Currently, Tudyk plays Harry, an extraterrestrial whose mission is to destroy humankind but finds himself stuck on earth after his spaceship is damaged in SYFY’s newest series, Resident Alien. Tudyk sat down with Parade.com to talk about his current character, Harry, and his various roles over the years. Harry from Resident Alien on syfy and Ned from Earth to Ned on Disney+ seem to have a lot in common in that they’re both here to invade Earth, but they both discover humanity. So why is it that aliens want to invade Earth? To take the precious resources! What we’re always trying to take from one another. They know a good thing when they see it. [Harry] mentions that there’s so much on the planet that is useful and a lot of it the Earthlings don’t even see. So he’s here to erase humankind. That’s the one problem with Earth. Once that’s gone there, the Earth’s perfect. Anything you can reveal about what’s coming up on Resident Alien? In the comic, in the first issue, there’s the murder of Sam Hodges. It gets solved by the first issue, whereas in the show you’ll learn who killed Sam Hodges by the end of season one. So that’s one storyline that’s going on throughout the first season as more stuff comes out about it. But as far as Harry’s trajectory, the longer he’s in his body and in the human form, he starts to become a little more human and he starts to feel emotions. He has a capacity for laughter and he finds jokes funny, which is new, he gets sad, he can be lonely. And it’s all brand-new experiences for him. And it’s not always comfortable, but it’s not unlike Ned that he’s going to start to empathize with a race. And like Ned, is he going to have a talk show? [Laughs] I don’t know past season one, but I don’t think so. How did you decide to portray Harry the way you did? Did you take it from the comic books or did you dig deep… to the alien in you? Just sort of the idea of what it would be like to be using a body for the first time needing to speak for the first time and move for the first time. It wasn’t unlike drama school. I went to a drama school where they teach you, “You don’t know how to sit down, you don’t know how to walk, you don’t know how to talk. You don’t know how to do anything. You didn’t know how to do anything.” Truly. “You don’t know how to sit down. You don’t know how to walk, you don’t how to stand. You definitely don’t know how to speak. Acting. Forget about that. We got to work on all these things first.” So you’re just flailing on the ground? It felt like it for the first couple of years, a lot of just flailing. So I approached it much like a Julliard student. Learning that when you speak the words, you’re saying them in a way that your mouth is supposed to say them. You know that you’re making a mechanical effort to say the words as opposed to anything that’s just natural. He’s watching everything because it’s all brand-new to him. You’ve been a part of a variety of sci-fi and comic book worlds. Is there one particular series or world that you’d like to be a part of that you haven’t? Oh, sure—the Marvel Universe. But I’m not one of those actors like I should play the… Who’s playing The Fly? I’ve loved that comic since I was a kid. The Marvel Universe—they do such a good job. You know what, I’m gonna get more specific—Guardians of the Galaxy. I want to be in one of the Guardians of the Galaxy. As a particular character? No, I’ll take any role in Guardians of the Galaxy with James Gunn. I like James Gunn. I really like his movies, and I’d love to be in that. You played “Wash” on Firefly. Tell me something I might not know about Nathan Fillion. Nathan Fillion forced me to learn to play video games, specifically Halo. So that I could get good enough to be on his Halo team. I still play Halo with him and people that we played with back then. He made me, like one of the first days I was on Firefly (buy an X-Box and Halo). All the people I met through that became my friends in L.A. because I didn’t know anybody in L.A. I built my friendships from Nathan Fillion and Halo. And now I’ve been in two Halo games with Nathan. We got to voice (characters) in Halo. On Con Man, why is the same bartender at every location? Was there a reason for that? [Laughs] That was so weird, right? Casper Van Dien. I think it was initially I met Casper and he said he would do it. And I’m like, I don’t have a role for Casper, but I want him to do something important. So I had him be a bartender, but there wasn’t any lines with the bartender so I had him be every bartender. So Casper Van Dien was just going to be every bartender and I was in charge so I could do it. It was so insane. I had nobody to rein me in. It was so much fun. The shackles were off. It was great. You voice a lot of characters, do you have a particular fav–? [Interjects] King Candy is absolutely my No. 1 favorite! Because he can make noise and say nothing. And it can be like he would just go (makes various King Candy noises). And I could just make those noises. And they would animate them. Do you prefer acting in front of the camera or voicing characters? I think in front is better. I prefer it. It’s harder. It’s more challenging, more opportunity to screw up. It’s more theatrical. Do you have a favorite scene from Firefly? There’s so many. I like one scene because it was a pain in the ass. The one that whenever I watch it, I remember what it was like that day. I had a four-page scene that was first up. And it was just between Nathan and I in an episode called, “Out of Gas.” He comes on the bridge and we argue with one another. I was annoyed. I’m like, “I gotta say all of these words and I just got this (script) hours ago and you just expect me to do this. This is very difficult for me.” It was so much fun. We had so much fun doing it. Just from the beginning of being like a little bent out of shape by it and then Nathan and I doing it. It was fun to do, it was fun to play, it was a well-written scene, and I like how turned out. Who was your first celebrity crush? Probably Belinda Carlisle from The Go Gos. She was just the most beautiful woman in the world. Who is your current celebrity crush? Jesse Plemons. I love everything that guy does. Is that a crush? That’s different. I’m crushing on his acting talent. I don’t get crushes on actors. I’ve been acting too long to crush on actors. That’s not who they are. My current crush is my wife, Charissa. What’s your all-time favorite book? A special book to me when I was young was Watership Down. I’ve gone back to it again and again. It just meant so much to me. I love that book, and I love that creepy little animated movie they made. We know what Harry’s favorite drink is. What’s your favorite drink? Coffee. Oat milk flat white. Dear God, that is a good little drink. What’s your favorite Disneyland ride? Space Mountain. Aside from the characters you voice, who is your favorite animated character? The French chef from The Little Mermaid (Rene Auberjonois). He was amazing. What’s your go-to song sing in the shower? “Always look on the bright side of life” by Eric Idle. Fun fact:Tudyk played “Lancelot” with the original cast in Monty Python’s Spamalot. What’s the best thing you’ve ever eaten? Oh! There’s a lasagna in this small restaurant in Venice, Italy that my wife and I ate when we got engaged and we went back like three times. I can’t tell you the name of the restaurant because I suck at remembering Italian. Is there a movie you can watch over and over again? What’s Up Doc?. What a great film. What was the last show you binge watched? Watchmen. You’re at Craft Services on set. What do you reach for? Coffee… an oat flat white! Resident Alien airs Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET on syfy. Current episodes can be streamed at syfy.com or through their syfy OneApp. Next, The Most Popular TV Series Set in Every State
