Season two of Resident Alien, about an alien who crash lands on Earth with the mission to kill all humans, premieres on Syfy January 26. Alan Tudyk plays alien Harry. Sara Tomko, Corey Reynolds and Elizabeth Bowen are also in the cast.
Having gotten a taste for humankind in season one, Harry is now focused on protecting the people of Earth in the new season.
Chris Sheridan, showrunner and executive producer, told B+C Harry is at “the next level of his emotional growth,” experiencing emotions and learning a bit about empathy. He credited Tudyk for his nuanced portrayal of the alien, offering great physical humor, an expressive face, and good timing. “A lot of the humanity of Alan comes through in Harry,” he said, mentioning the actor’s unique ability to control an extraordinary number of muscles in his face.
The show is based on a Dark Horse comic book franchise. Sheridan called the Peter Hogan-Steve Parkhouse comic “a jumping off point” for the show, which features some characters who don’t appear in the comic. “We mostly want to capture the soul of the comic book,” Sheridan said.
Season one came out a year ago, almost to the day. Sheridan said he is "really pleased" with how season one found an audience. "So many challenges go into a season of TV, and so many things can go wrong," he said. "Getting through a season, and everything seems to work, is nothing short of a miracle."
Season two features Alex Borstein, who voices Lois Griffin on Family Guy (Sheridan was co-showrunner on the animated hit from 2004 to 2009), and portrays Susie on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. On Resident Alien, she plays a scientist working in a lab who has something Harry needs for a device he is building. Harry tries to seduce her, and some mayhem ensues.
Sheridan called Borstein “spectacular.”
“It’s a difficult role to cast, someone going toe-to-toe with Alan Tudyk,” he said.
Sheridan executive produces Resident Alien with Mike Richardson and Keith Goldberg of Dark Horse Entertainment, Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank of Amblin TV, Robert Duncan McNeill, Christian Taylor and Nastaran Dibai.
I asked Sheridan why Resident Alien might click here in 2022. He said the show “has a lot of hope built into it,” and a positive message to boot, and viewers may just be looking for that.
“Hopefully it will give the audience a sense that, no matter how difficult life is and how outside the norm you are,” he said, “you still fit in, because we’re all humans.” ■
