Related: Complete Coverage of TCA Summer Press Tour
Beverly Hills, Calif. — USA’s Colony is not an alien invasion story, it’s a story about occupation.
“It’s really an espionage thriller with sort of a sci-fi backdrop,” said executive producer Carlton Cuse. “We sort of felt like if you look at the history of the world every country has been a colony or colonizer.”
Cuse, who spoke during a TCA summer press tour panel for the show, was joined on stage by executive producer Ryan Condal and stars Josh Holloway, who worked with Cuse on Lost, and Sarah Wayne Callies.
Colony, which was inspired by post-World War II Paris, follows a family trying to navigate a colonized near-future Los Angeles.
“There’s this mix of beauty and tragedy,” said Cuse of the setting, explaining that he and Condal wanted the show to feel visceral.
USA is giving Colony a good start, premiering the series on Jan. 14 out of WWE Smackdown.
Other highlights of the panel included:
—The series is shot in Los Angeles and Cuse said that the city is very much a character. “I’ve spent the last 6 years of my career shooting on location,” said star Sarah Wayne Callies. “It’s weird to be in L.A. and have a more traditional job.”
—“Family is first” for star Josh Holloway in Colony, which is very different from his character in Lost, where Holloway said his character lived for himself.
—There are three blocks of the colonization: Los Angeles, Santa Monica and the valley. Over the course of the first season, Cuse said, viewers will start to find out what’s going on in the rest if the world.
—Callies was asked to compare Colony to The Walking Dead, saying “this is almost the photo negative” of The Walking Dead world. “Aren’t we all running from one global catastrophe to another?”
—The relationships within the fictional world are a pivotal part of Colony. “The complexity of those interactions is something that has intrigued us as storytellers,” said Cuse.
