Britne Oldford Reveals the Secret Behind Syfy’s Hunters

Britne Oldford portrays one the most interesting characters in Syfy’s new alien conspiracy thriller, Hunters. She plays Agent Allison Regan of the Exo-Terrorist Unit, a secret organization which seeks out extra-terrestrial insurgents called “hunters” who look just like humans. Viewers don’t yet know what the aliens want or why they seemingly kill indiscriminately, but what makes Oldford’s role unique is that Agent Regan is, herself, a hunter fighting on the side of the humans.

Hunters is the brain child of The Walking Dead producer, Gale Anne Hurd, and 12 Monkeys producer, Natalie Chaidez. With a pedigree like that, Oldford was anxious to take on the role of Agent Regan. “Working with Gale Anne Hurd has been a dream of mine,” she said in an exclusive interview. “I mean, I grew up watching Terminator and Aliens and watching Sigourney Weaver just slay!”

Oldford had to undergo extensive training, dubbed “hunter boot camp,” in order to enact the animalistic movements and alien mannerisms of a Hunter, while still remaining very much a human, since the origins of her alien nature are unknown. “I tried as much as possible to work out and to put on a little muscle before the show,” admitted Oldford. “It was very intense. It was pretty grueling at times.”

When asked to describe what abilities the aliens have, Oldford explained, “We have incredible hearing because actually we’re auditory creatures, and we are faster than humans; we can be stronger than humans. We’re not necessarily physically afflicted by similar things as humans are.” Some of these abilities have appeared in the opening episode while others have yet to be revealed.

Despite Regan’s alien physiology, the character fights on the side of the humans in the show, which is very much intentional. “Regan ultimately wants nothing more than just to be human,” insisted Oldford. “She’s incredibly conflicted with her Hunter-ness and her abilities and the urges that come with it, be it very primal, whether it be aggression, and she’s tormented by it constantly. And she wants nothing more than to be good and to fight for what she believes is right.”

Oldford hopes that Hunters will appeal to hardcore science fiction fans as well as those that enjoy a good counter-terrorism thriller. “The world is expansive, and it is very specifically geared towards an audience,” she explained, “specifically the beautifully nerdy, amazing audience that we know and love. But also it’s accessible to everyone, and I think that holds true with The Walking Dead, and it holds true with all these stories because they’re really allegories for human experience.”

Oldford admitted that she herself is a science fiction fan, mostly because of how the genre mirrors issues humanity confronts in the real world. “It’s really taking this very accessible platform to talk about real issues,” she said. “To talk about what’s going on today; to talk about fear; to talk about power; to talk about what really is good, what really is bad… and really talk about the humanity of any different type of person.”

Oldford ended by expressing hope that viewers would discover these assertions for themselves. “Hopefully people watch [Hunters] and become introspective and ask questions,” she encouraged. Hunters airs its second episode on Monday, April 18 at 10pm ET. To hear the full interview with Britne Oldford, listen to Sci Fi Fidelity’s April 2016 episode below or on SoundCloud.