Chris Sheridan, creator and producer of the SYFY series sat down with Parade.com to talk a little bit about Harry and what we can expect in season two.
How were you introduced to the Resident Alien comics?
I had previously worked with Amblin Television, and in October of 2015, they sent me the amazing Resident Alien comics that Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse did for Dark Horse and asked if I’d be interested in adapting it for television show. I fell in love with them and felt I could do something interesting.
Music plays an important part on the show. Are the music cues scripted (like “Ooh Child” in the season finale) or is that the work of a spectacular music supervisor?
I always wanted music to play a big part of the show and have been searching Spotify and other sources for songs that I think would be great for the show for the past five years—since I first started adapting the comic books. I put a lot of these songs that I’ve found into the scripts during the writing process — I like this because oftentimes we can play the cue back while we are shooting to help set a tone for the actors. Many others I put in during the post-production editing process. I get a better sense of what’s going work once I see how the scene is playing. Once we started the writer’s room, one of our writers, Tazbah Chavez, turned me onto a few amazing indigenous musicians and I did a deep dive into some of the incredible music being made by Native American and First Nations singers/songwriters, folk singers, rappers, DJs etc., and I’ve tried to use as many of those as possible. If there’s a song I need and I can’t find something that fits, I reach out to our amazing music supervisor, Laura Webb. I’ll tell her the mood I’m looking for, or what I want the song to do and she’ll send me a couple dozen choices that I can choose from. She also does a great job finding incredible music that plays on the radio in the diner, or the 59, for instance. We make a great team.
Did you have Alan Tudyk in mind for Harry or did he just nail a reading for the role?
I did not have Alan Tudyk in mind when I wrote the pilot. David Dobkin, who directed the pilot, and I auditioned about a hundred actors before Alan came in. They were all amazing, but nothing quite popped for me. It wasn’t until Alan auditioned that I realized what the role was. He brought such an incredible combination of humor and humanity to the role, as soon as he auditioned, we knew he was the one.
Did Tudyk and the other actors get a lot of opportunities to ad-lib (like with Harry’s real name) and how much of it was kept in?
I like to let the actors have freedom on set when they’re performing. We try to get what is written at least once, and then give the actors a chance to have some fun and play. A lot of that is kept in the show. Sometimes they have so much fun, it extends the scene too long and it’s hysterical but ultimately too long so we have to cut it down. But some of it we can keep in their entirety. The beatboxing in the pilot was all Corey and Liz’s ad-lib. D’Arcy’s entrance to the dinner party in episode 4 was all Alice being Alice. They’re all such brilliant performers, their ability to sink into their roles to the point of being them and being able to improv moments is a big, fun, part of the shooting process.
The comic book panels in the opening titles are hysterical. Who comes up with the ideas for them?
The general conceit of the titles—a pamphlet describing how to be human—was a brilliant idea that our main title design company, Huge, came up with. They came up with the first two episode ideas while pitching us the concept. The last eight were ideas that I came up with with help from my assistant, Silvio Cuadra and our Post Producer, Todd Leykamp. And I worked with Huge on staging etc. in order to get the most out of the comedy and their incredible artwork. I grew up on MAD magazine, and I saw them as little comic stories that you may find on the edges of the pages of MAD.
What new experiences will Harry encounter in season 2 and what else can we expect to see in season 2?
Well, Harry will return to Earth to drop Max off, but will find the walls closing in on him thanks to the nefarious deeds of the real Harry Vanderspeigle. I can’t give away much more.
Will we learn why the real Harry Vanderspiegle wanted to get rid of Dr. Hodges?
Yes, the town story in season one was “who killed Sam Hodges.” The town story in season two is “why.”
Will Agent Logan (Alex Barima) help Harry now that he’s persona non grata with the General (Linda Hamilton) and Agent Cooper (Mandell Maughan) has him in her sights?
I’d rather not reveal how Logan will be involved. Not just yet.
Harry is always hungry. Would you say the way to an alien’s heart is through his stomach, wherever his stomach might be located?
It seems to be. Even when Isabelle (Elvy Yost) was leaving he was more concerned, at least at first, with who was going to cook him his next meal. I think it’s one thing he appreciates most from his time in a human body— the taste of food.
Is Asta (Sara Tomko) really going to forgive Harry for killing the real Harry?
I think Asta has no choice but to forgive him. She’ll come to realize that it’s not really his fault, he’s an alien. And Harry did it before he had any human emotion. She’ll forgive him as much as she can but it’s going to take a long time for her to trust him in the same way again.
What other sci-fi/fantasy shows are your favorites and did any of them inspire scenes or dialogue in Resident Alien?
I grew up on Twilight Zone, Ray Bradbury, Star Wars… We had a line in episode 4 when Sheriff Mike “pulls over” Sahar and Max on their bikes where Sahar, in an attempt to distract the Sheriff, says, “These are not the droids you’re looking for.” Ultimately, one of the writers felt that it had been parodied too much, so I ended up swapping it out with the “we’re looking for Bigfoot” line. In Whitely Streiber’s book Communion he describes the aliens next to his bed touching his head with a “wand” and it making a very specific crackling sound like thunder. He spends a long time describing that sound. I sent that page of sound description to our music editor and had him craft the sound for the transition in episode 9 when young Peter Bach and his pregnant/not pregnant wife on the New York City bus, come back to their seats. I think it came out really cool. I love little touches like that. All episodes from Season 1 of Resident Alien can be streamed online at syfy.com, via the syfy OneApp or on Peacock TV. Next, need a refresher? Watch our exclusive clip from the Resident Alien season finale.
