he can't control. He has this condition, epilepsy. It's just... If you have this thing that you can't control, why are you getting bullied by it? That was really hard to play because, you know, it's not great. The fact that he's isolated from everyone because he has this condition— I just don't really agree with that.
But, I mean, that's what gives it [the show] its tension or whatever, I suppose. I think it hit me so hard because I connect with Casper quite well. I did a film called Responsible Child just before this, and I brought a little bit of Ray — the character I played in Responsible Child — into Casper. I really connected with Ray, there was something there that just made it really easy. We just clicked. There was something about that character that I just clicked with and I brought a little bit of him [to Invasion]. When I saw that he [Casper] was getting bullied and all these kids were constantly coming at him, that really hit me and it affected me.
GR: You've had such a great career so far. What would you like to do next? What is your dream role?
Barratt: There are a few [roles] I'd like to do. I'd like to play a kid that has grown up tough and has like a punk thing going on. You know, like he's in a rock band or something. I think definitely something to do with music would be sick. Or skateboarding. That'd be great. If I could do a mid-90s, Lords of Dogtown type of thing. Yeah, that'd be sick.
Invasion is currently streaming on Apple TV+.