The sci-fi comedy series “Resident Alien” has been praised for its realistic representation of Indigenous peoples, even though its main storyline is slightly more out of this world.
The show, which has recently been renewed for season 4, takes place in the fictional town of Patience, Colorado, and stars Sara Tomko as a nurse named Asta Twelvetrees.
“City Lights” managing producer Kim Drobes caught up with the actor when she was in Atlanta for Dragon Con, and they discussed Indigenous representation alongside ethnic ambiguity.
Tomko says she relates to her character Asta because they both find themselves floating between identities; they “don’t necessarily check just one box.” The actor has a mix of Polish, Slavic and Native American heritage so the series creators decided to make the character of Asta adopted, thus avoiding any misrepresentation.
Speaking to the feeling of not fitting in, Tomko says “There’s that really great line that they wrote for me in the pilot when Asta says, ‘Being human is alien to me.’ I always thought that was such a beautiful sentiment.”
