As reported by Deadline, USA is developing a new drama series about a schizophrenic man whose daughter goes missing, which makes him consider the possibility that she was abducted by the same aliens that abducted him 10 years ago. The series will be called The Terrestrial, and despite Deadline’s multiple references to it as an “alien drama,” we’re pretty sure it sounds more like the show has no aliens in it at all. Read that synopsis again. Does anything about it say that aliens actually kidnapped this man’s daughter? Or that he was even kidnapped by actual aliens? Why would it be relevant to refer to him as “a schizophrenic man” if he were actually the victim of an alien abduction? So, despite Deadline’s assertions to the contrary, we’re pretty sure USA’s The Terrestrial will actually be a dark drama about a troubled man who loses his daughter, not a sci-fi drama about close encounters of the fourth kind.
Whatever it’s about, The Terrestrial will be written by Gary Dauberman, the guy behind the recent Conjuring spinoff/prequel Annabelle. That does seem to back up the “aliens are real” interpretation, but we’re going to stick with our “the aliens are not real” reading of it. That way, we can have the fun of being proven wrong without having to blindly repeat whatever USA’s press release says.