Warning: SPOILERS for Invasion episodes 1-3.
Apple TV+'s Invasion just seemingly killed off a major character already despite the series being in its infancy. Invasion's narrative portrays the initial days of an alien invasion as seen through the different perspectives of various continents across the world while also honing in on the emotional toll this scenario exacts on ordinary people. Apple TV+'s initial Invasion episodes go to great lengths to build the human elements of the show's foundation, making the decision to veto certain characters so early all the more puzzling.
One such character is Sam Neill's Sheriff John Bell Tyson, whose portrait of a man searching for his purpose becomes a markedly compelling component of Invasion's first episode, "Last Day." Tyson's search for two missing boys leads him to the sandy basin of a crop circle, where he drops to his knees in frustration and implores the heavens for help. The sand around Tyson stirs, and as he digs for where he now thinks the boys are buried, he is stabbed by a John Carpenter-Esque alien stinger beneath the sand, before slumping to the floor as the light appears to leave his eyes.
The answer to whether or not Sheriff Tyson is actually dead lies in Invasion's seemingly brazen approach to killing one of their main characters so quickly. The grainy coda of "Last Day" is designed to shock and surprise, leaving little room for interpretation as to Tyson's ultimate fate, and opens up other narrative doors in the process. Despite the finality of this scene, Invasion has also already offered up the possibility of divine intervention as a way for Sheriff Tyson to return, after the cosmos seemingly answers his prayers for purpose earlier in the episode.
On a tertiary level, the jarring death of Sheriff Tyson may well be a plot design to subvert audience expectations and create immediate intrigue for the Apple TV+ Invasion series. Sam Neill is a decorated actor and arguably the main star of Invasion, meaning his death certainly tracks as an engaging marker for the Apple TV+ show. Killing main characters and dispensing with the usual trappings of plot armor has undeniably become a more common identity for TV and streaming series over the past decade, with the early seasons of HBO's Game of Thrones a prime example here.
John Bell Tyson's death could also be viewed as a necessary narrative element, designed to reveal the true, sinister nature of the alien takeover at hand in Invasion. With so many converging, globally disparate plots being spun into the new Apple TV+ show, Tyson's death could also be viewed as necessary evil that highlights the remorseless culling that then human race will likely go on to experience throughout the series. With this being said, Sheriff Tyson's immediate narrative is one of belief and purpose, meaning his return cannot be fully discounted. Tyson's prayers in the sand, and the Earth's subsequent stirring, point to an attuned relationship between Invasion's humans and aliens that is yet to be divulged. Killing off the series' most established star in its inaugural episode is undeniably bold writing, but it also distinguishes Invasion as a high stakes, compelling new series for Apple TV+.