History Repeats Itself on TNT’s Falling Skies

It’s a well known fact that history repeats itself. And for Tom Mason, leader of the alien resistance on TNT’s Falling Skies series, this crucial fact might the best chance he has of keeping his people alive.

Hit the jump to find out why. Mild spoilers follow.

In an interview with io9 at Comic Con, Noah Wyle revealed that his character on Falling Skies has a trick or two up his sleeve for fighting the aliens.

Wyle, who plays Boston professor Tom Mason, an expert in all things American Revolution, said that while his character might not be your typical action-hero leader, his background means that he’s the right man to lead the survivors.

“[he is] very familiar with battle strategy and tactics. He teaches predominantly American history, he teaches the American Revolution”.

Wyle revealed that Mason will use his knowledge of the cyclical nature of world history to his advantage.

“That belief that there’s historical precedent for a small, committed group of resistant fighters can repel a larger force, and I think it allows him to retain a pocket of hope and move forward”.

However, the aliens are not the only threat that civilization will have to face. Wyle points to the internal conflict that threatens to undermine the humanity and togetherness of the survivors.

“There are no rules, no law – military or otherwise. So how do you maintain a large group of people – 100 fighters, 200 civilians. What are the rights of each? What’s the inherent conflict that can come up? So it’s not just the conflict of trying to fight the aliens. It’s about trying to figure out how to bring very disparate, very desperate people together for a commonality.

Interestingly, Wyle says that Falling Skies is not as bleak as The Book of Eli or The Road, and not quite as slick as a ‘V’. Interesting, because I personally loved the two movies he mentioned, though I can see why that kind of tone might be difficult to translate to the smaller screen over a series of episodes.

“It falls somewhere in between, where it’s a really compelling, human drama, in the context of a science fiction show”.

As for killing the intense, ‘multi-limbed’ aliens? Wyle revealed that he’s already “bagged a couple”. Which is no mean feat considering they’re supposedly difficult to kill. I do wonder whether the show will explore the aliens story though. They invaded Earth, but what’s their story?

Wyle’s co-star, Moon Bloodgood said that she’s enjoying playing her “mother earth” character as it’s “kind of a new thing for me”. A former paediatrician, she is there to patch up the survivors.

A recurring point of interest in most of the Falling Skies interviews is the lack of communications that the survivors are left with after the aliens wipe out the power grid. It’s a post-apocalyptic struggle which sees the reset button pressed on civilisation.