After decades of searching for his son, Terry O’Quinn is finally getting the ending he’s wanted in Resident Alien season 4. Introduced in season 1 of the acclaimed sci-fi comedy, the Lost alum has played Peter Bach, a popular podcaster who has experience seeing and being visited by aliens, including his unborn son being abducted by the Greys.

Having seemingly died while saving his son in season 2, it was revealed near the end of Resident Alien season 3 that he had actually been revived in a cyborg form, with the government intending to use his sight to combat aliens. However, after recovering his memory during a fight with Joseph, he flees and takes shelter in the nearby mountains.

In Resident Alien season 4, the final season of the show, Peter spends a fair amount of time in hiding, with Elizabeth Bowen’s Liv bringing him supplies to keep him alive and try and repair him. When she and his long-lost son, Robert, are kidnapped by the Mantid to be fed to his offspring, Peter comes out of hiding in an effort to save them both.

In honor of the show’s finale, ScreenRant interviewed Terry O’Quinn to discuss Resident Alien season 4. The star opened up about his thoughts on the show coming to an end now, and what else he would’ve liked to explore in future seasons, while also discussing Peter’s robotic transformation, and his emotional sendoff in the penultimate episode.

Peter’s Robotic Transformation Led To Some Interesting Physical Work For O’Quinn

With Peter being resurrected in the Resident Alien season 3 ending and turned into a cyborg-like figure with a robotic eye and mechanical body, this provided something of an interesting challenge for O’Quinn. For starters, when they first showcased his new look, “they were going to try to do everything without effects”.

He first started just with me basically wearing a little bit more of the cyborg gear and shooting and then just running off between the cars.

However, in filming the climactic fight between Peter and Joseph outside of Harry’s cabin, where “he jumps over cars and stuff like that”, they actually ran into an issue when O’Quinn “tripped over one of the guys” situated in the dark. “I tripped and landed flat on my face, full out,” the Emmy winner recalled. “Everybody came over like, ‘Oh my god, are you okay?!'”

From there on, Chris Sheridan and frequent director Robert Duncan McNeill agreed “we’re gonna have to use some effects”, with the star laughing as he recalls the pair saying “Terry’s not a rocket ship”. This, in turn, led to some subtle changes in his season 4 appearances, namely his being seen more often with a cloak covering up his metallic body.

With the group turning towards more visual effects, which “accomplished what they wanted to achieve”, O’Quinn found his experience “wasn’t terrible”, particularly in that “everybody was so helpful” with putting the look together. “Outside of some funky boots and gloves, and awkward stuff, it was fairly simple really,” O’Quinn shared.

O’Quinn Always Thought He Was Saying Goodbye To Resident Alien Before Being Called Back

With just weeks to go before the season finale, it was announced that Resident Alien season 4 would be the end of the show, with Sheridan having written a conclusive enough ending to make up for its cancellation. Given his work as a recurring player, O’Quinn admits he felt “I sort of said goodbye every time I got wrapped” in prior seasons.

“If I saw that I got to come back, I knew my story wasn’t resolved,” O’Quinn explained. “Every time, I came and went, so I looked forward to coming back again, but this time felt like it was over before I even heard the final word from Chris Sheridan, who sent me a letter. I kind of knew I was saying goodbye to everybody.”

Unfortunately for O’Quinn, even though he had a feeling Resident Alien season 4 would be the end, he didn’t get the chance to partake in any wrap festivities as “I was actually quite sick” when filming his final episode. “I had a really bad cold — or who knows what’s going on these days,” the star expressed, “so I didn’t even get to go to the last dinner and hang out with folks, which I really wish I had”.

I’m just happy, in retrospect, that I was able to be there and be involved in something like this, even as limited a part as it was. It was really fun.

Expressing that he’s “happy” Sheridan got to craft some kind of ending for the show, O’Quinn also acknowledged the disappointment that comes from a show’s sudden ending. Comparing it to his experiences with Prime Video’s Patriot, which was cancelled after two seasons, and Perpetual Grace LTD., which was axed after one, he recalls the surprise of “Oh, okay, no more episodes. Why?””

Looking to the latter show, in particular, O’Quinn pondered that “it [didn’t have] enough visibility”, while also feeling that with Patriot, “there were some politics involved with the head of Amazon” regarding its ending. The Emmy winner went on to liken the TV sphere to that of a “pride of lions”, in which “when the new male comes in, he kills all the babies”.

​​​​​​Even still, O’Quinn got to go out with a satisfying send-off, much like the rest of his Resident Alien cohorts. Coming out of hiding just in time to save Liv and Robert from the Mantid’s egg sac, Peter makes a deal with the government to work with them, permitting that he and Robert also live under their protection.

However, with their characters only sharing one prior scene together, O’Quinn acknowledges that playing the deep emotion of the scene with Robert actor, Paul Piaskowski, required an internal note to “put all that weight into this thing”. Even more so was the fact it was a “fairly technical shooting of a scene” with the flamethrower in the midst of it all.

“Fortunately, you get to a certain age — I know in men, I don’t know about in women — and it’s easy to be emotional,” O’Quinn expressed. “Old guys cry at everything. I cry at commercials when the dog comes home. [Chuckles] That was not that difficult, but it was 100% play-acting.”

Turning back to the flamethrower nature of the scene, O’Quinn recalls getting a little too into the moment during his first take, in which he instinctively made a spraying sound to indicate the flame coming out of his arm. Pausing for a laugh, the star went on to recall how either Sheridan or McNeill came to him saying “we’ll make the sound”, turning back to the imaginative days of a child.

Even with the cancellation, Sheridan told ScreenRant he’s ready for more Resident Alien in the future, even confirming talks with USA Network and NBCUniversal to produce a film. Looking to the future, O’Quinn acknowledges he’s “not sure” what he’d want if Peter came back, story-wise, but knows which characters he hopes to interact with more.

“If we had time to extend everything, I would have worked more with Deputy Liv, because Liz [Bowen] was so much fun to work with, and done more with her and with the sheriff,” O’Quinn stated. “But, I loved everybody on the show. So, you know, you get involved with those two, they were sort of a separate entity from the mayor and his wife, kind of separate from Harry and Asta. But, I got to do a few scenes with Alan Tudyk, I just think he’s brilliant. He does this so well.”

O’Quinn Would Love To Reteam With A Lost Co-Star For A Revival Or His New Horror Series

Even for those who haven’t seen the cult classic series, O’Quinn is best known to many for his turn as John Locke in Lost. While many shows have tried to fill that mystery box void in the years since its divisive ending, one that has so far stood out as the best is that of MGM+’s From, a horror series led by his former co-star, Harold Perrineau.

With From season 4 currently in the works, and the show’s continued success leaving the door open for more, the possibility of a Lost reunion is there. Though O’Quinn admits “I don’t even know that show”, hearing Perrineau is its lead immediately sparked his interest as “something I have to look into”, as “I love Harold” and calling him “fun to work with”.

However, another possibility O’Quinn points to is a proper Lost revival. The star revealed that “one of my fantasies” for the show to return is “all the people come out of the back of the church where the light was”, with the new version picking up years later and “they’re all this old”, he says while pointing to himself, and would then turn into a search to find out what happened.