The smartest sci-fi comedy on the planet is quantum leaping over to USA from Syfy, but don’t worry. The good folks of Patience, Colorado, are still up to their old heroics in their new home. “We have to save the world again,” declares Resident Alien creator and showrunner Chris Sheridan, adding that “there are high stakes” heading into Season 4 now that a bugged-out shape-shifter is posing as the titular E.T. (Alan Tudyk), who is secretly trapped in a prison cell on the moon. “The Mantid alien who took over Harry’s form is hiding in Patience as Harry at the beginning of the season. He’s been there for over a month, and he’s up to no good.”
Tudyk isn’t just pulling double-duty on screen, however. He’s also making his directorial debut, helming the first two episodes of the season. And based on what we saw during a visit to the Vancouver set last December, it was evident his top-notch costars were in good hands.
“They’re all fans of the show and fans of each other, which also doesn’t always happen,” Sheridan notes of the ensemble, which features more comedically sniper-sharp actors than should be legal. Sitting in his office after watching an easy-going Tudyk handily run Corey Reynolds (Sheriff Mike), Elizabeth Bowen (Deputy Liv), and Nicola Correia-Damude (Det. Torres) through a bar scene that elicited howls with each take, Sheridan knows how lucky he is. “As a showrunner and creator, being able to stumble into a group of actors that are not only really talented, but have the chemistry that they have, then on top of that are all good people and all get along? It’s not going to happen.”
Maarten de Boer
Clearly it has here. During a break in production, two of RA‘s leading ladies — Sara Tomko, who plays Patience’s long-suffering nurse Asta Twelvetrees, and Alice Wetterlund, whose bartender D’Arcy Bloom is getting some juicy material this year — gathered on the set of Joe’s Diner to discuss their arcs this season. And throughout the chat, neither could mask their deep bond, nor the entire team’s emotional investment in the show.
When asked why her aimless, addictive ex-Olympian ski hopeful would risk her life last season to save Mayor Ben (Levi Fiehler) and Kate’s (Meredith Garretson) baby from an alien abduction, Wetterlund’s reply noticeably touched Tomko. “I think it was a little bit of an excuse to die,” Wetterlund offered. “I don’t think D’Arcy really knows what she’s doing on Earth anyway. She had a lot of hopes and dreams early on in her life and those hopes and dreams have sort of bitten her in the ass. So now that she’s past that point of her life and she doesn’t really know what to do with herself… She’s not really cut out for adulting. And I think Asta is the only person tethering her to the planet.”
“That’s so interesting. I’ve never heard you describe it like that,” Tomko immediately stated. “In the pilot, that is why Asta feels so connected to [Harry], this complete stranger, because she also feels like an outsider. And it almost feels like there’s this thing between us — Asta and D’Arcy — that is so similar, that maybe tethers us to each other more than just our friendship that we are not really even talking about. But we just know neither one of us necessarily knows what we’re doing here. We just know that we belong together even though we’re not really sure what our purpose is.”
Some of those answers may come this season, as both ladies are forced to face the fallout from a situation revealed early on in the season opener regarding the Hawthornes’ stolen baby.
At the same time, the whole lot of them will be dealing with all sorts of the usual Alien insanity. In addition to a trail of headless bodies left around town, Deputy Liv’s ongoing efforts to clue Mike into the existence of the extraterrestrials, and the return of a certain Avian Bird visitor, the shapeshifting Mantid interloper has some wildly specific plans for Earth — and its women.
James Dittiger/USA Network
“He’s looking for a mate,” teases Sheridan. Which could mean trouble for D’Arcy and Harry’s bestie — if Asta even catches on to the fact that her pal is literally not himself these days. “His hair is slicked back — it’s a little bit Michael Douglas from [the 1987 film] Wall Street. He looks creepy,” Sheridan laughs. “But [the real] Harry is a little bit off anyway!”
Resident Alien, Season 4 Premiere, Friday, June 6, 11/10c, USA