USA/Syfy’s Resident Alien started as a quirky mashup of Northern Exposure and Invader Zim, a fish-out-of-water comedy where Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk of Firefly, Rogue One, and Andor), the new doctor in the small town of Patience, Colorado, is actually an alien who wants to take over Earth. Harry’s secret was originally only known to Max Hawthorne (Judah Prehn) — a kid with the rare genetic ability to see through alien disguises, who devotes himself to trying to stop Harry’s plans — and health-clinic worker Asta Twelvetrees (Sara Tomko), who teaches Harry the value of humanity.
Though the series’ protagonist is an alien, the show’s science fiction elements were relatively subtle in the early seasons. Harry spends as much time investigating the murder of the town’s last doctor as he does trying to fix his ship and get his mission back on track. The locals write off his weirdness because they’re dealing with their own challenges: Asta confronting her abusive ex, her best friend D’arcy Bloom (Alice Wetterlund) dealing with opioid addiction, Max’s parents Ben (Levi Fiehler) and Kate (Meredith Garretson) winding up on opposites sides of a debate about bringing a fancy ski resort to Patience.
“I think it was a nice way to be introduced to the sci-fi world for people who don’t normally like [the genre],” Tomko told Polygon in a video interview.
Photo: James Dittiger/USA Network
But as the series went on, more characters wound up uncovering the show’s secrets. Deputy Sheriff Liv Baker (Elizabeth Bowen) began looking for unconventional explanations for the odd crimes Patience experienced. Ben and Kate were abducted by aliens who stole their baby. Asta shared Harry’s true identity with D’arcy so she could stop lying about it. Even skeptical Sheriff Mike Thompson (Corey Reynolds) had a close encounter with an extraterrestrial. The science fiction elements are fully on display in season 4, which premieres on June 6.
“What I love about our show is there’s Harry’s world, which is the world of aliens, and there’s people in town who haven’t know about that, and you care about them because the writing is so strong that everyone is really well developed,” Garretson told Polygon in a video interview. “What’s cool about season 4 is that more and more of Harry’s world is bleeding into the town, so I think it’s an opportunity for the characters to become even more three-dimensional. When are people going to find out what’s going on, and then how do they handle that?”
D’arcy was quick to embrace the chance to help Harry, who is now focused on saving humanity from other aliens. She’s gone on several dangerous missions, including sneaking into the home of a human-alien hybrid and infiltrating a gray alien base on the moon, where she rescued the Hawthornes’ daughter. This season, she even travels back in time with Harry to recover alien technology. Wetterlund, who’s also the co-host of the “Treks and the City” Star Trek: The Next Generation podcast, is very enthusiastic about the way Resident Alien has evolved.
“I think that science fiction is a perfect slate on which to examine the human experience, because it removes the historical context that humanity is in and puts it in this imagined world,” she told Polygon in a video interview. “How would these humans in a small town deal with the exploding of their worldview? That is exciting for me. I’ve always wanted to be part of a sci-fi project like this. The more I can run around on spaceships, the better.”
Photo: James Dittiger/USA Network
Reynolds said he grew up watching the Aliens franchise and RoboCop, and he’s excited about the chance to get more involved in Resident Alien’s science fiction elements.
“I’m proudly a nerd, so this fits my wheelhouse perfectly,” he told Polygon.
Acknowledging the existence of aliens has fundamentally shifted the dynamics in Patience’s sheriff’s office, where Mike has often been dismissive of Liv’s ideas. Now they’re working together to uncover a dangerous conspiracy and help an alien tracking cyborg played by Lost’s Peter Bach.
“I think we’ve really stepped into the realm of them being partners, and out of the shadow of the subordinate aspect of things,” Reynolds said. “Mike understands Liv was right. You don’t earn any more credibility in Mike’s world faster than being right. She was right the whole time. That dynamic fused with what they’ve been through personally has created a bond that is everything.”
Scenes involving alien spaceships and time portals cost a lot more than ones set in Patience’s bar or city hall, and showrunner Chris Sheridan has had to get creative as the show’s science fiction elements have expanded — especially since the series had its budget significantly cut going into season 4. One of the main ways the show is saving time and money is by having the gray aliens remove Harry’s ability to transform into his alien form.
“That saves us Alan getting in and out of makeup,” Sheridan told Polygon. “Whenever he walks by a mirror, we see a reflection, and that takes time and money animating him.”
Among all the ideas Sheridan had for hiding the budget cuts, that one stuck with him because it fit so well with the show’s themes and plot, where Harry has slowly gained more emotional awareness and attachments as he’s come to appreciate humans.
“What if he’s in this place where he’s just human for a while?” Sheridan asked. “What does that do to the character? There’s a challenge every year to try to mix things up and add something new, so we were looking to bring out something new in Harry.”
Resident Alien season 4 premieres on Syfy and USA at 11 p.m. ET on Friday, June 6. Episodes will be available to stream on Peacock one week later.
