Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, sweepstakes, and more!
Resident Alien: Alan Tudyk opens up about Harry's wife and his first-ever sex scene
Despite his prolific career in Hollywood, Alan Tudyk has never done anything, well, risqué in front of a camera — until now, that is.
**This article contains spoilers for Episode 5 of Resident Alien, "Love Language."**
Tonight's episode of Resident Alien ("Love Language") righted a great wrong in the universe by giving the veteran actor of Firefly and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story his first-ever sex scene. Some performers might have been a little intimidated by checking off such a career milestone, but not Tudyk. He just found it absolutely hilarious.
"It's really fun because Harry gets social situations wrong and there's a lot of humor that comes out of that," Tudyk told SYFY WIRE prior to the show's premiere on SYFY last month.
"He gets them wrong with people he doesn't know very well, but for somebody like a wife — who knows the original Harry Vanderspiegle very well and has an intimate relationship and is expecting a certain intimate response back — there's so many opportunities to make mistakes," he continues. "He doesn't know anything about mating as a human or the intricacies of that. He is a child in a lot of ways and you don't learn that stuff until years [later] — he's only had months in this human body. And no sex ed. So, he's... at a loss. It was my first sex scene onscreen ... it's appropriate that I'm an alien. It's sort of perfect."
The main character's carnal naivete is foreshadowed in Episode 5's opening titles, which depict an alien trying to remove a bra with great difficulty. "That involved going through a lot of old manuals and math equations to try to make it look more complex," graphic designer Ben Hanbury revealed to us.
But let's back up for a second because you probably didn't see the reveal of Harry's all-new estranged wife, Isabelle (played by Elvy) coming at the end of Episode 4. The two had a passionate romance back in New York City, but somewhere along the way, their relationship started to crumble. The alien disguised as Harry already has the perfect excuse to get rid of her, but things obviously don't go according to plan when Isabelle ends up falling in love with what she thinks is her spouse all over again.
"They were married and he's just never gone home," Tudyk explains. "The series starts off with Deputy Liv [Elizabeth Bowen] saying: 'Yeah, this guy always comes out. He usually goes back before winter comes, but he's just been here.' It's because he's dead and an alien has taken over his body and has been trying to find his device to kill all human beings during that time. One thing he didn't go back to was his marriage and she shows up looking for him."
Once again, the actor showed an unexpected reaction by following up that tragic statement with a delighted exclamation of "It's great!"
"Well, not for her because her husband's dead," he amends. "There's something that looks like her husband, but it isn't him anymore, so it's too bad for her. But it's very funny to watch him try to have a marriage. Marriage is evidently hard... it hasn't been my experience yet, but I hear it is. It definitely was for Harry."
The first four episodes of Resident Alien are currently free to watch at SYFY.com, on the SYFY app, or on VOD. (Episode 1 is available until Feb. 26; Episodes 2 and 3 until March 5; and Episode 4 until March 19). For SYFY WIRE's Episode 5 recap, click here, and for recaps of the first four installments, click below:
- Recap: Resident Alien proves every small town needs an extraterrestrial invasion
- Recap: Resident Alien shows us why kids are the literal best at handling alien invasions
- Recap: Resident Alien reveals aliens' Achilles' heel is... feelings?
- Recap: Resident Alien's women are straight-up running this show in Episode 4
- Recap: Like an aggressive therapist, Resident Alien forces characters to reckon with their pasts
