The wild finale of Alex Garlands sci-fi series Devs managed to do the impossible and reveal the full capabilities for the mysterious super computer. But like all good Garland creations, the answers only lead to more questions from the audience. Looking for clarity, we turned to the woman who runs the Devs operation, Katie, played by Alison Pill, for a conversation about whats next for the resolute right-hand of the Devs operation.

A longtime fan of Garlands work, Pill had previously read his novels The Beach and The Tesseract. In fact, the actress actually auditioned for a part in his 2018 film Annihilation, but it would seem that her track was destined to lead her to Devs.

Carmen Cuba texted my husband and said, Alex Garland is interested in your wife for this movie, can he email her?' Pill explained to Variety over the phone. After sending over all eight scripts of the mini-series, Pill was hooked. The next step? Become an expert on quantum mechanics.

I read A Briefer History of Time, which is excellent. I guess I can say it now, we were really trying to keep the multi-verse out of the conversation for the first little bit, but David Wallace, whos an incredible philosopher of science, wrote a great book about the many worlds theory. Its a tome.

Then I read a David Foster Wallace book on infinity, but Briefer History of Time was the most helpful in terms of the history of the science, the development of the ideas. In every single one of these books I could sort of grasp [the concepts] in the beginning and toward the end as the concepts become more and more abstract, the tethering to the physical world is just is gone. [Laughs] Its like, What are you talking about? Thats crazy! You cant have particles in two places at once, doing two things at once at the same time. My brain wont accept that! But then thats what physicists have been struggling with for a long time.

Alex was definitely helpful. Sonoya [Mizuno] was too because she had been on board a little bit before me, and she had done a lot of reading as well. Her recommendations were really helpful. The David Wallace books I just read on my own. His lectures are great. I think hes a fantastic speaker. Also in terms of character studies it was really interesting, too. What does somebody who thinks about this type of thing all the time do with their body? Interesting little character things. Theyre pretty eccentric folks considering that they think about the nature of reality and the unnatural nature of quantum physics. Theyre odd ducks.

The first decision I made was physical. I didnt want her to move very much because Im thinking about the self-consciousness that must be involved in every move you make, having already been decided. If thats your worldview you cant just unconsciously take your hand out of your pocket anymore, because you know that was what the universe was always going to have you do. That was my way in, just trying to keep her as still as possible.

Its also a really interesting show of power. As a woman, I often find myself smiling and talking a lot to try and make other people comfortable, to make myself comfortable. I will just fill in those gaps and just be a little too out there sometimes.

I imagined being somebody so completely sure of their place in the world, their own power, their brains, and just not giving a f. And that was really thrilling to play. Shes not going to smile politely. Shes not going to do the polite thing that we expect of womenMaking her not, not unemotional, but in control of her emotions was really important to me. Shes not heartless at all, the furthest thing from it. I think shes one of the most generous people Ive ever played. Shes not obsequious, shes not polite in the way that people expect, but she is emotional. And I think those complications are really interesting.

Alison Pill as Katie, Cailee Spaeny as Lyndon on the edge of the Crystal Springs Dam.

Her belief system is that theres not a world in which Lyndon doesnt stand on the other side of the dam. So its not that she wants him to, its not that she wishes that it happens, its just the way it is. And thats why in the finale, the idea that freewill could exist destroys her whole moral outlook. Once that becomes true, if determinism is real, but that freewill is possible if you know what is determined, then her whole moral view just crumbles.

Then I think she is at fault and I think she realizes that. But I think in the moment, its not something that she desires, its something that she wishes wouldnt happen. I think she really likes Lyndon. But also [she] believes that there are truly a near infinite number of universes where Lyndon doesnt fall, truly, and comes back to work at Devs Its a real moral quandary only if free will exists. And it also begs the question, could we do anything wrong in a truly deterministic universe? Could we be blamed for anything we did in a deterministic universe if there was never going to be another action taken?

Yeah. I dont think Katie believes shes morally culpable. I think shes really very sad about Lyndon. And its Cailee [Spaeny] who was the best, it was so hard.

Oh, no, hes very much up for those discussions. Luckily hes also a big believer in rehearsal, so I could come in and sit down and be like, Alex, physics of the observer, what are we going to do about it? You know, the statistics of near infinite variations, what do you do with statistics!?

So yes, he would allow me some time to go over stuff. We would have classroom moments with different groupings of us [the lab people] and have those discussion. And then on set to a degree because sometimes I would come in and just have read another excerpt from the Wallace book just going, What does it mean! [Laughs]

He is one of the more generous listeners Ive ever met. He doesnt play down anything, he doesnt make you feel dumb and hell take any question seriously and take time to consider it. Its a real gift. Yes, we had fascinating conversations about politics and gender and also quantum physics just because were all in that headspace of giving consideration. And I think thats what he expects as an audience.

Being around this group of people, to some degree, primed for this. I think were just curious people and I think most humans are incredibly curious. I dont think we give ourselves enough benefit of the doubt in terms of our intelligence. In terms of our ability to really challenge our brains with new concepts. I think its something that we just sort of give up on unnecessarily, because I think were better at it than we might suppose.

Alison Pills reading list for playing Katie in Hulus Devs.

Hmmmm many worlds is just, yeah, it doesnt make a difference? Which is to say, Im in this one, I can only live one. Would it feel better if I knew that in some [world] I might make a different choice? To a degree, but also the maths involved are so extraordinary. When you think about branching and the amount of branching that every person, every thing, every blade of grass, the wind blowing one way this time it becomes meaningless to me.

Determinism, however, its a really interesting concept that I still do struggle with and I dont think that human brains are particularly capable of dealing with it. We really are wired to believe that we have choice. So in both cases, while I consider determinism pretty likely which is a crazy thing to think about but you know what else is crazy? Space is a thing. You know what I mean? Space is a thing, the universe is expanding. Spanning into what? Space is already an existing thing. Its not nothing. It cant be nothing. Which is in itself a real quandary anyway.

The multiverse map, I just cant even. So each person, every instant of their life branching however many times. Infinity is crazy, I cant make my brain understand that to such a degree, I find it interesting to read about. But its not going to effect my everyday life neither is quantum physics because we cant see it. We could have been pretty happy humans with just Newtonian physics. It wouldnt have been entirely true, but its fine, I mean, it gets us by.

I was looking forward to it and had been thinking about it since I first got the scripts because what a rarity to have, I was just so excited to have this scene between two women. First that shes like, I want answers, let me talk to Forest. And I say, No, if you want answers, you should talk to me. Just the power dynamics, its such an interesting way to start a scene.

We shot it over two days. I love working with Sonoya. Its such an interesting thing because that much dialogue doesnt happen that often on TV, but at the same time its not theatrical dialogue. Its not as though someone said, Oh, it should be a play! Because so much of it is about the cinematography and the setting. Its something that you dont often get to see, which is just people thinking through their thoughts and taking their time and having these slower scenes. That whole episode is basically just a series of two-person scenes. Its just so ballsy to do that in the midst of this like techno thriller, plot-heavy, cool action thing and youre just like, and then we sit.

I was so aware of the importance of the scene in terms of explaining things but also wanting to make it real for Katie. There are emotional stakes for her too, because she does like Lily. She thinks shes really cool, she spent hours watching her. Its like meeting a celebrity, finally, in our kitchen. Alex and I talked, did she always set the pen out there before because its there, its on the table. [Was Katie] thinking about her the day before she goes to bed thinking, I have to put the pen there because Lilys going to be by soon.

Its not the expectation. The expectation is partly that Forest is going to sit down with Lilly.

Well its the only way he survives. She asks [Forest] whether he wants to deal with the fact that there will be a near infinite number, where Amaya will have died, where all of this will still happen. But that there will be somewhere he does get to be with Amaya. That has been his ultimate goal. That has been their ultimate goal. And thats what I mean about Katie being generous. She literally needs this man and says, yeah, Ill bring back your daughter for you.

I think thats also the happiness of working on this project. Its not her life goal until it becomes it over time. I do think Forest makes the decision to be part of the sim, and therefore I think Katie doesnt want to let it go. Because she wants to keep those two alive as long as she can.

Its so hard to know what the power will actually mean in the world. Even five years on, if the U.S. government knew everything, what would the world look like? Pretty fing scary! So I dont know if she would want to be part of the machine at that point. If Katie died of natural causes 40 years after the events that we see in episode 8, the changes that would have occurred in both quantum computing, would everybody have an everything machine? I dont know. Im cleaning out my office and Im just getting rid of a bunch of DVDs, and those are not that old. Thinking about 40 years from now, in terms of tech, especially in terms of quantum computing, I dont even know what it would mean? But if it was under government control Id say probably, no, she doesnt really like authority.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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Alison Pill on the Devs Finale and Whats Next for Katie - Variety