Colony was one of the standout shows of 2016.
A sophisticated, often tense exploration of the political and social schisms that emerge in society when a mysterious race of aliens arrive and take over the Earth, installing a proxy government to rule in their stead, it was never less than utterly compelling throughout its first 10-episode season.
Centring on the Bowman family, Colony details the difficult decisions people have to make to survive the carving up of countries into colonies, each ruled over as personal fascist fiefdoms by punitive collaborative humans.
Neither Will (Josh Holloway) nor Katie (Sarah Wayne Callies) have particular love for their hidden alien overlords but both make vastly different decisions about how to respond to an almost impossible situation.
Will opts to work with the Redhats, the colony’s Gestapo-like security force in order to track down his missing son while Katie decides to throw her lot in with the Resistance, in an effort to do what they believe is right for themselves and for humanity as a whole.
It’s unnerving viewing at times, exploring issues of imperialistic rule and the brutality and Orwellian oversight of occupation but Colony always underlines how difficult and fraught responding to that kind of situation would be.
The trailer for season 2 doesn’t give us a lot of narrative meat to chew on but it does indicate that the revelations will continue, that the fight must go on and that even more difficult choices will need to be made as time goes on.
Colony season 2 debuts 12 January 2017 on USA Network.
- If you want to catch up on where we left Will, Kate and the others at the end of the tense season 1 finale, read this recap.