How Jason Momoa & Alfre Woodard Prepared for Blind Post-Apocalyptic World in ‘See’

The co-stars opened up about the project to emmy magazine, revealing what led them to the show.

Their characters live 600 years in the future, in a world where a virus has wiped out most of the humans. The population of just 2 million people is blind and living in a technology-free society.

Everything changes when Baba Voss (Momoa) becomes a father to twins born with sight. He's forced to flee with the babies, along with his sage Paris (Woodard).

Jason was on a train trip in England when he read the script for the first time. He told the mag, “My agent said he was going to fight for me to get the role and I needed to read the script right away. I was so blown away by the first three pages, I read them out loud to my two best friends, who were with me. It's the first time I've ever done that with a script. I was like, 'Get me that meeting! Get me that role!'”

Woodard joked that her first reaction was, “I'm not signing up for a series where I have to wear a unitard. I figured that somehow they've determined everyone in the future wears unitards, and I'll have to hold in my weight playing the part for the next five years.”

Luckily, unitards are not part of the wardrobe! Regardless, she was such a fan of creator–writer–executive Steven Knight that she wanted to sign up.

The stars then had to learn how to take on their roles with the help of low-vision consultants. Woodard described it like “learning a new language” and recalled wearing a sleep shade as part of her training. She explained, “It overwhelmed my other senses. It was as if my nervous system was moving like a lawn sprinkler — pow, pow, pow!”

Director–executive producer Francis Lawrence told the magazine they were “constantly reinventing.”

“It was a learning process for everyone, learning how to move without relying on sight,” he said. “Jason was a prime example. Navigation was a big part of the show, and he was constantly devising new ways to move. He might be wearing a long robe and throw it out almost like a whip in front of him to guide him. Sometimes he might be carrying an axe, and he'd slide it out in front like a walking stick. If he was walking by water, he'd kick some so others could follow the splash.”