Colony (TV series)


Colony is an American science fiction drama television series created by Carlton Cuse and Ryan J. Condal, starring Josh Holloway and Sarah Wayne Callies. A ten-episode first season premiered with an online preview release of the first episode on USA Network's website on December 15, 2015, following the launch of a game-like website to promote the show.
The series had its broadcast premiere on USA Network on January 14, 2016. In April 2017, Colony was renewed for a third season which premiered on May 2, 2018. On July 21, 2018, USA Network announced they had cancelled the series after three seasons.
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Setting

In a dystopian near-future Los Angeles, residents live under a regime of military occupation by an organization known as the Transitional Authority. The Authority serves an extraterrestrial group referred to as the "Hosts", about whom little is known until later in the series. The symbol of the collaborating forces features stylized birds of prey, or raptors, which gives rise to their nickname, the "Raps". The Authority enforces Host policy via militarized police called Homeland Security and nicknamed the "Redhats" for the red helmet cover of their otherwise black tactical attire.
The Hosts took control on a day known simply as the "Arrival". That day began with a permanent global blackout and mass technological failure, which came after a weeklong hunt for relevant key figures around the world. Late that day, massive rectangular blocks descended from the sky, linking together to build walls dividing every city and every nation. One of these walls, 20 to 30 stories tall, many meters thick and many miles in length, surrounds the central part of Los Angeles, where the series is set. Other similar walls have been constructed around neighbouring urban areas, called "blocs", with the whole referred to as a "colony". Traffic passes through the walls at heavily secured checkpoints, called "gateways", which allow the Authority to strictly control the movement of people and the distribution of consumables, such as food and fuel, which are rationed. The geographical extent of the alien invasion is unclear, but later scenes in the series show Authority members from all over the world - hence making the invasion scale worldwide.
A privileged class of elites, drawn by the Hosts from the local population, are denigrated by some bloc residents as collaborators. The ruling forces maintain control through the separation of family members, shoot-on-sight curfews, forced disappearances, random checkpoints, frequent electronic identity checks, limitation of motor vehicle usage, pervasive visual propaganda, slave labor in a place called the "Factory", and massive continuous electronic surveillance with both hidden cameras as well as Host-provided drone aircraft that launch from hangar bays inside the wall and are capable of killing humans by extremely lethal high energy weaponry. All chronic medical problems, such as diabetes, have been "deemed unworthy for treatment" by the Hosts to cull the population and eradicate weakness.
A resistance movement is referred to as both the "Resistance" and the "Insurgency". An informal barter-based black market has also sprung up, trading in surplus materials and home-produced goods.

Allusion to historical events

In a May 21, 2015, interview with Collider, executive producer Carlton Cuse stated that the show was "conceived as a metaphor for France during the Nazi occupation". In a separate interview with Entertainment Weekly, co-creator Ryan Condal detailed that the original concept behind Colony was that they "were actually inspired by Nazi-occupied Paris during WWII, where people went on living their lives, having coffee in street-side cafes while Nazi officers marched along the roads".

Plot

The series begins less than a year after the arrival of aliens who occupy Earth. It follows the Bowmans and their extended family in Los Angeles. Their son, Charlie, was on a school sports trip and was separated from them when alien walls sectioned off part of the city. The father, Will Bowman, is a former FBI agent and retired Army Ranger who reluctantly joins the Redhats and is tasked with tracking down members of the Resistance, after being threatened that he and his family would be sent to "the Factory" if he did not comply. Unbeknownst to Will, his wife, Katie, is an operative in the Resistance. She later reveals this, and they begin to trade information. Their son, Bram, discovers a way under the wall, and later joins a rival resistance group.

Cast and characters

Main

  • Josh Holloway as Will Bowman: A former U.S. Army Ranger and FBI special agent initially working under the alias Billy "Sully" Sullivan as a truck driver and mechanic. To protect his family from being sent to the Factory, and to find his missing son Charlie, Will starts working for the Redhats hunting down Resistance members.
  • Sarah Wayne Callies as Katie Bowman: Will's wife and a secret Resistance operative. She owns and operates "The Yonk", a New Orleans-themed bar.
  • Peter Jacobson as Alan Snyder: The Proxy Governor of the Los Angeles Bloc and an unrepentant Collaborator. Snyder claims to be a former Stanford University provost but is later revealed to have been the corrupt purchasing manager of a small community college.
  • Amanda Righetti as Madeline "Maddie" Kenner : Katie's younger sister
  • Tory Kittles as Eric Broussard: A former U.S. Marine Corps Force Recon officer, CIA paramilitary operator and private military contractor. Now a Resistance operative, he infiltrates the Redhats and is Katie's main Resistance contact.
  • Alex Neustaedter as Bram Bowman: Will and Katie's teenaged son
  • Isabella Crovetti as Grace Kathryn "Gracie" Bowman: Will and Katie's young daughter
  • Jacob Buster as Charlie Bowman : Will and Katie's younger son, who was separated from the rest of his family a year before the start of the series, when the wall went up.

Recurring

Future plotlines

Carlton Cuse, co-creator of Colony, had originally envisioned the series spanning five to six seasons. The show, however, was canceled after its third season, leaving many storylines unresolved, including a large-scale conflict between humans and the alien occupiers. Josh Holloway, who played the lead character Will Bowman, revealed that the creators had planned a dramatic transformation for his character: he would be sent into space and undergo significant changes – similar to a Jason Bourne-type evolution – before returning to Earth to play a pivotal role in the resistance. The long-term narrative aimed to offer a path to redemption for humanity, involving a reversal of power and a potential "reset" of the world.
In 2025, Holloway said:
I love that show. We were about to do the big war, finally. I was looking forward to coming back and being the super soldier, kicking ass. The way it ended was heartbreaking. But that's our biz. But there is a following because it was so well-written—it was like a real espionage kind of show. But I told them, "You got to show an alien soon." There's a reason there's a shot clock in the NBA. People are impatient. Show an alien so we don't get canceled! But we were a little late.

Reception

Critical response

The show has received generally positive reviews. On Metacritic it holds a score of 69/100, based on 22 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a score of 84%, based on 31 reviews. The critics' consensus reads: "Colony offers an engaging enough narrative, a few scares, and an overall good time, even if none of it is particularly original".
Stephen King praised the series, saying: "In a year of remarkable TV, Colony is really something special: smart, suspenseful, subversive... thought-provoking".