WonderCon Coverage: A First Look at Falling Skies

On the first day of WonderCon this past weekend, one of the first TV-based panels featured at the annual fete in San Francisco was focused on the upcoming alien invasion mini-series Falling Skies that will air on TNT.

As moderator Jenna Busch took the stage to introduce the panelists, the audience was shown an exclusive clip of the series that comes from the mind of Steven Spielberg and stars Noah Wyle of ER fame.

Among the panelists were actor Drew Roy (Secretariat), who portrays the eldest son of Wyle’s character, as well as executive producer/writer Mark Verheiden and writer Melinda Hsu-Taylor.

After seeing the first video clip, which was a scene of the aftermath of the alien invasion, the first question for the panelists was “where do they go from here?” Mark explained that the viewers will follow the same learning curve as the characters because “the world has been depleted of its resources by the aliens, the military is gone and it’s now up to moms, dads and families to fight”.

This led to Drew being asked what interested him in doing the project, answering that “it was about normal people having to fight back”. People having to work together to survive is what he found most compelling.

Mark then explained that the show took root with Steven Spielberg, modeled after the point of view from the box office film Saving Private Ryan in that the viewers will see the stories told from the viewpoints of the survivors. Not ironically, the write of that same film wrote the pilot of Falling Skies “Steven had a relationship with someone at TNT,” said Mark and that is how the show came to be on that network; but Mark was quick to also point out that the goal of Falling Skies was not to be like Steven’s more recent project War of the Worlds. They were all anxious not to explore the same territory as this film, but rather to saw how the survivors cope with what has happened to them.

Both Mark and Melinda also made it clear that there would not be any flashbacks to the survivors’ lives before the invasion nor would there be scenes of the actual invasion. “The shock of what has happened has worn off” and the viewers will see how the survivors live with their new reality of an alien occupation by strange alien creatures that are called Skitters reminiscent of spiders, but are unlike anything that has been seen on TV before.

There are also mechanical aliens – called Mechs – that seem more like what was seen in the Terminator franchise, except they move on wheels rather than two legs. The key element that Mark would divulge about the aliens is that we need to “keep (our) eyes on the Skitters”.

Drew then explained that for the most part the actors had to pretend – like in many cases where visual effects are concerned – what the skitters and Mechs really looked like while filming the mini-series in Toronto – where the entire series was filmed about two years ago; but it all “sank in” when he had to film a fight scene with a stunt man dressed as a Skitter.

As several more clips were shown throughout the panel, the packed audience at WonderCon got a sense of desperation from the survivors but also a will to survive and to rescue youngsters who have been taken prisoner by the aliens and used as slaves for some nefarious, yet unknown, agenda. The writers would only say that there is a reason the 12- to 18-year olds are being taken, but they wouldn’t spoil the story.

Melinda was then asked about the comic book that was handed out to all the attendees of the panel, explaining that Dark Horse comics is working with Falling Skies on a graphic novel that will be released this summer to coincide with the debut of the series. Viewers can learn more at TNT about the web comics that will be available online, culminating in the graphic novel. It should also be noted that the comic book will be concurrent with the show.

Mark stated that while he was brought onto the project after the casting process was already complete, they have a really terrific cast, including Moon Bloodgood (Terminator Salvation), Will Patton (Remember the Titans), Sarah Carter (Shark), Jessy Schram (Life and Unstoppable), Colin Cunningham (Elektra and Stargate SG1) and Seychelle Gabriel (The Last Airbender). He also went on to herald the work of character actor Dale Dye, who plays one of the few remaining military men in the mini-series.

That led to a discussion with Drew about the actors training with the weapons used in the series. “We were brought into a large warehouse with gigantic table filled with every gun imaginable”. They were all told to pick a weapon and over the course of their training, especially for Drew and Noah, they were able to take their weapons apart and put them back together “blindfolded.”

The final clip that was shown included a scene of the survivors retreating after a battle with the aliens and included a piece of dialogue from Noah Wyle’s character that could easily sum up the show and be the driving force behind the series: “Retreat, regroup, return, revenge”.

Falling Skies arrives on TNT June 19 at 9/8c.