INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

‘Colony’ Is A New USA Drama That Promises Plenty Of Action

By Charlinda Robinson
Published on: 05:15 PST, Jan 1, 2016

Imagine living cut off from the rest of the world with foreign invaders dictating every aspect of day-to-day living. The Colony focuses on how one family tries to survive a military occupation while struggling to maintain a somewhat new-normal lifestyle for their children. Los Angeles, California is cut off from the rest of the world by a massive wall, one that separates Kate (Sarah Wayne Callies) and Will (Josh Holloway) Bowman from their middle son, who was caught on the other side of the wall separating the Colony from other communities when the invasion began. All Will can think of is how to find a way out so he can find his son and bring him back home.

The Colony shared to their Facebook page that for those who don’t want to wait until the network premiere date of January 14 to see the first episode, they can view it now. They also ask the question, “Are you ready to enter the post-occupied world?” USA will air 10, one-hour episodes of the Colony for the first season.

[Warning: Spoilers Ahead]

In Colony, the Bowmans find themselves in a dystopian type of setting, living with their two other children in what is described as a Block. Entertainment Weekly shared that Colony has been divided into three of these blocks, which besides the Los Angeles block, includes the Santa Monica block and the San Fernando Valley block. A massive and impenetrable wall surrounds the Colony, which is as tall as a skyscraper and hundreds of yards thick. Those within Colony don’t know at this time that walls surround not only Los Angeles, but other major cities as well. Will knows his son is in the Santa Monica prison block, and devises a plan to go find him and bring him home. He plans to hide inside a truck that is allowed to leave the Colony, but that plan goes horribly awry. He is captured and to his surprise, given the choice of becoming a colony collaborator or being sent to a place called the Factory. No one who enters this facility ever comes out.

“In this, I’m not trying to get off or out, I’m trying to get to my son,” Holloway told EW. “I’m trying to get him and get back to the family and reunite our family. He has to reunite his family and then save the human race.” Holloway goes on to say that all communication has been cut off with the outside world and no one in the Colony knows if there is even a New York or if anything at all is left. “Everything is a discovery,” he says.

The initial invasion, which is known as the Arrival, was led by an invading alien force called the Raps or the Hosts, which no one in the Colony has ever seen. They will be revealed sometime during the first season to those within the Colony, however. The Bowmans find themselves under the thumb of an organization known as the Colony Transitional Authority. This occupying force is human and speaks English. They are basically militarized police in black-and-red uniforms, armed with automatic weapons and armored personnel carriers. They are also called Redhats by the Colony populace. There is an elite group of humans called the Proxies or Collaborators, which were hand-picked by the Hosts to oversee the Colony blocks.

Life in Colony is not easy under this occupation, and order is maintained through separation of family members, shoot-on-sight curfews, random checkpoints and electronic surveillance using an unusual type of drone aircraft. Now, Bowman finds himself face-to-face with the Colony’s ruling elite and according to the Hollywood Reporter, if he and his family are to survive, he must make a difficult choice.

Creators of the Colony series are Carlton Cuse (Lost) and Ryan Condal (Hercules); Cuse told EW why they decided to not focus on the invasion, but rather on the aftermath and subsequent occupation.

“Ryan and I felt like that show had been done,” Cuse said. “The story of colonization is really an espionage thriller with a sci-fi backdrop … If you look at the history of the world, almost every country has either been a colony or a colonizer. The social dynamic of one group of people having absolute power over another group of people is something we wanted to explore. We wanted to find a contemporary way to do that.”

Cuse stated that they were inspired by what occurred during the Nazi occupation of Paris during WWII where people went on trying to live their lives, actually sitting at street-side cafes sipping coffee while Nazi officers marched along the road in front of them. “The incongruity of trying to maintain the order of your life under this incredible oppression is something that really fascinated us,” Cuse said.

If Colony sounds interesting, check out the premiere episode online now at the USA website. If this is a series you find intriguing enough to continue watching when it debuts on the small screen, Colony will debut on Thursday, January 14 at 10 p.m. ET on USA.

[Image via Colony USA/Facebook, cropped and resized]

Share this article: ‘Colony’ Is A New USA Drama That Promises Plenty Of Action
More from Inquisitr