A Knight's Tale and Firefly icon Alan Tudyk says he loved playing a dual role in Season 4 of Resident Alien because the Mantid who steals the appearance of his extraterrestrial character Harry is so deliciously wicked.

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"It was great. I wish I could play a third [character]," Tudyk, 54, joked with reporters in a recent Zoom round-table interview.

"I liked being the Mantid. He was cool. i like getting to smoke cigarettes," he added. "I saw him as this appetite. He lands. He's there. He's a predator."

Harry is a space alien who unexpectedly makes friends with humans in a small Colorado town before he can complete his mission to destroy the Earth.

Season 4, premiering Friday on Syfy and USA Network, finds the real Harry imprisoned on the moon, emotional and without his super powers, while the Mantid impersonates him and takes over his life in the Rocky Mountains.

"Harry is Harry. He's a little more unsure of himself," Tudyk said.

"He's open to growth. He's the alien that came to kill everybody, but he had a heart and then, this season, he definitely has a very different journey from the Mantid because he has lost his alien energy."

This development brings Harry even closer to Asta (Sara Tomko), D'arcy (Alice Wetterlund) and the folksy denizens of Patience, Colo.

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"He's human now and, so, that opened up a whole other journey for him -- not just becoming more human and looking at these other people as: 'Oh, I like these humans. They have these great qualities and some bad qualities' -- but to actually be one and now go like, 'i'm on this side of it now,' and have to come to accept that part of himself was pretty great," Tudyk said.

Show-runner Chris Sheridan said part of the fun each season is having more people discover Harry's big secret.

"I don't want to give away what happens as far as knowledge this season, but I will say that anytime anyone new finds out about Harry, it adds a new dynamic to the show, which is always helpful," Sheridan said.

"But you also don't want to do it too quickly because there's also energy in the secret of it and people not knowing what's going on," he added. "So, it was really a great move at the end of Season 2 to have D'arcy find out because, then, you can come into Season 3 with a whole new piece of storytelling where now D'arcy is part of it all, so adding someone else to that list carries a lot of weight."

Sheridan confirmed that another character will learn Harry's true identity in Season 4.

"I don't want to say who or give it up, but there's a lot of moves this season," he said.

"One thing you don't want to do, especially with a couple of hundred TV shows on the air is to take your time and bore people," he added. "So, we've always been very conscious of doing big setups and big payoffs and, with every episode, trying to have a lot of stuff happen, so this season is a very good example of that."

Tudyk chimed in: "That's exactly what I would have said, to the word! That's how in sync we are!"

The show also stars Corey Reynolds, Elizabeth Bowen, Meredith Garretson, Levi Fiehler and Gary Farmer.