A seven-minute sneak peek at Syfy's Resident Alien introduces Alan Tudyk's small-town Doctor and the alien who steals his body and identity. The comedy-drama is based on the comic book mini-series of the same name. The central premise of the comic, of an alien that crash lands on earth and assumes the identity of a small-town Doctor, is carried over to the show, with Tudyk (Firefly, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Ralph Breaks The Internet) taking on the lead role. He will be joined by Elizabeth Bowen as the local Deputy Liv Baker and Corey Reynolds as local Sheriff Mike Thompson.
In the comics, the alien assumes the identity of a Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle, buying a cabin in the mountains as a cover. Due to his ability to disguise his true form, he is able to walk around unnoticed, with humans, aside from a few key people and children, seeing him as a man. In the show, there's a twist, with the alien killing the doctor after crash landing and taking over his physical appearance to humans, allowing him to fit neatly into society straight away. The comic's fictional town of Patience is also relocated from the state of Washington to Colorado for the show. Resident Alien was ordered back in 2019, with the show being shot in Vancouver in late 2019 and early 2020.
Now, Syfy has dropped the first seven minutes of Resident Alien on YouTube as a sneak peek for audiences. The footage not only introduces Tudyk's alien in disguise but also presents a flashback showing him crash-landing on earth and killing the real Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle before taking over his life. It goes on to reveal that the alien learns English by watching old episodes of Law and Order in order to fit into society. You can watch the sneak peek below:
The tone of the footage blends comedy and a little bit of body horror, particularly in the scene where the doctor is killed off. But with Tudyk in the lead role, and Family Guy's Chris Sheridan as showrunner, the series will clearly lean more towards comedy than anything else. The show will also follow the comic's plot of Harry investigating murders, with the opening scene revealing that the police want him to do a postmortem on the local town doctor, who has just been murdered.
There are shades of Twin Peaks here, with an outsider coming into a small town and having to fit in with a quirky cast of characters, though the quirkiest is obviously the alien. Hopefully, the promising sneak peek is a reflection of the show as a whole, as the first seven minutes of Resident Alien make it look like an amusing comedy with elements of sci-fi. Resident Alien will premiere on Syfy in January 2021.
Source: Syfy