Colin Farrell plays an alien in his Apple TV series, “Sugar,” but does he believe they actually exist?

“Do I believe in sentient beings from distant lands, or distant ethers, celestial things that we may not be able to comprehend with our limited minds, exist? Yeah, of course,” Farrell says. “I have a feeling they probably know of our existence and they probably visited us and may move amongst us, man, may move amongst us in all sorts of…I wouldn’t like to think nefarious ways, but maybe I’m idealistic and if I am, that’s OK.”

I caught up with Farrell Wednesday night at the “Sugar” Season 2 premiere at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles.

“Sugar” is not only set in Los Angeles, but the series shoots in the city. As Variety’s Gene Maddaus reports in the most recent issue of the magazine, L.A. continues to struggle attracting productions.

“It was magic to shoot here and look it’s very uncommon for a show or a picture to shoot in L.A. because it’s not cheap and the tax breaks suck,” Farrell said. “It’s amazing to be able to do it here. Everyone was able to stay home with their families and just go to work and kill it. There are great crews here. You won’t find better technical and craftspeople.”

Colin Farrell on shooting his show “Sugar” in Los Angeles:

“The show is very much a love letter to LA and to its population, what a multifaceted and multicultural city it is. How beautiful it is. How broken it is.” pic.twitter.com/1meSqUGUob

— Variety (@Variety) June 18, 2026

Executive producer Simon Kinberg said it’s “such a dream” to shoot in Los Angeles. “I’ve shot almost nothing in my entire career and I’m always desperate to be here…Every artist I know who lives in Los Angeles, myself included, wants to be filming here. We write stuff that takes place here and every now and then on a show like this, we get to shoot here, but it’s so rare.”

The last time Kinberg had project in L.A. was his first film 25 years ago. “I rolled out of bed,” he said. “I thought that was going to be my whole life. It makes me sad.”

Kinberg echoed Farrell’s concerns about tax incentives.

“Obviously the rebate helps somewhat, but it’s not as competitive with other states and other countries rebates,” he said. “A lot of the time it’s if a show or a movie has a star who fights really hard for the authenticity of being in Los Angeles, and in this case we had Collin fighting for that and it really helps.”

In other Farrell news, he recently made a rare public appearance not related to his own projects by attending a showing of “Disclosure Day” with his “Minority Report”  co-star Tom Cruise.

A photo circulating on social media showed Farrell, Cruise and Dakota Fanning holding a customized Spielberg popcorn bucket. “Tom’s a lot of fun and he’s a lover of cinema and he’s a lover of the theatrical experience, of course. I think we all know that,” Farrell said. “So when he sent invites a few of us to go to a screening of Steven Spielberg’s next film, it was a no- brainer.

Next up for Farrell is reprising his role as The Penguin in “Batman 2.” He tells me he starts shooting in three to four weeks, but won’t be on set “very long, not as long as I’d like.”

He continued, “But I was spoiled with the show. I got 6 months, got 6 months out of that suit and that makeup. I did well.”

Farrell recently told ScreenRant that he will only be in two scenes.