How Alan Tudyk’s Sci-Fi Series ‘Resident Alien’ Came Back from the Dead

Resident Alien is one of those shows that was probably always destined for cult success. Adapted by Chris Sheridan from the Dark Horse Comics series by Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse, the TV version puts a darkly comic, occasionally heartwarming spin on its comparatively gentle source material, with the great Alan Tudyk giving a delightfully odd performance as an extraterrestrial trying to blend in as a doctor in a small Colorado town.

The show originally aired on Syfy, where it did well enough that it warranted two renewals, releasing three seasons between 2021 and 2024. But the network seemed to lose faith in the series by the third season, cutting the episode total from 12 to eight. When it came time to decide on a fourth season, Syfy wavered, and it seemed like the series was headed for cancellation. But luckily, some creative shuffling allowed the show to continue, and a fourth season is currently on the way. So, how did Resident Alien escape the same fate met by so many other shows?

NBCUniversal’s Network Hopping

Syfy

When it was looking likely that Syfy would not be picking up Resident Alien for a fourth season, their parent company, NBCUniversal, decided to move the series to one of their sister networks, USA Network. While USA Network used to be a major player in scripted cable series, their focus has shifted in recent years, to the point that they currently have no scripted shows running after the cancellation of the USA/Syfy co-broadcast Chucky series. It’s unclear how Resident Alien will fare in its new home, but it seems to be part of a push to bring more scripted content back to the network.

After the success seen by some of USA Network’s older series on streaming, sources like Deadline reported that the network was hoping to find its way back to the success of their “Blue Sky” era, which birthed long-running and beloved cable procedurals like Monk, Burn Notice, Suits, Psych, and Royal Pains. Suits did especially well on Netflix, leading NBCU to bankroll the revival series Suits LA, albeit with limited success. It seems that Resident Alien’s continued survival benefited from a similar streaming bump.

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The first two seasons were added to Netflix in February 2024, just before the third season premiere, and quickly found a new audience who hadn’t caught it during its cable run. While Season 3 was already in the can at that point, the newfound interest on streaming no doubt played a big part in NBCU’s decision to move the series to a new network rather than let it end. Call it a fringe benefit of having all TV networks owned by a small handful of corporate media conglomerates.

The Decline of Linear Cable

Alan Tudyk as Harry in his alien form wearing a brown hoodie standing in a school hallway in Resident Alien — NBCUniversal

The shuffling of Resident Alien to a new network is another sign of the struggles many linear cable outlets have been facing for years now, as traditional cable subscriptions decline year after year and streaming competition increases. The move is undoubtedly a lifeline for the series, but it also speaks to how many cable networks have been steadily losing their sense of identity in recent years, as they become little more than assets to be leveraged by an increasingly smaller number of consolidating media corporations. Syfy and USA Network used to have distinct personalities, but recent years have seen them, and many other networks, largely hollowed out of their original programming.

But while the overall numbers may have declined, there are still plenty of people with cable subscriptions who watch TV in the more traditional way, and there’s a big financial incentive for companies like NBCU to maintain the value of their networks. The current TV landscape is a long way from USA Network’s “Blue Sky” era, which flourished at a time when far fewer viewers had cut their cords, and there was still plenty of money to be made from basic cable.

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However, there’s clearly still an audience for the kind of breezily entertaining fare that USA Network became known for, so hopefully their attempts to inch back to those glory days will pay off. It also seems like a savvy move on NBCU’s part, since those series, much like Resident Alien, will likely go straight to Peacock after their cable runs, keeping all of that coveted streaming value in-house.

Resident Alien is a wildly entertaining show that deserves to continue, and at the very least, its new network home will help keep it alive a little bit longer. What happens next largely depends on USA Network’s continued success and whether NBCU sees value in keeping it going. It’s no secret that the TV business is in a time of major transition right now, as the traditional ways of consuming television are continually changing while in some ways remaining stubbornly popular (even streamers have begun to see the value of weekly releases). Hopefully, shows like Resident Alien and the upcoming John Grisham adaptation The Rainmaker will help usher in a return to USA Network’s glory days, but in this current era of television, anything is possible.