Resident Alien
Entry updated 29 September 2025. Tagged: TV.
US tv series (2021-2025). Production companies Amblin Television, Dark Horse Entertainment, and Universal Content Productions. Created by Chris Sheridan. Executive producers include Justin Falvey, Darryl Frank and Keith Goldberg. Directors include Shannon Kohli, Robert Duncan McNeill, Brennan Shroff and Lea Thompson. Writers include Sarah Beckett, Emily Eslami, Jeffrey Nieves and Chris Sheridan. Cast includes Elizabeth Bowen, Levi Fiehler, Meredith Garretson, Linda Hamilton, Judah Prehn, Corey Reynolds, Sara Tomko and Alan Tudyk. 44 45-minute episodes. Colour.
This comedy-drama series, based on a series of Comics of the same title by Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse, is about an extraterrestrial Alien (Tudyk) who is sent to Earth to destroy humanity, but soon has second thoughts. After landing in Peaceful, Colorado he kills the town doctor, Harry Vanderspeigle, assumes his Identity, and quickly becomes involved with the town's residents. These include the mayor's young son (Prehn), who is somehow able to see him in his true alien form, to the disbelief of everyone including his parents (Fiehler and Garretson), the sheriff (Reynolds) and his deputy (Bowen). But as he develops a relationship with Asta (Tomko), a nurse in the town clinic, he begins to question his mission. Meanwhile a possible antagonist, the air force general Eleanor McCallister (Hamilton), tries to track down the alien intruder but becomes more sympathetic in later seasons.
As the series progresses, representatives of other alien races arrive and create complications for Vanderspeigle and the townspeople. These include Grey aliens, who have abducted a child; a female Blue Avian alien who becomes a romantic interest for Vanderspeigle; a murderous alien called a Mantid who must be eliminated; and others.
The ensemble cast creates empathetic and relatable small town characters. Tudyk's comedic talents particularly stand out as Vanderspeigle attempts to pass for human and blend in. [LW]
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