At the start of the fan-favorite Syfy comedy series Resident Alien, much of the small town of Patience, Colorado was unaware an extraterrestrial lived among them, even as paranormal activity began to escalate. Going into the third season of the hit series, town mayor Ben Hawthorne (Levi Fiehler) and his wife Kate (Meredith Garretson) find themselves targeted by the latest alien plot as the extraterrestrial presence in their own secretly grows. And through it all, the couple finds themselves tested in new ways, but always coming back to each other as they take on their greatest challenge together yet.

In an exclusive interview with CBR, Resident Alien stars Levi Fiehler and Meredith Garretson talk about developing their respective characters over the course of three seasons, watching the show's family grow together and tease what fans can expect from Resident Alien's third season.

CBR: Ben and Kate have been tested before, but I love that they always find their way back to each other. Season 3 is the biggest test they face yet. How was it exploring that this season?

Meredith Garretson: I think there has been such a great progression through the seasons. There's this conflict that goes on between them in Season 1, and you wonder how that's going to go down. They're rubbing up against each other, and not in a great way. In Season 2, Kate starts to say "I need something of my own. I need to belong here." We're moving into a place where we're on the same team. I love that we portray conflict in a loving relationship, because those two things exist and I think that's very real. You get out of sync with your partner, you go through phases, or you need to tackle something in yourself that's causing you to have conflict with your partner.

In Season 3, I feel like they're both on a journey of discovery of what's going on with themselves. Whereas, sometimes the journeys have felt perpendicular, this feels more parallel in Season 3, which felt like a really nice evolution and made our characters more well-rounded.

Levi Fiehler: The only thing that I would add to that is just that, to me, we've had these clear roles. Ben has always relied on Kate for her strength. She takes care of the hard stuff, and he's off doing his own Ben thing. But in this season, it's the first time that Kate has expressed some of the feelings that Ben is usually having. He's trying to find a way to support her, and it takes a lot for him because he's not the one used to carrying the difficult situation. They still do it together, but he has to step up to the plate more this season. It was fun to just explore that with the writing.

Something that struck me more this season than Season 2 – can we talk about how much Judah Prehn and Gracelyn Awad Rinke have grown up before your eyes?

Fiehler: It's so insane!

Garretson: It's so upsetting!

Fiehler: I want them to grow up and be real adults, but it is so crazy because we have about a year between each season – sometimes more. When you're that age, things change! I remember when Judah took off his mask, and I was like, "You are an adult man." [laughs]

Garretson: I was really struck by that watching this season. They were always both fantastic actors, but watching them grow into the different phases of growing up on camera, just how things deepen and how their performances shift and grow. It really is a marker of the passage of time between seasons. With the adults, I don't feel like that but, with the kids, they come back, and you just see them the next season, and you’re like, "Oh my god! You're my child, and you're like a little Timothée Chalamet! What's going on?"

Fiehler: They're the ones who remind me how long we've actually been doing this show because it's been five and half years since we did the pilot, even though we've only done three seasons. There was a pandemic and a strike. Seeing them always blows my mind. They have grown up on this show.

Speaking to that time, you've built this found family, bringing Patience, Colorado to life across three seasons of Resident Alien. How has been building that together?

Garretson: It's really rare in this business to have – first of all, we're led by Chris Sheridan, who is our guiding light. He's such an unbelievable leader and writer. He sets the ethos for what the temperature is, and the way everybody treats each other. That's from the top down, it's so rare. He's such an intimate part of our company and his voice, we trust so much, and we trust each other so much. You have a great job and then, after a couple of months, it's over. Through the unbelievable circumstances of going through a pandemic and a strike, and the normal time things take to get picked up or get another season, we've had the grace of getting to work on this show for five and half years.

My best friend in real-life is Sara Tomko, who I've known since I was 18 years old. It's crazy. I came in with my best friend from real-life and made this family of best friends who I've known for such a long time now, and I consider them family. I can't live without them and remember what life was like before that and whose work I admire so much. It's a diamond! You never know how a job is going to go or how long it's going to go, and the fact that we're still sitting here talking about this show that we love so much and have so much fun doing is the greatest.

Fiehler: Yeah, I couldn't have said it better. It was the first pilot I ever did that actually went to series. I'm just worried that I set this bar. [laughs] Like Meredith said, it really does all start with Chris. He is not only a talented writer and showrunner, I love the show and the world, but we also hang out every weekend that we're not working. It's just an amazing experience.

Garretson: I think it shows up on-screen too. Whenever I watch our show – that's why I have such faith in this show. Not only are all the technical elements and the writing and acting so much, it's the chemistry. You can feel that these people genuinely care about each other and, as an audience member of our show, I feel so cared for by that.

Resident Alien Season 3 is now airing on Syfy and the USA Network. The first two seasons are currently available to stream on Netflix.