Drew Roy as Hal Mason in Falling Skies. Photo copyright of TNT.
As a high school senior, Hal Mason had his whole life ahead of him. He had no idea, though, that his not-too-distant future would involve helping defend Earth against an extraterrestrial invasion by robot drones or “Mechs” and their green-skinned, six-legged controllers called “Skitters,” Six months after the aliens’ initial devastating attack, Hal’s father Tom, a former Boston University professor, became second-in-command of a human resistance cell, the 2nd Massachusetts Militia Regiment, and along with Hal and his two younger brothers Ben and Matt, took up arms against the enemy. It was the start of a battle unlike any ever before waged in human history, and actor Drew Roy, who plays Hal on the TNT Sci-Fi series Falling Skies, was thrilled to be in the thick of it all.
“When I first booked Falling Skies I had been out here [Los Angeles] for five years and was taking acting classes that whole time,” recalls Roy. “I’ll never forget the first time I walked onto the show’s sets, which are huge. You’re in that world, and when the cameras begin rolling you don’t have to imagine much of anything. You’re standing there on a bullet and pot-marked street with fires and flipped over cars. That’s a huge bonus to have when you think about what I had to do, and what all actors have to do to get such a job. You go into this [audition] room with stark walls, the casting director is sitting there, and you have to imagine everything that is supposedly going on around you.
“So for me it was quite easy when I began working on the show to get caught up in the moment. Everything is right there in front of you and you just have to make sure to use it. I guess one of the challenges for me with this and most roles is that unlike an audition room, millions of people are going to have the ability to eventually watch what you’re doing. If you let that get into your head, you can become a little nervous. That’s probably the hardest thing, but I’m not the type of person who worries about something like that. When you’re on-set and have 100 or so people standing around, including the extras and all the crew, you just have to get in your own little world and do what an actor does, which is tell the story the best you can.”
Along with the Mechs and Skitters, there is a third mysterious alien race, the Overlords or “Espheni,” who are the dominant species over the other two and leading the invasion of Earth. The war against these creatures becomes a personal one for Hal when one of his younger brothers, Ben (Connor Jessup), is abducted by the aliens. Hal sets off to rescue Ben, which he does, and then he later ends having his body taken over by an alien parasite. Hal is left paralyzed and unable to walk except when under the parasites’ influence, but at the end of season three, Hal regains his mobility after having an operation to remove the creature from his body. Hal, his father and brothers then set out with the 2nd Mass for Charleston, South Carolina in search of Tom’s partner Anne Glass (Moon Bloodgood), and their human/alien hybrid daughter Alexis (Erika Forest). In the season four opener Ghost in the Machine, our heroes are within a proverbial stone’s throw of Charleston when they are ambushed by the aliens. This proved to be another memorable moment for Roy.
“Shooting the season opener and going back into production is always pretty special,” notes the actor. “It’s like the first day of school and everyone is feeling a little nervous. However, you’re back with your on-set family who you’ve been working with for the past four or five years. The first day of filming is usually the opening sequence, which is also usually huge and a ton of fun. You get to run around all day, shoot your gun and dodge explosions, all of which we did in the first episode this season.
“As far as my character this year, we get to see Hal continue to grow into a leader. We’ve seen him display leadership qualities as well as take charge when necessary and be vocal during certain situations. However, in season four we’re going to see Hal in front of crowds, leading them, telling them what to do and doing it quite proficiently. At the same time, we see him tempted with the possibility of crumbling right back into being the hotheaded young adolescent that we knew as Hal in the very beginning of the show. This arises when he’s presented for the first time as not the guy who just gets the girl and has the girl. He winds up in a love triangle with none other than his brother Ben and Maggie [Sarah Carter].
“That turns into quite a compelling storyline, and one I was very skeptical of when I first heard about it. I just didn’t see how it was going to benefit any of the characters or how it would be believable or interesting to watch. Because of that, we were all rather cautious about it and really focused on figuring out how to make it work. We took great care to shape these [story] arcs together and ended up with a very interesting dynamic amongst these three characters. I think viewers are going to be pretty excited to see what happens. As characters, no one is right or wrong, so different people are going to root for different characters to be together and they’re going to be proud of what some characters do as well as ashamed of what others do.”
In the season four opener, Hal, Tom, Captain Weaver (Will Patton) and Pope (Colin Cunnigham) are captured and imprisoned in an Espheni ghetto camp. Hal and Pope get into a fight when the latter tries to take food meant for everyone, and they continue to butt heads as season four continues to unfold.
“I want to say it’s in episode four {Evolve or Die] this year where get to see Hal and Pope interact a little more than usual. As you might already know, they don’t get along, and that sort of crescendos to this fairly heightened situation between the two of them. After Colin Cunningham and I filmed that scene, we both walked up to one another and gave each other a little pat on the back. It was one of those times where we both knew we did something pretty special as actors.
“That’s one scene from this year that I’m especially proud of. There’s another one later on this season where the triangle between Ben, Maggie and Hal gets pretty hot and heavy. At one point we see the depths of love that Hal has for Maggie. Even with all the new circumstances that are right there at their fingertips during this particular moment, my character still cares a great deal for her. So there are some really nice scenes between Hal and Maggie that I’m also very excited for audiences to see.”
Prior to Falling Skies, Roy played recurring roles in such series as Greek, Lincoln Heights, iCarly and Hannah Montana, while his feature film credits include One Wish, Costa Rican Summer, Secretariat and the upcoming Sugar Mountain When it came to his dream of one day growing up to become an actor, this Alabama native turned to someone very close to him for advice.
“My dad is one of these guys who knows a bit about everything,” says Roy. “I really haven’t stumped him that many times in my whole life. Once when I was probably 10 or 11 years old, we were watching TV together and I leaned over to him and asked, ‘Dad, how do you become an actor? He looked over at me and said, ‘I have no idea.’
“Dad is a dentist and I always thought I wanted to be doctor, but at one point I made this lunatic decision. Five of my closest friends were in a band and were thinking about moving to Los Angeles, so I thought, ‘Yeah, I’ll do that. I’m not going to college. Instead, I’ll become an actor.’ So we all moved out to LA just as naïve as you can be. They tried music for a little while, but then decided to move back to the South because it was easier for them to tour there. They all ended up falling in love with their now-wives, had kids and all live amazing lives. I however, stuck it out in LA because I was too afraid to put my tail between my legs and go back home. I worked hard, but I got incredibly lucky when it comes to acting.”
Steve Eramo
Falling Skies airs Sunday nights @ 9:00 p.m. EST/ PST on TNT. As noted above, photo copyright of TNT, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!
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