After four seasons, the sci-fi show Resident Alien has been canceled, leading fans to wonder what happened. In 2021, SyFy debuted a TV adaptation of the Resident Alien comic book series by Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse. The show follows an alien who takes over the identity of the town doctor, Harry Vanderspiegle, in a remote Colorado town.

Over the course of four seasons, fans have fallen in love with Alan Tudyk’s Harry Vanderspiegle and the other residents in the town of Patience, Colorado. That makes it all the more tragic that NCBUniversal announced the cancellation of Resident Alien just weeks ahead of the season 4 finale. As sad as it is, Resident Alien’s cancellation has a logical explanation.

Resident Alien’s Ratings Didn’t Justify Another Season On USA/SyFy

Resident Alien season 4 continuing on USA Network was, in and of itself, a miracle. Everyone expected NBCUniversal to cancel the show due to its poor ratings. NCBU Universal took a risk by bringing the show back for a fourth season, and it just didn’t pay off.

Despite being a brilliant and witty show, Resident Alien has never managed to attract a large viewership, and its ratings have only continued to decline with every new season. Unfortunately, the show wasn’t in for a second miracle, as the ratings still didn’t justify a season 5.

While Resident Alien season 1 debuted with a little over 1 million viewers, the number was down to around 500,000 viewers when season 4 premiered.

Even though Resident Alien’s Netflix release increased interest in the show, the viewership numbers on cable and the streaming numbers on Peacock haven’t improved. While Resident Alien season 1 debuted with a little over 1 million viewers, the number was down to around 500,000 viewers when season 4 premiered. That was barely an increase from the season 3 premiere, which garnered 465,000 views.

It doesn’t help that cable is a dying entity, with almost no scripted shows remaining on either USA Network or SyFy. Given the state of cable versus streaming, networks are quicker to pull the plug on shows that aren’t meeting expectations than they used to be.

Ultimately, whether I personally agree with it or not (I don’t), the decision was the right choice from a capitalistic perspective. No matter how good the critical scores and audiences are, the decision comes down to money. NBCUniversal won’t continue to put money into a show that isn’t performing well because that’s not a good investment. As it stands, Resident Alien season 4 already took a massive budget cut when it moved to USA Network.

Resident Alien Ending With Season 4 Was Expected By The Show’s Creator

Although Resident Alien’s cancellation might have taken fans by surprise, the show’s creator and showrunner, Chris Sheridan, expected it. Screen Rant attended the Resident Alien panel at San Diego Comic-Con, where Sheridan updated fans about the series finale. Because he saw what was coming, he wrote Resident Alien season 4’s last episode to be the show’s finale.

Sheridan explained that they “crafted a season that wraps up storylines… and gives audiences a satisfying conclusion.” He further expanded upon this when speaking with TV Insider. He called writing Resident Alien season 4 exciting from a creative standpoint. He said this:

“I knew we could spend the time wrapping up some storylines and driving toward an ending. I’m so proud of how good Season 4 is and especially proud that we were able to finish as strongly as we did, with a finale that is probably my favorite episode of the series.”

Sheridan’s foresight is actually noticeable when looking at everything that has happened in the final season. Resident Alien season 4 paid off a big season 1 storyline, bringing the show full circle in an entertaining way. Some Harry mysteries are also wrapped up ahead of the finale. Past characters also showed up, adding to the sense that the final season is actually the ending of the show.

By approaching Resident Alien season 4 as if it would be the last, Sheridan made sure that fans would receive a proper ending to the story, rather than leaving them wanting. This means that we won’t need a streaming site to pick the show up for a fifth season or wait for a network to revive Resident Alien in order to get a satisfying conclusion. Hopefully, fans will find the finale as satisfying as Sheridan does.

Resident Alien’s Cancellation Is A Major Disappointment After Impressive Critical Acclaim

The streaming numbers may have foreshadowed Resident Alien’s cancellation, but that doesn’t make it any less disappointing. Even though the show struggled to attract a large audience, it consistently received high critical acclaim. The show recieved two Saturn Award nominations and two Satellite Award nominations.

The reviews also prove that the individuals watching it enjoyed it. Two of the seasons also boast a rare 100% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes, which is nearly impossible to do. Additionally, the overall score for the show is 98% on the Tomatometer (critics) and 87% on the Popcornmeter (audience). Meanwhile, on Metacritic, the show holds 7 out of 10 stars overall. It’s clear that most people hold the Resident Alien in high regard, so the cancellation will definitely sting.