In news that could either be taken as a coincidence or—depending on whether you believe it’s possible for two people in the entertainment industry to come up with the same idea around the same time—part of a massive government conspiracy to prepare people for a coming extraterrestrial onslaught, two different shows about alien invasions are being developed. Adding another layer to the mystery, they are for a pair of cable networks that do not, at first glance, have anything to do with one another: Syfy and USA.
The USA show comes courtesy of Carlton Cuse, who—between producing Bates Motel, The Strain, and the upcoming adaptation of The Returned, and mulling over the mistakes he made while producing Lost—is a very busy man. The show is called Colony, and it’s set in the Los Angeles of the not-too-distant future, which has been occupied by an alien regime. Colony will revolve around a family torn apart by the desire to cooperate with their new alien overlords—thus netting them perks like extra bathroom breaks and immunity from death by ray beam blast—and their longing to rebel, a choice that nets no perk but martyrdom.
Meanwhile, Syfy’s alien invasion series will follow a group of space miners in the year 2124, who discover a deadly species on one of Jupiter’s moon and set off the first stage of an invasion that’s ultimately headed for Earth. Titled Absolute Zero, it hails from Burn Notice producer Michael Horowitz—although the description makes it sound like it would be a better fit for Cuse, who knows a thing or two about stalling like mad before a premise’s big payoff.