Resident Alien Creator Details How Season 4’s “Unbelievably Moving” Powwow Came Together

There’s no hyperbole in calling this week’s new Resident Alien episode, “Soul Providers,” a pivotal turning point in Season 4.

First off, Harry (Alan Tudyk) is tried before a panel of his alien peers about his non-alien behavior regarding the Greys stealing babies. And then, his visit to an Indigenous powwow has a profound effect on his sense of purpose on Earth and beyond.

Meanwhile, it’s just as fraught for the denizens of Patience, Colorado, especially D’arcy (Alice Wetterlund), who hits her lowest low when she lies to Asta (Sara Tomko), and Kate Hawthorne (Meredith Garretson) gets the thing she most wants in the world: to be reunited with her Grey-stolen baby.

In this week’s exclusive USA Insider post-mortem for “Soul Providers,” showrunner Chris Sheridan sets some context for the Star People and powwow sequences this season, while actors Wetterlund, Tomko, and Garretson hit their favorite moments in this episode.

Creator Chris Sheridan on the authenticity of the Southern Ute tribe stories

Alien Harry’s connection to the teachings and countenance of Asta’s Ute tribal family goes back to the Season 1 episode “Birds of a Feather.” Not only has Asta become his best human friend, but her extended family and their culture have informed a good portion of his growth as a “human” since his crash on Earth.

Showrunner Chris Sheridan shared with USA Insider that being able to weave in the authentic “Star People” stories and tribal practices of the Ute into Harry’s story has been enormously satisfying for the whole creative team.

“It’s all about authenticity and taking extra effort to be as authentic as possible,” he said of the show’s journey to include the Ute people in its scriptwriting and sequence building. He explained that Southern Ute tribal member Kenny Frost was their cultural consultant from Season 1 until his passing before the start of Season 4. And this season, they went directly to the leaders of the Southern Ute tribe to help build important episodes, including this one, which features the traditional powwow.

“We went to them for everything that we could to get as authentic as possible, to find out about the storytelling, and even brought one of the Southern Ute members who teaches linguistics and how to speak the language to perform in Episode 3, ‘Ties That Bind,’ in the opening scene 500 years ago,” Sheridan explained. “We did that because, in hearing the language, it is so specific. The thought of hiring an Indigenous actor and having them learn how to speak that way seemed impossible. So, we just flew up an expert who speaks that and had her do it, and it’s so beautiful.”

Having Harry be told about the Utes’ connection with the stars to learn how important that is to their very being is a story Sheridan said they’ve been working toward for some time: “We’ve played all along that Harry has something more in common with this community than non-Indigenous people, as far as how he cares about the Earth and how he feels he’s one with the Earth. We wanted to keep their openness tied in, too.

“We tried to thread that through the season with the powwow and how it felt very natural that, as Harry’s going to go through his biggest emotional turn, it comes at the hands of the Indigenous community,” Sheridan continued of the alien’s own epiphany. “Anyone who’s gone to a powwow knows it is unbelievably moving and energetic. It’s really incredible. So you can understand how Harry was absolutely moved. So it’s not just coming into the season and having his alien energy stripped away so he’s human. It’s as a human, putting him in a situation where he truly has to feel it, which he does in the powwow, to really … break him open a little bit and get to the core of his humanity.”

The episode also allowed Asta and Kayla (Sarah Podemski) to show their familial bond in a new way as they figure out what to do about the Hawthorne baby they’ve been protecting from the Greys.

“We get to go to a powwow together, and it’s a really beautiful experience for Kayla to show the history that we’ve been raised in together,” Tomko said of getting to share more of her character’s culture. “But also to show where Asta is still learning, even now, and to see that translate over to Harry, who’s also still learning. It felt so familial and wonderful to spend that much time with Kayla, but it also just felt like a really great chance for Harry to learn more about why there’s a connection between the Indigenous community and the stars in the universe.”

In the wake of D’arcy’s latest drink-inspired screw-up with Asta’s bank deposit, she ends up lying to her best friend about what happened and is believed by her bestie. Instead of feeling relieved, D’arcy spirals to her lowest moment yet, feeling even worse with the realization that her closest friend in the world can’t tell what a mess she’s become.

It’s only in revealing all of her dark secrets to Harry in this episode that Wetterlund said D’arcy can finally start making real change: “In the right place, right time, Harry’s there to be very direct with her,” she said of their cabin heart-to-heart. “And I think that’s what she needed, and she knows she needed it.”

Meanwhile, Asta and Kayla returned the long-missing Hawthorne baby back home, and it results in a five-hanky, ugly-cry moment as we witness Meredith and Ben get their much-wanted little girl back.

Garretson said of playing that moment that there was no acting necessary.

“You know, the twins who played our child, I just fell in love with them immediately,” Garretson explained. “And to be able to scoop her up and hold her and know that she was OK and in my arms, that was so emotional for me, so satisfying. It was such a relief to meet that moment and really just play the moment as it is, which is: ‘You can protect this little being who needs you so desperately.’ And that was so fulfilling.”

New episodes of Resident Alien air on Friday nights at 10 p.m. ET/PT on USA Network (with a simulcast on SYFY). Episodes can be found on USANetwork.com and the USA Network app, as well as streaming on Peacock one week after air.