Drew Roy Interview – ‘Falling Skies Season 3

There’s a new alliance in season three of Falling Skies that will affect all those still fighting the good fight against the invading alien forces. There’s also a political promotion for Tom Mason (played by Noah Wyle), and Hal (played by Drew Roy) is still dealing with the effects of that gross eye-bug thing that happened at the end of season two of TNT’s hit sci-fi series.

There’s a lot going on in season three, and Drew Roy sat down with us at the 2013 WonderCon in Anaheim, CA to answer some questions – without giving away any spoilers – about this new season and what’s happening with Hal and the rest of the 2nd Mass.

Give us the scoop on next season, what can we expect?

Drew Roy: “Well, I think the same way that the first season to the second season really ramped up in action, we just do the characters better as we do the same thing in the third season. I think something that I really enjoyed about the second season was that we were on the move, we were on the run from these aliens who were pushing us out of Boston, and by the end of the season we come to Charleston.

There is the risk that we’re just going to hole up in Charleston and get real boring. Not the case … not the case at all. That’s definitely our hub, and Tom Mason has now risen to be the President of the new United States, and he’s having to spread his interests and his time pretty thin amongst things. At the same time, it’s opening up all sorts of doors for other things to slightly be off.

As far as being a father, he can’t keep an eye on everyone like he used to, so little Matt’s kind of running into some trouble and whatnot. At the same time, everything is going on outside the perimeter as far as the aliens and whatnot, and we have to go out there and interact with them, whether to save people or not.”

It sounds like you’ve also got more of a leadership role now.

Drew Roy: “Yes, he has sort of established himself as a leader at this point, which is where he gets into trouble because with the eye-bug now going into his brain; it’s going to cause some serious problems with him. But because he has established himself as a leader, Tom’s not necessarily keeping an eye on him the way he should. Well, not should but he doesn’t need to because Hal is basically a full-grown adult in his eyes.

He’s able to sort of slip off the deep end without anybody but Maggie knowing, and she’s so in love with Hal, and they’re such a close couple that she doesn’t necessarily want to see the truth, so she excuses things from time to time. In the sixth episode, we really have the culmination of everything that Hal’s going through – and it was a fantastic episode to shoot.”

The culmination of everything to do with the eye-bug?

Drew Roy: “With everything to do with the eye-bug, and just all sorts of different things come together to a head in the sixth episode, but they’re brewing in the meantime.”

Is that the episode you’re most looking forward to the audience getting to see?

Drew Roy: “Yeah. For me, that’s my favorite one this year. I definitely got to do some fun things in that particular episode, but straight out of the gate this season we have several very interesting storylines going on. Even though Charleston seems like this happy little home, somehow information is getting leaked out of the very top tier of the government, and we’re not sure [how]. Is somebody on the inside that’s leaking it? Have the aliens come up with some ability to sneak in and get this information?

It causes a lot of problems when we’re on missions because it’s like playing chess and they know what we’re doing two moves ahead. That’s one of the problems. Another is Anne is pregnant and she will be having the baby in the first episode, and just having that on the plate now for the Masons on top of, like I was saying, Tom spread thin. Just having a new baby is a handful.”

What about Ben? Is he coming back into the group?

Drew Roy: “No, he’s back in. We had that great scene under the bridge where I’m trying to get him to come back, and he says no, this is where he feels at home, and then he decides actually we need to. So then by the end of the episode, he decides that he is more useful having the skitter.

He’s back. He’s in full force. He’s basically like the leader of the guy who wrangles all the skitters, and they do their little missions.”

Is there a tipping point for making a choice between Maggie and Karen?

Drew Roy: “This season we find Maggie and Hal very close because of the troubles that he’s going through with this ear-bug. She’s really had to step in and help him just stay focused, basically. This relationship has become very close, almost like we’re a married couple. We have our own room, we function on our own, so yeah … this is a tricky question.”

Does she know there’s something wrong with Hal?

Drew Roy: “She just senses it.”

Details on Falling Skies Season 3: As the new season of Falling Skies opens, seven months have passed since the survivors of the 2nd Mass reached Charleston, which has been named the capital of the New United States. Now elected to public office, Tom (Wyle) has taken a more aggressive approach to the alien occupation than former leader Dr. Manchester.

The government has formed a tenuous alliance with a band of rebel skitters who now paint their faces with a red and yellow stripe before battle in honor of Red Eye, their fallen leader. Tom’s son Ben (Connor Jessup) serves as the mediator between Mason and the rebel skitters. But the alliance may not be enough to overpower the enemy Espheni, whose forces are now being led by an even more sinister overlord. To complicate matters further, another race of aliens has just entered the battlefield.

Charleston also faces dangers from within its own walls. Recent battle losses have convinced Tom and the military that there may be a mole feeding strategic plans to the Espheni. Despite the threats they face, the survivors living in Charleston are doing their best to rebuild their lives. Dr. Glass (Moon Bloodgood) and Tom are focusing on their growing family. Newly promoted to Colonel of the 2nd Mass, Weaver (Will Patton) is enjoying a renewed relationship with his daughter. Hal (Roy) is recovering from mysterious injuries he suffered while trying to destroy an alien super weapon.

Meanwhile, his romantic pursuit of Maggie (Sarah Carter) is finally starting to see positive results, though she has a growing concern that something is wrong with him beyond mere battle injuries. And Pope (Colin Cunningham), the non-conformist leader of the Berserkers, has set up his own little Popetown on the outskirts of Charleston.