Mike and Liv will have a ‘Scully and Mulder’ dynamic in 'Resident Alien' Season 3

X-Files veterans David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson may have retired from the UFO-hunting game, but a new duo — one also comprised of believer and skeptic — is more than ready to pick up the slack. That'd be Deputy Liv Baker (Elizabeth Bowen) and Sheriff Mike Thompson (Corey Reynolds) of SYFY's Resident Alien.

Season 2 ended with the two members of the Patience sheriff's department agreeing to look further into the strange disappearance of Peter Bach/The Alien Tracker (Terry O'Quinn). Something fishy is certainly going on in town, though Mike isn't quite ready to buy into Liv's theories about extra-terrestrials.

"Mike may not believe that there's aliens out there, but he know he does believe her that something is going on and he's willing to look into it," creator, showrunner, and executive producer Chris Sheridan recently explained during a Zoom conversation with SYFY WIRE. "And if it is aliens, he's not going to dismiss it out of hand, he’s willing to listen. Moving forward, I think what we have with them is probably that Scully and Mulder sort of dynamic where she believes in aliens, he believes it's the government."

The funniest part about the whole thing is the fact that Mike believes in a ton of bizarre conspiracy theories, but simply can't wrap his head around the existence of aliens. Still, you gotta draw the line somewhere, right?

"He believes the moon is hollow, he’s pretty sure that Sasquatch lives in Seattle — but you mention something about aliens, and he’s like, ‘Oh, that's crazy stuff. I don't know what you're talking about,’" Sheridan said. "He believes in fairies and mermaids, but he just can't wrap his head around aliens. So it's a fun dynamic. Liv goes into every situation thinking that it’s the aliens and Mike knows there's something going on, but to him, it's just a government conspiracy. They’ll take that knowledge moving forward into Season 3."

There's just one thing standing in the way of their investigation: a member of The Greys who has infiltrated the very halls of power in the small Colorado hamlet. We are, of course, talking about Joseph (Enver Gjokaj), the mole in General McCallister's organization, who just became the latest deputy in Patience.

"Joseph’s there, ostensibly, to keep an eye on Harry. Harry, was supposed to leave in the pod, that was the deal that was brokered with The Greys, and he didn't leave. And now, Joseph wants to know why," Sheridan continued. "Suddenly, Harry’s not the only one doing things that affect Joseph in town. Mike, and Liv, who are right under Joseph's nose, are secretly trying to figure out what happened to The Alien Tracker. So there's a lot of messiness in there with Joseph, especially when he realizes that Sheriff Mike and Deputy Liv are up to something as well. There's a lot of fun in there and I’m excited to have Enver back. He's such a great actor and has great chemistry with Alan [Tudyk]. I love that scene in [Episode] 16 where they're in the diner together. It’s a really good dynamic, and I'm excited to play more of that out."

Production on Season 3 of Resident Alien kicks off in early 2023.

The first two seasons are now available to stream the SYFY app and Peacock.