First there was Gort, then there was Harry Vanderspeigle. Or at least the alien who took over Harry Vanderspeigle on Resident Alien, returning next month on the Syfy Channel and Peacock. The times have changed since director Robert Wise premiered his landmark alien visitor movie The Day the Earth Stood Still more than seven decades ago. For Alan Tudyk’s visiting resident alien and his town of newfound friends the stakes just keeping bigger. All you need to see is how much the show’s kids have grown in the first trailer for Season 3 below to know this community of familiar faces has been part of our genre zeitgeist for a while now. After more than a year away Tudyk & Co. is more than welcome back to our TV sets.
The new trailer reveals even more sci-fi comedy antics are coming for the residents of the quaint mountain town of Patience. Check it out:
If you haven’t been watching the series, here’s what you need to know to jump right in. First, this series is Alan Tudyk’s big starring role. Tudyk honed his funny business since co-starring in A Knight’s Tale with Heath Ledger and Paul Bettany, with dozens of voice roles in animation from Family Guy to Ice Age, Moana to Batman, Robot Chicken, and Raya and the Last Dragon, not to mention his more dramatic turns in 3:10 to Yuma, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Slayer, and 42–part of his talent he’s needed to tap as he plays the human his alien takes over. But most of the drama in Resident Alien is shared by co-star Sara Tomko’s Asta Twelvetrees and supporting actress Alice Wetterlund’s town legend turned bartender named D’Arcy.
Tomko’s Asta is the alien’s handler. She’s also trying to get past a bad boyfriend and get to know a daughter she gave away years ago. The juxtaposition of the drama and laughs makes Resident Alien a unique series for the sci-fi genre–it doesn’t fit into a normal box. D’Arcy was on track to have the good life but got sidetracked. In Season 3 it looks like she’s taking her life back.
Adapted from the comic book of the same name, Resident Alien is sci-fi’s answer to Northern Exposure, but it’s much better than that. Name any recurring cast of quirky townspeople, like Mayberry’s denizens in The Andy Griffith Show, the famous writer, sheriff and regulars of Cabot Cove solving mysteries in Murder, She Wrote, and the handyman and three oddball brothers practically living at the inn in Newhart. Resident Alien′s town of Patience has a full slate of oddities that make the town feel real, like one of those places you stop for gas in Wyoming on your way out west.
Corey Reynolds brought his cop skills from years on Major Crimes to create his sheriff, a fellow who became more interesting this season as we learned of his fallen partner and the reason he moved to this small town with his father. Elizabeth Bowen’s deputy is now a fully formed character. As a believer in UFOs and a strong force willing to stand up to the sheriff, she’s something more than the abuse target of the first season. Jenna Lamia’s Judy Cooper is another welcome whirlwind of hilarity–you never can tell how far she will take her character into dangerous territory.
Levi Fiehler plays the dry but goofy mayor who pulls off many funny scenes with the multiple sides of Meredith Garretson’s Kate, his wife. The gravity of the show comes from Gary Farmer as Asta’s dad, Alvin Sanders as the sheriff’s dad, and Deborah Finkel as Abigail Hodges. Linda Hamilton is back in her recurring role as the UFO hunting general, and you’ll hear George Takei as one of the grey aliens. Past seasons have seen Silver Bullet, Lost, The X-Files, and Star Trek’s Terry O’Quinn, with episodes directed by sci-fi notables Robert Duncan McNeill and Lea Thompson.
From Tudyk’s dialogue pulled from Lennie Brisco lines from Law & Order to his “I stop for pizza” attitude, the comedy bits are all carefully, artfully crafted, frequently resulting in explosions of laughs.
Catch up on season 1 and 2 now on Peacock. Season 3 of Resident Alien begins February 14, 2024, on the Syfy Channel and airs next day weekly on Peacock.
C.J. Bunce / Editor / borg
