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'Resident Alien' star Sara Tomko got the 'best hugs' from Linda Hamilton
Imagine getting to share a set with the one and only Sarah Connor!
The noose began to tighten around the neck of the phony Harry Vanderspeigle at the end of last week's episode of SYFY's hit show Resident Alien as soon as General McCallister turned up in Patience, hot on the trail of the extra-terrestrial she desperately hopes to capture and interrogate.
Played by sci-fi legend Linda Hamilton — a.k.a. Skynet's worst nightmare — the General has already shown that she's not above using any method, no matter how unscrupulous, to flush out the cosmic visitor. Here's a quick refresher on recent events: McCallister pushed Doctor Ethan Stone (David Cassady) off a literal cliff and once it became clear that he was of no more use to the government, had her agents dump him in a random back alley with a heroin needle to frame him as a disreputable junkie.
Acting on a theory from reluctant ally, Lt. David Logan (Alex Barima), McCallister then pays a little visit to The 59, ordering herself a shot of whiskey and surveying the bar for any hint of intergalactic activity. What she doesn't seem to realize is that her prime target (Alan Tudyk) is sitting just feet away at a nearby table with Asta (Sara Tomko). Chatting with SYFY WIRE over Zoom last week, Tomko discussed the thrill of getting the chance to finally meet the Terminator icon face-to-face.
"Everyone else got to meet her before I did because I have no scenes with her. If you go back and look, I'm not in a single scene with her up until that moment," Tomko said. She's just as incredible as everyone described her. She tells the best stories, she gives the best hugs, and she's an incredibly hard worker... It was also a little bit anticlimactic, to be honest. If you see, I'm in the scene with her, but not really with her. I got goosebumps looking into next week's episode. We all read these episodes, but I tend to sort of skim over it briefly and then I get rid of what's not mine, because I want to be watching it just as much as the audience. So I really don't know what's going to happen with her character, because I just know what I'm witnessing and what I'm a part of. And so, it was just really great that I get to be even remotely near her. But I am curious, because now she's in Patience. This is a problem!"
It's about to be one problem of many, given the fact that Deputy Liv Baker (Elizabeth Bowen) recently sent out feelers to Peter Bach, the Alien Tracker (returning guest star and Lost alum, Terry O'Quinn). Based on the promotional materials released so far, we know that the UFO expert does answer the call and while Asta is deeply committed to keeping Harry's secret under wraps, Tomko does admit that her personal sympathies are more in line with the goals of Team Bach.
"I love Terry, I'm a big Terry fan. Yes, he's a problem too, though," the actress declared with a laugh. "It’s great to have him back. I truly have been rooting for him since Season 1 because that storyline of him and his wife, losing their child to the aliens is incredibly sad. Even though he's sort of the bad guy, I'm rooting for him because I’m like, ‘I want you to find your alien, too!’ It’s not Harry, but who is it? So I'm glad he's back, but I'm also so intrigued. I feel like this leaves a lot of room for Harry and Asta to have to do some dipping and whipping around and getting in and out of places where we might get into trouble."
And then there's the whole Galvan/Powell Group investigation that could very well implicate Asta in the murder of Tanner Corrington (Robert Moloney). Thankfully, Harry and D'Arcy (Alice Wetterlund) did an excellent good job of fabricating evidence and convincing lead investigators — Deputy Liv, Sheriff Mike Thompson (Corey Reynolds) and Detective Lena Torres (Nicola Correia-Damude) — to direct their suspicions elsewhere. Of course, this obstruction of justice has led to some unforeseen consequences, both positive and negative: plenty of guilt on Asta's part; a budding romance between Thompson and Torres, and maybe even a stronger partnership between Patience and Jessup.
"I'm just really excited Nicola’s with us and that she is also sort of into Sheriff Mike. I think that's really cute," Tomko added. "I like this camaraderie that we're finding with Jessup and I'm hoping that that's sort of maybe foreshadowing or a metaphor to future collaboration. Because the truth is, if [another alien race is] here and they are the bad guys from what we know, then we all need to be together on this. So I think it's great to have Detective Torres on our team. I don't know if it's great to have the General in town ... I feel like she's going to uncover something. And something about her relationship with Logan... there seems to be like a softness to her. Her relationship with Logan on screen is so sweet and tender. She also, of course, has her story with her father and the alien [ship] that came when she was young. So I'm curious, ‘What is she going to find out?’ I just feel like there's a lot of alien-ness coming."
In the closing moments of Episode 11 ("The Weight"), Harry spills the beans to Asta, warning her about another alien race plans to invade Earth. They're here and ready to wipe out humanity at a moment's notice. Rather than having a total existential meltdown, Asta simply takes a deep breath and promises that they'll weather the storm together. That's what we call development: her character has gone from blissfully naive to treating the apocalypse like it's just another Tuesday.
"I think with any real tragedy or crazy circumstance, the more you get put into that situation, the more you sort of become immune to it," Tomko said. 'Look at us with COVID, nobody believes COVID exists anymore. Even though it's still does, everyone's just walking around like, ‘Hey, we're saved!’ Not to say that she believes that they're saved, but she's already had enough proof in Season 1 and in the first half of Season 2 that they can really conquer things together and that whatever it is, they'll figure it out. I'm sure there will be more things that will surprise her, but I'm interested to find out who else will get to see little bit into that world. I would love to be there when they find out, because I feel like Asta would be like, ‘Catch up! Get on board!’"
But wait! There's more! If you act now, you'll also get poisoned creek water, courtesy of the Galvan/Powell Group, which paid off Sam Hodges and the real Harry Vanderspeigle to keep their mouths shut. "I think we're gonna see a trail that leads to what may or may not have really happened with Sam and the original Harry and why we all got in this mess in the first place," Tomko hinted. "But I don't know, maybe there'll be more to find out along that trail."
Resident Alien was officially renewed for a third season last month ahead of its panel at San Diego Comic-Con. With five episodes of Season 2 left to air, however, showrunner and executive producer Chris Sheridan is keeping his lips tightly sealed for the time being.
"Chris is really great about collaborating with us. He has some ideas, [but] he hasn't told us [them] yet," Tomko said when we asked about whether she'd been made privy to any Season 3 details yet. "But he has said, ‘I'm going to be calling you…’ That's what he does every season. And we're going to talk it over. We get our ideas together on paper and then we we decide which ones stay and which ones go. I can't wait to see what happens. I have only like one or two ideas for Asta in Season 3, so I'm sort of open. I'm open for business! I'm like, ‘Asta, what do you got? You need a hobby? You want to go to the mall? What is it you need?’"
New episodes of Resident Alien air on SYFY every Wednesday at 10 p.m. Eastern before hitting the SYFY app and Peacock the following day.
