Krypton’s Blake Ritson Explains How One Line From the Comics Sums Up His Brainiac

When it comics to TV shows and movies based on comic books, a lot of fans will insist that the quality of the production will correlate pretty closely to how closely it adapts the source material. By that metric, Krypton is a bit of a weird animal: a show set on a planet with an ever-changing backstory and history, telling the story of a character (Superman’s grandfather Seg-El) who is at once essential to the development of the DC Universe and also barely ever seen in the comics. At his side are a handful of characters who are either entirely new for the show, rarely ever appear in the comics, or are at a point in their development that makes the conversation somewhat moot.

Probably the truest interpretations of well-known characters from DC lore are Brainiac (Blake Ritson) and General Dru-Zod (Colin Salmon), both of whom are essentially characters that don’t change much with time. Single-minded and obsessive, both Zod and Brainiac are very much like their comics selves — and Ritson tells me that is, in part, because of the way the producers have approached Brainiac’s philosophy. During an interview with ComicBook.com in support of Krypton‘s upcoming second season, Ritson said that his whole philosophy for Brainiac can actually be traced back to one particularly memorable line in a fan-favorite story from the comics.

“The thing that drives Brainiac this season is the same as last season; it’s what has always driven Brainiac: it is the desire to control everything,” Ritson told ComicBook.com. “There’s a great line in the Geoff Johns ‘Brainiac’ story from 2010: ‘I will be everything that has ever been,’ which in the history of megalomania is a great ambition. And that maintains as his absolute and driving principle for existence. He has existed for millennia as a basically immortal being and he’s trying to curate all of existence. Then as we find him in the beginning of season two, he is being knocked way off track. And I think that’s consistent for a lot of the characters this season. Everyone is being knocked off their pedestal and is trying to build themselves up again. And Brainiac is no different in that respect. So, he’s trying to get returned to the Skull Ship, return to his super objective, and return back to his existence. While he’s in what appears to be a very vulnerable, compromised position. And his journey to try and reconnect is extraordinarily strategic, manipulative and surprising.”

Ritson promised during the interview that Brainiac is “12 steps ahead” of everyone else in a chess game with massive implications. He also suggested that he knows what the producers want to do with his character long-term, and that if they manage to get there, it will be a great journey.

Krypton‘s second season will premiere on Wednesday, June 12 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on SYFY. You can catch up on the first season on DC Universe.