Most science-fiction thrillers tend to revolve around the pursuit of an answer, whether for the protagonist or the audience. While Constellation has no shortage of unsettling puzzles to unwind, it’s also attuned to the reality of acceptance. Jo doesn’t just demand answers and pursue leads, she also weighs up her unbalanced reality and whether it’s better to embrace it.

“When you’re emotional about something you see it with your glasses on, but someone else doesn’t. So, what is real? There really are different truths in our lives,” Rapace says. “Accepting can mean knowing something, but also knowing that no one believes you and that you can’t do it alone. You might have to put your own truth to the side, which is a complex decision.”

The deep conviction of Rapace’s performance is given a foundation by Constellation’s technical breadth. Shooting at Berlin’s storied Babelsberg Studio, where Fritz Lang shot Metropolis almost 100 years ago, production designer Andy Nicholson (Gravity) oversaw the construction of a near-replica International Space Station whose parts took up the equivalent of a football pitch’s soundstage space.

With the American astronaut Scott Kelly, who had spent a year orbiting the planet on the real International Space Station, as a consultant, lead director Michelle MacLaren (Game of Thrones) was able to realistically simulate a zero-gravity environment on the cusp of disaster.

“It’s super-annoying and super-hard, but when you nail it it’s so satisfying,” Rapace says. “I remember one day people were whispering, ‘Scott Kelly’s in the studio’, and I thought he would come to me and say, ‘Noomi, what are you doing? I don’t believe any of this?’ But he just said, ‘looking good’, which was so important to us because we wanted it to look and feel as real as possible.”

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The child of a Swedish actor mother and a Spanish flamenco singer father, Rapace has held that level of dedication to her craft since she was a child. Born in the northern Swedish coastal town of Hudiksvall, she first stepped in front of a movie camera aged seven.

By the time she was 15, Rapace was attending a theatre school in Stockholm, and while she’s now based in London she tends to end up wherever there’s a filmmaker or writer she trusts.

“You can never really be that good at acting,” Rapace says. “You start from zero every time and you never know. To bring something to life, you can’t rely on old victories, I love that. You have to stay open and listen and say something stupid or just go, ‘I don’t know’.”

While Rapace considers Constellation a long movie told in eight parts, she’s open to a second season if Harness wants to continue telling Jo’s story. “To be amazed by other people’s creations is my favourite thing,” she says, and her approach is less of a star and more of a vessel. If Rapace is drawn to roles that ask much of her, she’s equally willing to give everything she has.

“When I’m shooting I’m completely devoted. I get up and go to the gym at four or five in the morning, I come to set and shoot all day. I’m very specific with what I eat, to keep my energy level and concentration and give my all,” Rapace says.

“It’s my responsibility as an actress to bring my A-game. I don’t want to be grumpy in the afternoon, I don’t want to snap at someone, I don’t want to injure myself the first week. What’s my responsibility to carry I take very seriously.”

Constellation is on Apple TV+ from Wednesday, February 21.

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