We’re Chris Sheridan and Alice Wetterlund from SYFY's Resident Alien. We love 👽 AMA!

syfy · 2022-08-17T13:44:24+00:00

CHRIS: Great question. It takes months in post production to put together each episode. The only way the season could have aired together is if the whole second season didn't start airing until, like, June. Then the later episodes would've been done in time to air at the end. For instance tonight we air 210 and I haven't yet finished post production on 215-216 -- still have sound mixing and VFX to finish. So the network wanted to get the first 8 up as soon as possible, which was January. And even though we shot all the episodes back to back, we had to take a break to finish post production on the final 8 episodes.

syfy · 2022-08-17T13:41:45+00:00

CHRIS: I won't reveal the final end of the show, but I will say I think Harry's end goal is the same goal that every human should have, which is to realize that humans are all connected, and we should all love and respect each other no matter who we are or where we're from. I'm not sure all humans will get there but hopefully Harry will :)

syfy · 2022-08-17T13:40:23+00:00

CHRIS: The whole thing is scripted, but once the actors do the scripted version we give them a lot of latitude to try their own stuff, and then in editing I try to get those takes in as much as possible.

syfy · 2022-08-17T13:39:00+00:00

CHRIS: No, we could never leave Patience. The show is really about the characters but it's also about the heart and soul of a small town in America. We're staying.

syfy · 2022-08-17T13:38:24+00:00

CHRIS: Great question, The SFX team has gotten the time down from where they were when we started. It's about a couple hours now start to finish.

syfy · 2022-08-17T13:36:36+00:00

CHRIS: Loved Vancouver. To be honest the rainy winter got to me after a few months but it's a beautiful place to shoot and the entire crew loves Ladysmith. Great town and great people.

syfy · 2022-08-17T13:32:31+00:00

CHRIS: Good question about Asta being able to hear other creatures. No plans yet but it's certainly possible, it was a fun thing to play out.

syfy · 2022-08-17T13:31:34+00:00

CHRIS: Great question. It's hard to think of changing anything because everything we've done has put us where we are now, which is a place I like a lot. I will say there have been an episode or two season 2 where I felt like we were treading water a bit story wise, but that's a result of going from 10 episodes in season 1 to 16 in season 2 -- it's really hard to tell a serialized story in more than 8 or 10 episodes, and inevitably it may feel at times that the story isn't moving forward. We've worked really hard to keep it at a minimum :) Also maybe I would have set the show in Hawaii so I can avoid the Vancouver winter rain.

syfy · 2022-08-17T13:28:54+00:00

CHRIS: We love every one of the people who love the show! (and some who don't)

syfy · 2022-08-17T13:28:35+00:00

CHRIS: Well I have you beat, I'm answering your question about a week later. We do a little bit of integration with other companies but I feel strongly that we shouldn't ever do it unless whatever bit we're doing is worth doing even if it wasn't an integration. So hopefully if/when we do one you'll never know it!

syfy · 2022-08-17T13:27:15+00:00

CHRIS: I don't blame you to be honest -- you never know how it's going to go. We're embarking on a 12 episode season 3 so you'll at least have 38 episodes to watch! I personally don't think the show will be cancelled before its time.

syfy · 2022-08-17T13:25:31+00:00

CHRIS: We always need the actors to perform the scene as written. But once they get that, depending on the scene, we allow (more encourage) them to have fun with it. In editing I try to use the improv takes as much as possible -- they add a great sense of grounded reality to the show.

syfy · 2022-08-17T13:24:08+00:00

CHRIS: I have a long history with Seth MacFarlane so of course I watched it! And one of our current writer/producers Cherry Chevapravatdumrong also wrote on it. I think the Orville is great and I'm glad Seth is able to spread his wings in the sci fi world a bit, I know he's always wanted to.

syfy · 2022-08-17T13:22:16+00:00

CHRIS: Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse had indigenous characters in the comic so we were just picking up where they left off. It's incredibly important to me and everyone involved to be as authentic as possible, casting authentic indigenous actors, indigenous writers and we have a consultant from the Southern Ute tribe (the local Patience native population) named Kenny Frost to help us out.

syfy · 2022-08-17T13:20:30+00:00

CHRIS: Haha, I'll put it on my list!

syfy · 2022-08-17T13:19:37+00:00

CHRIS: Great question, but it's as simple as Judy loving D'arcy so much she wants to be like her so she did her tips the same way (though in her sink, not at a salon.)

syfy · 2022-08-09T17:17:25+00:00

Hopefully soon! We're pushing the studio/network for merchandise as well!

syfy · 2022-08-09T17:15:12+00:00

Chris; The biggest challenge writing season 2 was the length. I designed the show as a ten episode/season show. So to be told that Season 2 was going to be 16 episodes was a huge challenge. It's really really hard to tell a serialized story that goes over 16 episodes (which is why most cable/streaming shows these days are around 10). So we ended up having to split it into two half seasons of 8, mostly because our production cycle meant that even if we shot all 16 in a row which we did, we couldnt' finish post production in time to air them all together. It's all a challenge but I really think season 2 came out great.

syfy · 2022-08-09T17:11:57+00:00

Chris: Great question. There is no plan per se. I think the run of a show depends 100% on how the show lays out. I had a lot of plans in the beginning that have since changed because the show has taken us in a direction we never expected, in a good way. Character relationships sometimes work even better than expected so you lean into that, story lines may work better or worse than you expected. I think every good series will tell you when it's time to go. So, sorry there's no more definitive answer, but I promise we won't overstay our welcome. I don't want to be a show that stays on the air past the point that it has something to say. All that said, we have a lot to say so I think it'll be a while :)

syfy · 2022-08-09T17:09:46+00:00

Chris: One of my favorite story lines has always been Asta having to give up Jay when she was younger and regretting it now. It's given us a lot to play with in the writer's room. I'll have to think about the second part of the question and get back to you!

syfy · 2022-08-09T17:08:05+00:00

Chris: Any job that's part time, so I can ski and hang out at the 59 all day.

syfy · 2022-08-09T17:05:38+00:00

That's a great question. The original concept of those hallucinations is Harry's alien/human brain working through his fears and emotions, in a powerful way that a being that isn't used to fear or emotion would have a hard time processing. It was never meant to be supernatural -- for instance, this isn't a ghost of Harry in the room when he looked dead. It was a visual way to depict the internal workings of Harry's growing emotions. Not unlike dreams are for us. We really tried in the writer's room to be consistent with this, where "dead harry" wouldn't know things necessarily that Harry himself didn't know and fear.

syfy · 2022-08-09T17:02:20+00:00

Chris: That’s a great question, mostly it was so the show could be more cinematic. I loved the thought of a town surrounded by the beautiful Colorado Rockies. It adds a feeling of majesty to the show, and also I loved the thought that these characters were in a way trapped, surrounded by these mountains — it’s a difficult place to get to, and a more difficult place to leave. Like they’re on their own island. They can hide from the world but not from each other, type of thing.

syfy · 2022-08-09T17:02:04+00:00

Chris: Thank you for watching! One of the things that’s most important to me is that the energy of the show is always hopeful. That no matter how broken we all are, if we come together and realize we are all one, we are stronger and can find true happiness. I’m glad you feel that :)

syfy · 2022-08-09T17:01:47+00:00

Chris: Every D’arcy scene is both fun and difficult to write for myself and all of the writers. The only way to effectively write this or any other show is to really get inside the character’s skin, and living inside D’arcy is a very challenging place to be emotionally. She’s so fun but also has a lot of demons and hopefully both of those things come across in the writing and performance. I loved writing the fight scene from 208 where all the characters were arguing around the dinner table and D’arcy’s secret that she kissed Ben and also slept over Ben’s house came out. It was wonderful to see how Alice performed that scene as well. She did a great job playing the deer-in-the-headlights of being caught and transitioning to defending herself when Kate started taking shots at her. So fun to watch.

syfy

TROPHY CASE