Determined to tell the people about his macabre discovery, Loengard alerts the White House, an action which leads to the assassination of JFK in Dallas, Texas. On the run from Majestic and the Hive, John and Kimberly form the titular Dark Skies, a grassroots resistant movement dedicated to putting a massive dent in the unfriendly visitors' plans to take over Humanity. In the following interview Eric Close discusses life under extraterrestrial threat.

When we first meet John, he's a naive idealist who leaves his small farming town for Washington, DC. His attitude is 'Hey, I'm going to Washington DC to become the President,' so he certainly has big dreams and aspirations. But, when he finally gets to DC, his idealistic and fairytale beliefs in government are completely shattered because he learns that the government doesn't always tell the truth. Then, when knowledge about this terrible menace surfaces, he understands that he has to do something - otherwise the survival of the entire human race is at stake. That's an incredible story arc which really appealed to me.

Loengard has been on the run from Majestic since the pilot, but in "Shades of Gray" he rejoins them. Now do you feel about such a reversal of direction?

Personally, I've always felt that John belongs in Majestic, but [the creators and producers] sent the couple out on the road because they wanted people to see the romantic relationship. Initially, it seemed like a pretty good idea, but it went on a little bit too long, so they put John back into Majestic because they wanted to zero in on the task of hunting down the Hive.

John doesn't completely conform to Majestic's style. The other members are real clean-cut with military-style short hair, but he lets his hair grow out and he's never completely shaven. However, Bach turns a blind eye because he believes that this guy is destined to carry on the fight against the Hive and be an integral part of the resistance movement. So he is definitely an asset to the mission. John's intentions are good, but he becomes a little bit tiresome when he whines about 'winning the war for the sake of the people'. Instead, I'd like to see him take a tougher stance and realize that you have to break the rules if you want to figure out the aliens' tactics, achieve an advantage over the enemy and ultimately win the war. Basically, he needs to say: 'Either people are going to fight this thing or they're not going to fight it. I'm not going to wait around for them. It's time for us to gather people who are willing to fight the battle and keep it secret.' And Majestic is in a really good position to pull this off, since it's a completely anonymous organization that's being funded by the Vietnam War and various other things. Outsiders may be sickened that it's making money off the war, but, if Majestic-12 doesn't get the money, these aliens are going to come in and take over the world.

Look at cancer. For years scientists have been working together to find a cure for this menace. Similarly, John and other members of Majestic should work together to discover the aliens' ultimate weakness. You never know, they could learn about some virus which ultimately possesses the ability to wipe out the Hive once and for all.

I can't comment on that question because I really can't read the mind of a network president. I just think that the network is encouraging writers to make the show intriguing, interesting and exciting. It's a great series which has a growing audience, but I can't tell [NBC president] Warren Littlefield how to do his job. He's out there making good decisions - otherwise NBC just wouldn't be such a top-notch network. You know, one of the network executives told me, 'hey, if we believe in a show, we'll stick by it,' so I'm convinced that Warren will make the right decision at the end of the day. I think there's reason for optimism. Naturally, I'd love to see the show picked up.

I personally believe that John will make it into the future without ageing. When they tune into the show, people want to see John Loengard, Kimberly, Bach and other characters, but if these people grow old and die, the creators will have to bring in new characters and build a whole new audience. So they need to get these guys into the future through some form of time travel. After all, anything's possible in the world of Science Fiction.