Warning: Spoilers ahead forResident Alienseason 4, episode 3, “Ties That Bind.“AlthoughResident Alienhas taught viewers quite a lot aboutAlan Tudyk’s Harry Vanderspeigle, the sci-fi dramedy has long kept one thing in particular under wraps - until now, perhaps. In his role as the leader of theResident Aliencast,Tudyk has played Harry since the show’s first episode, in both his human and alien forms. One of the biggest storylines inResident Alienseason 4 revolves around Harry being more human than ever, but it’s during this arc that the show may have resolved one of the biggest mysteries regarding Tudyk’s extraterrestrial character.
Along withResident Alien’s Grey Aliens,Harry has been one of the story’s most influential charactersfrom beyond the stars. He has been at the center of pretty much everything that’s happened since the show began, and his alien nature is a big reason why that is. InResident Alienseason 4, episode 3, “Ties That Bind,” Harry continues to lead the narrative charge and somehow manages to tease a big answer to a series-long mystery in a throwaway line.
Harry Refers To The Device Recovered From His People’s Ship As “Pleiadean”
Tudyk’s character says the name surprisingly off-handedly
Harry and D’arcy (Alice Wetterlund) travel back to 1970 in “Ties That Bind” in an attempt to recover a device from Harry’s people, as he plans to trade it to the Greys in exchange for getting his “alien energy” back. When D’arcy starts to have second thoughts about taking the device back through the portal,Harry refers to it as a “Pleiadean Gamma Cluster.“While it would be easy to breeze right by this line, it could be a vital piece ofResident Alienlore.
Harry describes the Gamma Cluster’s capabilities as being largely associated with the monitoring of bodies of water, which also aligns with at least one of the things his Alien Ball was capable of in earlier seasons.
Basically,the name of Harry’s race has never been openly revealed. So, the fact that Harry announces that the Gamma Cluster is Pleiadiean in origin could mean that Harry himself is a member of that species, as the device in question is attributed to his people. Harry describes the Gamma Cluster’s capabilities as being largely associated with the monitoring of bodies of water, which also aligns with at least one of the things his Alien Ball was capable of in earlier seasons. So, it stands to reason that Harry is a Pleiadiean.
What’s especially compelling about this possible Harry reveal is that Tudyk’s character is perfectly capable of saying “Pleiadean,” whereas he has already offered examples of his people’s native tongue, and it just sounds like a string of unintelligible sounds to the human ear. However, with Harry being human in “Ties That Bind,“it could be that his new physiology is simply arriving at an English-language equivalent of the name of his species, which just so happens to come out as “Pleaidean.”
The Pleiadeans' Place In Real World Ufology/Folklore Explained
Resident Alien didn’t create the Pleiadeans
Showrunner Chris Sheridan hasn’t simply plucked a word out of the air when naming the Pleiadean Gamma Cluster. The Pleiadeans have existed in real-world folklore for decades. Also referred to as “Nordic Aliens” or “Tall Whites,” among other names, the Pleaideans have been described as humanoid, and almost indistinguishable from humans from Earth’s Nordic region. So, they’re commonly described as having blonde hair, blue eyes, and fair skin. That said, some reports have also stated they tend to be taller than humans, andothers claim the Nordic Aliens have a blue/purple hue to their pale skin.
The Pleiadeans' supposed point of origin is from somewhere in the region of the Pleiades Star Cluster, which is also known as Seven Sisters. It’s one of the nearest star clusters to Earth.
Harry’s natural form doesn’t match the description of Pleaideans in folklore, although there are a few subtle similarities. For example, Harry is blue/purple when in his alien form, and he is much taller than humans in this state. Plus, Harry’s people can shapeshift, so they could easily look like a rough attempt at a Nordic-region human. My theory is that Harry’s people originally visited the Nordic region of Earth decades beforeResident Alien, and tried to transform into members of the local population. But, because they hadn’t encountered humans before, they couldn’t get the transformation quite right.
As an added clue, Harry took the form of the original Harry Vanderspeigle when he landed on Earth, whose surname suggests a Dutch heritage. Nordic Aliens are also sometimes referred to as Germanic or Scandinavian Aliens, and the Netherlands is a Germanic country.Harry’s human form has many of the physical features of a traditional Pleaidean, although he lacks the immense height and blueish skin that’s also often mentioned. That said, it’s not unreasonable to assume Harry’s people have simply gotten better at imitating humans since their first visit to Earth.
Harry Being A Pleiadean Would Fit Perfectly With Resident Aliens' Worldbuilding
The Greys and other aliens in the show are also taken from the field of Ufology
The Pleiadeans are not the first alien race to be mentioned or featured inResident Alienwho had been described or referenced long before the show began. For example,the Greys are heavily based on countless stories of people who claim to have encountered them, and Sheridan has made them incredibly recognizable to anyone even vaguely familiar with science-fiction. Other examples include Blue Avians like Heather (Edi Patterson), and even the Mantid (Clancy Brown).
So, it would arguably be off-brand forResident Aliento reveal that Harry is a member of a species that’s completely original to the show’s lore. What’s more likely is that the writers have delved deep into the field of ufology and found reports and descriptions of an alien race that could be used to build Harry’s character design. Of course, it hasn’t yet been confirmed whether Harry is a Pleaidean or not, butResident Alienseason 4 seems to be very softly suggesting that he is.
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