Could ‘Resident Alien’ Be Moving Networks? Comedy With Cult Following’s Fate Unclear
[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the Resident Alien Season 3 finale, “Homecoming.”]
The future of Syfy‘s beloved comedy Resident Alien is unclear. The series, which aired its Season 3 finale on April 3, has yet to be renewed for Season 4. It might experience a network change in order to save it, but that could come at a cost. Well, a decrease in cost.
The powers that be at NBCUniversal are reportedly considering moving Resident Alien from Syfy to its sister channel, USA Network, according to Deadline. A fourth season at Syfy is reportedly not likely. As it stands, USA only has one scripted TV series, Chucky, and it’s shared with Syfy.
If the Alan Tudyk-led comedy were to move to USA, it’s possible that its budget would be reduced by $500,000 per episode, Deadline reports. The production behind Resident Alien, UCP, part of Universal Studio Group, reportedly wants to keep the series in the NBCU family, but if that’s not possible, they’re said to be considering shopping the series to Netflix. The streaming platform recently saved another NBCU show, Peacock‘s Girls5Eva from cancellation.
Syfy already has a Resident Alien partnership with Netflix; the streamer added Seasons 1 and 2 of the comedy to its catalogue on February 13 ahead of the Season 3 premiere. Episodes were available for next-day viewing on Peacock during Season 3.
It would be a shame if Resident Alien didn’t come back. The series is considered one of TV’s best, if not the best, sci-fi comedy currently running, and it has a loyal fanbase that adores the show. Its reviews are also stellar; the series has a 97 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and the cast is consistently praised, especially Tudyk as the titular alien, Harry.
Resident Alien is based on the comic book by Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse. The Season 3 finale took viewers on a wild journey through space, dropping bombshells left and right as Harry was body-snatched by a Mantid, among other wild developments.
There’s already a plan in place for Season 4’s story. Some characters in the comedy still haven’t figured out that Harry is an alien, but one major development of Season 3 was that Sheriff Mike (Corey Reynolds) now believes in aliens. He just doesn’t know Harry is one just yet. Showrunner Chris Sheridan told TV Insider that “with more people being dragged into the alien storyline, it does feel like the walls are closing in on Harry.”
“Now that Mike believes in aliens, it also seems like his next thought could be, ‘If aliens are here, they could be disguised as any one of us! Timmy the sandwich guy puts mustard in his chicken salad. He might be one!’” Sheridan added. He said that in a possible fourth season, there could be “two camps” of people: those like Mike who know that aliens exist but not that Harry’s one of them, and “the Harry group” who knows everything. What viewers also now know, thanks to the wild Season 3 finale, is that the moon has been a spaceship all this time!
That last paragraph alone should prove that this show is a unique piece of television that’d be at a loss without.
Resident Alien, Season 3 Available now, Peacock
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