Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Resident Alien season 4, episode 10!Resident Alien’s early cancellation required the speeding up of two important character arcs, reveals creator Chris Sheridan.Resident Alienseason 4wound up being the final season of the show, with the series getting cancelled weeks before its finale. Luckily, the final episode was created as a series finale, resolving everything in case the show wasn’t picked back up.
In an interview withScreenRantfor theResident Alienseries finale, Sheridan revealedthe show’s early cancellation meant speeding up character arcs for General McCallister and Joseph. The creator revealed their storylines ended early to ensure focus on other characters in the final episodes. He also explained how the show managed to get other core characters to important stopping points:
ScreenRant:Now, talking about this great ensemble, obviously, coming into season 4, that meant you had a lot of arcs to close, or at least bring close enough to an end that might have taken some other shows seasons versus just one season. I’m curious for you, did you find any arc needed to be maybe sped up a little bit going into the writing process for season 4?
Chris Sheridan:That’s a great question, a little bit. What has happened over the years on the show is that with more characters being added, it just gets bigger, and you’re telling more stories, but you’re spending less time on each of them. So, one of the things that I knew that we needed to do was probably finish the Linda Hamilton/General McAllister story a little early, the Enver Gjokaj/Joseph story, finished that early. We did that on purpose to give them an appropriate send off from the show, but also so that I had time to tell the stories of the rest of the cast. There was probably more General McAllister to play there, although I think that character had gotten to a place where you could effectively say, “This is the end,” or put her in a place where someday she can come back if we have did a movie or something. But, yeah, I could have milked those a little bit more, but it just didn’t work out with the way the season was, you know, 10 episodes. If I had two seasons left, it would have been different a little bit. But that being said, I didn’t really have to short change the story lines to get to the end. I think we were kind of closer than we thought, as far as getting people to a place where we can leave the season knowing that they’re in a better place now than they were at the beginning, before Harry showed up. D’arcy is a great example. As a viewer, with her, I feel she had to break at some point and get to her rock bottom in order for us to feel like she’s going to be okay. Now, she’s at least on the right path. It’s not like she’s not going to have challenges, but she’s on the right path to find her happiness. Asta is now on her right path to find her happiness. She has gone through enough in this season to get her to a place where she starts realizing, “Oh, maybe I need to leave Patience and see what else is out there.” So, character by character, we had to find out what it is to make them feel whole enough to at least believe, from an audience standpoint, that they’re going to be happy. Even Ben by the end, screaming at an alien child in the streets of Patience was his small way of standing up to the aliens. And you get the sense of like, “Okay, he’s at least facing them now.” So, everyone’s taking that step forward where you feel a little bit better about their future.
What Sheridan’s Statement Says About McCallister & Joseph’s Resident Alien Storylines
Sheridan’s statement offers more context to McCallister and Joseph’s stories ending the way they did. For McCallister, she wound up staying in an alternate version of the past with her younger self, hoping to quell the trauma of her father’s death. Joseph, on the other hand, departed after getting maimed by the Mantid and having an amicable breakup with Asta.
By ending their stories early, the othercharacters inResident Alienwere able to more readily take the spotlight. This involves Harry finally coming full circle as he learns how to truly be human, while also stopping the extraterrestrial threats hovering over Patience. Sheridan’s statement emphasizes the importance of giving the core heroes the spotlight by ending other stories early.
Although this meant McCallister and Joseph were absent from theResident Alienseries finale,their sped-up storylines still concluded their time on the show without leaving any threads dangling. This ensured a complete conclusion to everything they’d been through in the show, leaving plenty of space for established heroes to finish up the series' larger narrative.
Our Take On Resident Alien Speeding Up McCallister & Joseph’s Storylines
Although their storylines ended quickly, it’s understandable whyResident Alienfinished McCallister and Joseph’s plots at the start of season 4. Neither had a larger role to play in the final conflict with the Greys and the Mantid, meaning there wasn’t much point in keeping them around. Having their stories end granted satisfaction to their character arcs.
It also seems like, despite the story’s conclusion, the pair could still come back ifResident Alienwere to ever return in some capacity. Given how well everything wrapped up for every character, though, a return shouldn’t compromise the final season either. Sheridan’s statement emphasizes that ending their stories early was the right call to bolster the remaining episodes.
