‘Resident Alien’: Alan Tudyk Teases Sparks for Harry & Alex Borstein’s Scientist
Preview
For an extraterrestrial who learned about mankind by watching Law & Order reruns, Resident Alien’s invader remains hilariously clueless in the dramedy’s sharp-as-ever Season 2.
On a mission to destroy Earth, Alan Tudyk’s prickly creature (below, in alien and human form) is stranded and has assumed the identity of Harry Vanderspeigle, a pathologist vacationing in Patience, Colorado. Following the murder of the small town’s physician, Harry—who comes from a planet with an unpronounceable name and has the worst bedside manner—took over the practice, which gave him time to plot his catastrophic mission, adjust to life on Earth…and come to terms with his developing humanlike emotions.
Brendan Meadows/SYFY
“It’s really great to play a character who, since he is like a child, when he feels things, he feels them 100 percent,” Tudyk says. “[These sensations] are not just new, they’re overwhelming. It makes for a lot of humor because he’s just inappropriate all over the place.”
Harry also feels love. His fondness for his assistant, Asta Twelvetrees (Sara Tomko), led to a major development in the finale. “Harry decided not to destroy the planet because he understands love through his friendship with Asta,” Tudyk explains.
Since the start of Season 2, Asta—one of the few folks in on Harry’s secret—has been urging her otherworldly pal to widen his social circle, even as they prepare for a possible alien attack. This week, he does just that after the mayor’s wife, Kate Hawthorne (Meredith Garretson), asks Harry to stitch up her injured scientist cousin Carlyn (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s Alex Borstein). Sparks fly, as do Harry’s assumptions regarding Carlyn’s work at a research facility.
“She’s supersmart and she has something that Harry needs,” Tudyk previews. “And so, Harry decides to woo her to get what he wants.” That won’t get inappropriate at all.
Resident Alien, Wednesdays, 9/8c, Syfy
