‘I grew up in a Glasgow council estate – now I’m working with Hollywood A-listers’

A Glasgow screenwriter has landed the gig of a lifetime working alongside Hollywood stars on a new audio drama series. The Chronicles of Astrimos, a new science fiction audio drama, is written and co-produced by Declan Dineen and features some big names including Stranger Things star Maya Hawke, Spider-Man villain Alfred Molina, and Glee actor Darren Criss. Declan, who grew up in Wales before moving to Glasgow in his 20s, said it felt “surreal” to work alongside people he had watched on the big screen for years. A “space opera romp”, as he describes it, The Chronicles of Astrimos follows a jaded, moody New York City Lawyer who inherits a mysterious sixties vinyl that physically transports him into a thrilling, real-life, sci-fi world.

Declan said that the idea for the drama had been germinating for some time, so that when he was approached by Echoverse, an independent audio studio, he jumped at the opportunity to bring his idea to life. “In the initial meeting they told me ‘yeah, great, we’re going to commission the whole series’ and that just completely blew my mind,” said Declan. “That just never happens, especially with TV, you usually have a few ideas and options and if they like one then maybe you get to the stage where you can write a pilot so to get the whole series commissioned was incredible.” He said that for someone from his background, this was a dream come true. “I grew up on a council estate in South Wales, and working in film and TV felt like an impossibility. “I didn't know anyone. When I was growing up there was nothing in Cardiff." Now Declan was left with the tough process of turning his “one-page idea” into a full script for an eight-episode series. On board for the project was also noted Broadway director Anne Kauffman who helped bring together a star-studded cast. “At the beginning of production I joked that we should try and get a Star Trek captain as a fun bit of casting for a science fiction show,” said Declan “And as it turned out she knew Kate Mulgrew and who played Captain Janeway in the show and she just said ‘I’ll speak to Kate, I’m sure she’ll be up for it’.” The series’ female lead, Calico Jones, a “plucky young spaceship pilot” is also played by Maya Hawke, who got her big break in 2019 playing fan-favourite Robin Buckley in Netflix's Stranger Things. “Because of the premise of the show the tone is so specific and quite hard to get right but Maya Hawke just got it immediately,” said Declan. “I was nervous about the whole thing because you never know when you write something if the delivery of it could completely transform it for the better or worse but she just immediately understood the tone and the vibe of it all. “It was genuinely thrilling to watch how quickly she was able to just get into that kind of mode. It was really exciting.” “All of the cast were amazing though.” Also in the show are Alfred Molina, known for his role as villain Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man 2, and Darren Criss, who played charming heartthrob Blaine Anderson in Glee.

Given that the cast were spread across the world, much of the drama was recorded with Declan back in his Glasgow flat overseeing the process on Zoom. “It was quite surreal,” he said. “I’d be on a Zoom call, joking and having a laugh with Captain Janeway and then I’d close my laptop and take my dog for a walk around Shawlands.” The show is also a very personal story for Declan, inspired by his own relationship with his late father. “I was a teenager when my Dad died. We were close enough but not exceptionally close and he left me all of his records and as I got older and I was listening to the albums, I discovered all of these things that we had in common,” he said. “I always thought that that was a beautiful thing so I always had the idea of someone being left with all of these records that begins a sort of conversation with the person that died.” The Chronicles of Astrimos is out now wherever you get your podcasts, with new episodes being released every fortnight.