After last year’s huge cliffhanger — the arrival of a new species of aliens — “Falling Skies” is back for Season 3, kicking off this Sunday on TNT. But don’t expect the sci-fi drama to pick up exactly where it left off.
Set seven months in the future, Noah Wylie’s character, Tom Mason, has actually come around to the idea of politics, one he pushed aside when Dr. Manchester (Terry O’Quinn) suggested it in the Season 2 finale. Now, he’s not only in politics, Tom is the President and settled in Charleston with the 2nd Mass.
“Well, the big factor that made him change his mind is that these aliens showed up and they’ve got some really effective technology and they pitched this alliance with the humans that for the first time really allows us to turn the tables and start winning,” Noah said during a roundtable discussion, when TNT flew AccessHollywood.com up to the show’s Vancouver set, as filming on Season 3 was in full swing.
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“I think he sees that having a seat at the table to create the next civilization could really [be] an exciting place to be. But really, it was this alliance with the new race of aliens called the Volm that was the deciding factor,” Noah continued. “He still doesn’t wear the mantle of power very well, and he makes a lot of self-deprecating jokes about being President of 20 square blocks, as opposed to President of the United States. So it’s a symbolic title and one that instills a sense of calm in the populace to believe that there is an infrastructure and there is progress being made, that we are actually building something towards a future.”
Viewers will meet one of the Volm right away, played by actor Doug Jones, and they are a race of aliens unlike the Overlords (Espheni), or the bad Skitters.
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“The Volm are kind of a race of poet warriors, it would appear,” Noah said. “They’re very articulate, very poetic, sentimental and yet, brutal.”
“The idea is that now, yes, they’re our allies and they are — or at least they appear to be — friendly to us and they’ve given us this technology,” Connor Jessup, who plays Ben Mason, said during the same set visit. “They’ve given us weapons. They’ve given us medical technology and they’ve given us our first real advantage against our enemy.”
And, although the Volm are helping the 2nd Mass, Will Patton’s character, Captain Weaver (who is actually a Colonel now), does not trust them.
“That’s true,” he said. “But I’m trying. I’m trying.”
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Drew Roy, who plays Hal Mason (who ended Season 2 infected with some sort of bug), said Season 3 will kick off with a bang.
“Every ‘Falling Skies’ season starts off like there’s an action sequence to sort of ramp us into the action. And this one could possibly be the best one that we have this year,” Drew said.
And fans can expect to see Maxim Knight’s Matt Mason in the fray.
“I’m in the front lines now in the 2nd Mass,” he said.
“In the same way that Ben became one of the fighters at the beginning of last year and sort of faded from civilian into a warrior, so has Matt this season and that’s sort of his transition and something that we all have to deal with,” Connor added.
Something else the Mason family has to deal with in Season 3 is what happened to Hal.
“From first observation, Hal looks like the same Hal we’ve always known and I think a lot of people would be like, ‘Well, did they just forget what actually happened? He’s still fighting with everyone and everything looks fine,’” Drew said. “But it’s not until after the first battle that we realize, ‘Oh. Something has happened.’”
To find out what, watch “Falling Skies” this Sunday at 9/8c on TNT.
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