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“In my head, I think I’ve created the rules: ‘This is who I am,’” says actress Sydney Chandler. “And then you get to (the) set and it’s all different. Everything changes. You realize your job is to show up and be as open and free and present as possible and roll with whatever anyone else is throwing your way.”

That’s the world of “Alien: Earth,” an eight-part series that expands what Ridley Scott created with the film, “Alien,” some 46 years ago.

In it, Chandler plays a humanoid robot with human consciousness, two years before the events of “Alien.” She’s an advancement in the race for immortality and part of a group who discovers mysterious life forms that could be threatening.

Humans, cyborgs and synths are like toys, manipulated by five corporations living in “Alien: Earth.” Xenomorphs, an extraterrestrial species that hunts humans (and figured into the films) are here, too.

Chandler, the daughter of actor Kyle Chandler, says she saw the film “Alien” at a young age “and the Xenomorph visited me in my nightmares many a time. It was a full-circle moment to be chased by a real Xeno instead of just dreaming about it.”

The wild, wild��future

Filmed in Thailand, the series brought actors into a lush world bursting with humidity and other natural phenomena. Toss in those creatures and it was very much the “wild, wild west” of filmmaking, Chandler says.

She and other actors��— including Alex Lawther, who plays her brother��— talked about the possibility of something like “Alien: Earth” occurring.

“Tomorrow some development might be made that changes how we figured it out today,” she says. Playing out new scenarios “would be really, really, really fun, especially because I have no idea where (creator Noah Hawley) would take it. You can’t guess where Noah’s imagination will go. There’s so much to explore and such a massive ensemble.”

In addition to Chandler and Lawther, the cast includes Timothy Olyphant, Samuel Blenkin, Babou Ceesay and others playing different chess pieces in the game of lifeforms.

Big scares

Those big sets, Lawther says, make it feel like a world has been built. Populate it with unknown creatures and “it’s scary in a sense.”

Hawley says that was necessary to be able to sustain eight episodes or more.

“There’s this discovery process that, after seven movies, we can’t get back,” he says. “But if I introduce new creatures and you don’t know how they reproduce or what they eat, then you feel that dread every time they’re on screen. Or they’re not visible but you know they’re out there because you’re not sure what’s going to happen next. For me, it was just function over form. What function do they provide in the story? And then I just tried to gross myself out as much as possible as I went through the process.”

Chandler says she and Lawther didn’t meet until they got to Thailand but “the relationship was really natural. Alex made me feel so comfortable and safe and able to play and try new things … and take a breath.”

The setting, Lawther adds, did bond members of the cast. “I think, for most of us, it was our first time in Thailand. We were there for longer than six months,” he says. “There’s a lot of sweat in the show but I’m sure a good 50 percent of that has to do with the 90% humidity of Thailand’s climate.”

The bonds, Chandler says, “forged very quickly.” The Thai crew helped make the atmosphere attractive. “I’ve never seen such hard-working, kind, funny, warm people.”

Some 650 cast and crew worked on the set every day. “Everyone worked at 110% capacity,” Chandler says. “It’s such a game of endurance. I felt like I was able to go to the most exquisite acting class in the coolest rooms every day … and everyone was boots on the ground.”

Now it’s a matter of seeing how audiences will receive “Alien: Earth.” If there’s a second season, Chandler says, she’s game. “I want to see everyone else’s storylines follow through.”