Alan Tudyk returned to television in 2021 with Resident Alien on SYFY, based on a Dark Horse comic and immediately proving itself to be a one-of-a-kind TV show. Of course, even a unique premise and stacked cast don't always guarantee a show is able to last beyond a single season, as Tudyk knows well. With the Resident Alien cast filled out by Corey Reynolds, Sara Tomko, Alice Wetterlund and more on top of Tudyk and telling a story with endless possibilities, fans got some very good news when SYFY renewed the series weeks ahead of the Season 1 finale, and according to Tudyk, viewers weren't the only ones feeling relief.
SYFY renewed Resident Alien for Season 2 back on March 17, when there were still three more episodes of the first season to air. The renewal guaranteed that not only could fans head into the season finale without worrying that it would be the series finale, but also that the cast could look ahead to Season 2. Members of the Resident Alien cast recently spoke to CinemaBlend and other outlets, and Alan Tudyk shared his reaction to the early renewal:
Oh, so good. What a relief. There's never any certainties in this business at all. Audiences were growing from week to week, and all the things that would point to a season renewal were there, but it was amazing for me to get it. There's no foregone conclusion. It just doesn't work. There's too many examples where what you think will happen doesn't happen. So it was a relief and exciting and a joy and looking very forward to starting again. And it's not gonna be too long that we're gonna go back into production. So let's get going. Very exciting.
Resident Alien received an official series order back in May of 2019, and production on the first season was already finished by the time the series premiered in January 2021. A surprise cancellation could have meant the series ending on a note that would leave viewers dying for more of Harry and his attempts to blend in with humanity while facing his mission to destroy the human race. As Alan Tudyk said, there was no foregone conclusion, even as the ratings proved that viewers were loving the show. What a relief for everybody, as the Resident Alien cast and production team can look ahead to Season 2 without becoming a one-hit wonder!
Corey Reynolds plays Sheriff Mike Thompson on Resident Alien, and the series has already shown some layers to the character that it would have been a shame if they couldn't be explored further than Season 1. Like Alan Tudyk, Reynolds was happy to get the early Season 2 renewal news, but that wasn't his only reaction. He shared his thoughts on Resident Alien getting a guaranteed Season 2 before the first season even finished airing, saying:
Yeah, we're ready to go. I mean, I was obviously pleased, but honestly, I'm not surprised by any of this success, truthfully. When I first read the pilot, there was something about it. If you think about when we were filming, I was saying, I knew we were going to get picked up. Sometimes your gut tells you something and it's your instinct to want to reject it, because you're conditioned for failure and disappointment as an actor, you're conditioned to always be prepared to have it fall through, or fall apart. Because 75-80% percent of our business is things not working out the way that we anticipate. But I felt very strongly early on that there was something very special about this show. And I think that it will continue to have a unique voice that's going to draw more and more people to it as we continue.
I think fans everywhere can agree that the show nailed a unique tone in bringing Resident Alien to SYFY, and be happy that Corey Reynolds' instincts about Resident Alien getting picked up proved correct rather than Resident Alien becoming one of the many projects in the television industry that don't work out. Now, fans can just hope that more Resident Alien with Harry, Sheriff Mike, and the rest will be ready for the airwaves in the 2021-2022 TV season.
TV and film productions ran into a lot of hurdles across the board over the past year, but all signs point toward an exciting second season of Resident Alien, heading into the March 31 finale of Season 1 at 10 p.m. ET on SYFY. For some viewing options once Resident Alien heads into hiatus, be sure to check out our 2021 winter and spring premiere schedule. If you haven't checked Resident Alien out just yet, you can find episodes streaming on Peacock now.
