Posted in: SYFY, TV | Tagged: alan tudyk, exclusive, Gracelyn Awad Rinke, interview, Judah Prehn, Levi Fiehler, Meredith Garretson, Resident Alien, syfy

Resident Alien: Fiehler & Garretson on Hawthornes, Abductions & More

Resident Alien stars Levi Fiehler & Meredith Garretson spoke with Bleeding Cool about developing Ben & Kate Hawthorne, Season 3 & much more.

Levi Fiehler, Meredith Garretson, and Judah Prehn have been at the center in the worst way in the sci-fi mystery comedy-drama Resident Alien as Ben Hawthorne, his wife Kate, and their son Max, respectively. At the beginning of the series, we find out Max was the only one who was able to see Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle's (Alan Tudyk) true form as an alien who killed the original and took his human identity. Ben is the mayor of the small town of Patience, while Kate is a teacher at the school where Max is a student. Throughout the series, Ben and Kate deal with their share of problems and resolutions, but things come to a head as both find themselves the subject of abductions from the hostile Greys trying to create human hybrids of their species. Fiehler and Garretson spoke with Bleeding Cool about the Hawthornes' family dynamic, seeing younger actors Prehn and Gracelyn Awad Rinke (Sahar) grow up, acting as straight characters to their comedic peers, and what's to come for their characters for season three.

Resident Alien: Fiehler & Garretson on The Hawthorne's Growth

Bleeding Cool: Meredith. Levi, how have you felt about the evolution of your characters in Kate and Ben have gone through entering 'Resident Alien' season three?

Fiehler: It was the revelation at the end of season two, that last episode, that Ben's being abducted, and we're going to find out more in season three that this has been happening since he was a small child. It explained a lot of his behavior from the first two seasons, his fear of being honest with Kate, and his fear of life overall. He's been carrying around this trauma subconsciously for so long that it's shaped him as a human being. It's in this last season has been fun to discuss those ideas with our showrunner, Chris Sheridan, and add that extra layer to the character, humanizing Ben a little more for myself and hopefully for the audience.

Garretson: When we meet Kate, she's in the throes of her rigidity and the limited way she sees the world, which is fun to play with. It's a great foible to have as a character. The arc of the show has offered me the opportunity for Kate to become, to look a little bit more at herself and like, what's going on inside of her where we meet her in season three. The audience learned that she was being abducted and that her baby was also abducted. All the normal tricks that she would use to sort of make sense of the world. Even if it's a conflict with Ben, he needs to do this for things to be okay, I need to control this part of my life, or none of that works because something is wrong. It's something. There's an intuition that something isn't right, and there's a fear; it's coming from inside, and it's so joyful to get to add this into my character's palette of expression because now she must look deeper into herself to figure out why she feels this way. She must listen to her intuition; how do you fight this thing that you can't see, but you know that something is off? It creates new areas of vulnerability in character, and that was fun to work on this season.

How have you all developed chemistry playing as a family over the years, and how has 'Resident Alien' helped your growth as actors?

Garretson: We have such a wonderful rapport. I love working with Levi, and I couldn't ask for a better scene partner. Judah, I love and care so much about him. He's such a wonderful person and young man. It's been such a joy to watch him grow up on this show. It's been such a joy to find our family dynamic as we're working. As far as growth has been for me as an actor, I come from a theatrical background and am a classically trained drama nerd. I'm also an MFA New Yorker, and I came into this show with all these people who are genius comedians. I was like, "Man, I got to be there for them in the scenes. I've got to be there for them, and I've got to get confident and comfortable because we've got master improvisation going on sometimes and even line delivery." The scripts are so funny, and the writing is so good. Having to lean into getting comfortable in the comedic element of our show and get over imposter syndrome there and be like, "No, you can do this!" You can't come and show up for these people, don't break and ruin people's coverage. It's been a joy, a stretch, and a whole new part of my personality that I've gotten to lean into on this show, which is a priceless jewel for an actor.

Fiehler: Every job I've ever done, when I get there, it always feels like the first day of school a little bit. This is the first show that I've done that's gone past the pilot phase. To be six years in, we've only done three seasons, but we've all known each other and been living with these characters for six years. It's been an incredible journey to spend this much time with the character. I've never spent this much time with the character before. Judah, who plays Max, and Gracelyn, who plays Sahar, get to watch them grow not only as human beings but from children to almost teenagers going on to 25-adulthood. It seems like it's been cool to watch them develop as actors as well. Going from it… I think Judah only did a couple of things before this, and now he knows where his mark is, and he has developed. I spend most of the time with him being a son, I get to see him developing his acting chops, and he's great. It's been cool to watch and a cool experience.

Was there any scene that was difficult for you to get through? Do you find it hard to keep up as straight characters as opposed the comedic actors?

Fiehler: Meredith, I don't know about you, but so many of the actors in the show come from an improv background. I remember doing a scene with Alan, and he'll do like… it's not even changing a line. Sometimes he'll interact with an object on the desk with just his physicality. Meredith might have said this already, but it's a masterclass in acting, but everyone thought. I break for everybody. Corey [Reynolds], Alice [Wetterlund], [Elizabeth] Bowen I mean, they're all so comedically talented.

Garretson: It's been hard too. Levi will kill me with something under his breath at the end of a scene, and I'll go to pieces. I must scramble to get out of frame or whatever. I was thinking about that scene where I left the room. I've been on your shoulder, and then you say something shitty, and I must storm off. His delivery was so good every time that I would have to storm off quickly because I was already laughing. There have been scenes with Alan, like this season when we're on vacation and when we're in Yellowstone. He was coming into our room. Half of those takes aren't usable because of me. I couldn't handle it. He has good idea after good idea. He's willing to go all the way all the time. I'm cracking every day with everyone on set, which is great and nice.

Fiehler: I'm hoping this is the first year that they screened it at our wrap party for season three, like a gag reel that they had cut together. I hope they release it to the fans at some point because you get to see these guys swinging for the fences, and it's so funny and so great. A lot of it isn't usable because we're laughing over other takes and stuff.

Season three of Resident Alien, which also stars Elizabeth Bowen and Linda Hamilton, premieres February 14 on Syfy and is available to stream on Peacock.

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