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How Resident Alien transformed from a Dark Horse comic into a SYFY original series
Nearly a decade ago, writer Peter Hogan and artist Steve Parkhouse co-created Dark Horse Comics’ Resident Alien as a recurring series of miniseries. The comic follows Captain Hah Re, an alien biologist marooned on Earth who assumes the life of Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle in Patience, a small town in Washington.
Next month, Resident Alien is making the leap to live-action as a SYFY original series, with Alan Tudyk (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) starring as Hah Re/Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle, alongside co-stars Sara Tomko, Alice Wetterlund, Corey Reynolds, Levi Fiehler, and the one and only Linda Hamilton.
There have been a few creative liberties taken with the source material, like Patience moving to Colorado. However, Hogan isn’t bothered by any discrepancies between the comic and the show, as you can see in our latest Behind the Panel video below, which also includes plenty of footage from the show, and interviews with Tudyk and more of the stellar Resident Alien cast:
“You're never gonna get a 100% faithful adaptation," Hogan says. "And in a way, if you do, why bother? Because that's what the comic is. I think comics and movies/TV, they're different mediums and they have different strengths and they work in slightly different ways. So it's bound to be different. I think if I feel anything about all of this it's relief that it's something I can sit down and watch, and I'm not sort of trying to hide under the sofa because it's so awful.”
Regardless, Hogan did admit that he was afraid that he wouldn’t like the finished show until he finally saw it.
"I've had real kinds of ups and downs with it,” Hogan continues. “I wasn't sure it was going to turn out okay. And you get sort of slightly cheered up by hearing, 'Oh, it's Alan Tudyk!' And you think, 'Well yeah!’ You know Alan's great, so this should be good. But I was very nervous when I sat down to watch the pilot. After about 10 minutes, it won me over. They're doing different things, it is very different, and there's no denying that. But I don't really mind because it's really good, it's done really well.”
Find out how the critically acclaimed comic came to life in the Behind the Panel video above, then check out the behind-the-scenes featurette below for the upcoming series, heading to SYFY Jan. 27, 2021.
