“I don’t believe in aliens,” Drew Roy tells me, shaking his head. The actor’s boyish smile and laidback demeanor exude utter honesty. Beliefs aside, 26-year-old Roy’s latest character, all-American teenager Hal Mason on TNT’s hit sci-fi drama Falling Skies, certainly does. He, along with his father, played by a very scruffy Noah Wyle, are part of an armed militia protecting a band of civilian survivors following a devastating alien attack that has decimated close to 90 percent of Earth’s population. Roy routinely fends off the screeching, multi-legged extraterrestrials, blasting them to high hell as they relentlessly attempt to destroy the remaining humans.

Without a doubt, Hal Mason is his most mature role to date, as Roy’s résumé is heavy on mega popular tween television series (Disney’s Hannah Montana, Nickelodeon’s iCarly, and ABC Family’s Greek) with a heartwarming, feel good film thrown in for good measure (2010’s Secretariat). Certainly, Roy is more experienced with television’s lighter fare, likely due to the Alabama native’s unmistakably clean-cut, wholesome, corn-fed vibe he emanates and youthful appearance that make his true age a bit of an eyebrow raiser, but he’s clear about being ready for the next level. Given the complex and unnervingly fantastical, hypothetical plotline, Roy’s character on Falling Skies might seemingly be difficult to lay credence to. To that, Roy simply keeps it down-to-earth, pointing out universal themes and relatable associations within the imaginative drama that he easily connects with.

Story by Adam Luebke | Photography by Angelo Kritikos