Comic Con

Introducing Colony

By Rueben | January 11, 2016

The new USA Network drama Colony will debut on Thursday, January 14, starring Lost alum Josh Holloway and The Walking Dead alum Sarah Wayne Callies as husband and wife, Will and Katie Bowman.

The series is set in the very near future, centering on one family’s struggle to survive and bring liberty back to the people of an occupied Los Angeles; but who is occupying the city?

According to the clips and trailers for the show, the occupation is by an unseen alien entity. Viewers will get to see lots of ships, a massive wall around Los Angeles and uniformed troops simply known as the Red Hats patrolling the streets.

While some residents of Los Angeles choose to collaborate with the occupation and benefit from the new order, others rebel and suffer the consequences. After being separated from their 12-year-old son during the invasion, Will and Katie are willing to do whatever is necessary to be reunited with him.

When the powerful Proxy Snyder (Peter Jacobson from House) offers Will a chance to get his son back if he will collaborate with the occupational government, Will and Katie find themselves faced with the toughest decision of their lives. They will have to go beyond whatever they thought possible, risking their lives and their relationship to protect their family.

During Comic Con 2015, Josh, Sarah and Peter as well as series creators Ryan Condal and Carlton Cuse took to the stage at the San Diego Convention Center to talk about their highly anticipated series with moderator Michael Schneider from TV Guide Magazine.

The first question during the panel, of course, was what drew Josh and Carlton back to working together. Josh shared that he got a call “out of the blue” from Carlton and as he told Josh about the concept of the show, Josh was immediately 100 percent in; in fact, he said “it was a no-brainer”.

When asked about the concept of Colony, Carlton shared that the part of the idea behind the show came from news reels of Nazi Stormtroopers marching in Paris, but he and Ryan, of course, thought about putting the story into “modern time” and thus the show was born.

When talking about their characters, Josh shared that “his dilemma is to get their son back” while Sarah shared that “it’s not just about getting their son back, but also about the oppressive regime” ruling over the city. She also said the show would explore “very current issues in a hyper real fabricated world”. As for Peter, he shared that his character is “an evil leader of sorts”. He also said that his character is “clearly a bad guy but at the same time you don’t know why”.

During the audience Q&A actor Nestor Carbonell (from Lost and Bates Motel) – who was dressed in disguise – razed the panelist about the ending of Lost, causing members of the Red Hats to storm out from backstage, ushering him (supposedly) out of the convention ballroom. [Carbonell was actually brought up on stage not that long afterwards to briefly join in the conversation.]

The pilot episode of Colony is actually available for viewing online at (http://www.usanetwork.com/colony/videos/pilot) if you want to see it before the official debut on January 14 at 10/9c on the USA Network.

NOTE: The cast also includes Amanda Righetti (The Mentalist) and Tory Kittles (True Detective and Sons of Anarchy).