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Watch: Alan Tudyk Takes Resident Alien Fans Behind the Scenes of SYFY’s Hit Show
How does a crash-stranded alien fit in with humans? By keeping it weird (of course!)
In Resident Alien’s small mountain town full of misfits, Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk) might just be the biggest misfit of them all. Then again, it’s what you’d expect when the newest resident of Patience, Colorado just so happens to be a crash-landed alien who’s trying to make the best of a sticky situation.
Tudyk stars in SYFY’s critically acclaimed hit comedy as a not-so-human doctor named Harry, but the whole human skin-suit act is really just a disguise. Revealing his true E.T. origin probably isn’t the smartest play — and not just because people might freak at his reptilian appearance or could never pronounce his actual crazy alien name.
Harry’s real mission, in fact, is to help destroy the human race… but things get complicated fast when his ship crashes to Earth, where Harry starts to fit in with the locals better than he ever could’ve dreamed.
For More on Resident Alien:
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Resident Alien Star Alan Tudyk's 9 Best Genre Roles, from Serenity to Star Wars
A great place to crash: Alan Tudyk takes fans on a Resident Alien tour
Now that Resident Alien is back on SYFY for its brand-new third season, more fans than ever are beginning to explore the show’s quirky faces and places — elements that conspire to forge some surprisingly strong bonds between Harry and his offbeat assortment of human pals.
People in a tiny town like Patience, well — they “are a little odd,” Tudyk admits in SYFY’s behind-the-scenes show tour above. “And in that way, Harry fits right in… because he’s odd!”
Odd he may be, but it doesn’t take long before Harry realizes he can’t follow through with his alien marching orders and use his species’ advanced technology to help wipe out Planet Earth. Once you get to know them, these people turn out to be just too darn lovable — and when they aren’t being lovable, they’re at least too interesting for Harry to imagine getting rid of.
Harry’s pivot from human-hating space specimen to just another oddball resident happens gradually, particularly early on in Season 1, when everyone else is stumped by a local murder case. But there’s still enough intrigue to place Resident Alien on your must-see list even without the show’s comics-based sci-fi angle, especially once Harry hilariously begins to warm to some of humanity’s weird ways.
“If this alien never came to Earth, it would still be a compelling show to watch,” explains show creator Chris Sheridan, who helpfully points out that a far-flung spot like Patience makes for “the perfect place” for a stranded alien to hide among people in plain sight. “Even though he’s an outsider, he’s in the middle of a group of outsiders, in a way.”
We’re just a couple of episodes into Resident Alien’s already-awesome third season, but catching up with the show is as easy as streaming the first two seasons on Peacock (where new episodes are also appearing the day after they air on SYFY). ”I think people are going to enjoy experiencing this world through Harry’s eyes,” jokes Tudyk — you know,“‘cuz they’re alien eyes. They’re very large!”
Catch new Season 3 episodes of Resident Alien Wednesdays on SYFY at 10/9c, and warp up to full speed by streaming the entire series (including new next-day episodes) on Peacock.
