Falling Skies: Hints Dropped About Terry O'Quinn's Mysterious New Character

Warning: This article contains possible spoilers.

As Falling Skies nears the end of its second season, big things are happening. This Sunday, the 2nd Mass will finally reach Charleston, South Carolina. That's the location, they've been told, of a small, reassembled U.S. government that hopes to eradicate the alien threat. It looks like that's at least partially the case, but there's something else waiting for 2nd Mass leader Tom (Noah Wyle) when he gets there.

That something is a someone -- Arthur Manchester, Tom's former mentor who is apparently in charge of the newly reformed federal government. What's so exciting about this character? Well, for one, he's played by the always-fantastic Terry O'Quinn, who pretty much everyone remembers as Locke/The Man in Black from ABC's LOST. O'Quinn had a recurring role on CBS's Hawaii Five-O last season, this looks to be his last television role before his new ABC series 666 Park Avenue starts up in the fall.

Falling Skies showrunner Remi Aubuchon warned TVLine that viewers shouldn't be too comfortable with Manchester, though. "He was a favorite history professor of Tom's which is kind of an odd coincidence," Aubuchon said. "But at the sae time, it makes perfect sense. He's done everything that Tom had hoped someone would do, which is try to recreate the United States out of the tatters that are left."

But, of course, there's more to Manchester that meets the eye. It wouldn't be much of a drama series if the guy was a totally benevolent character. "What's always interesting about a Terry O'Quinn performance, in my opinion, is that there's always something else going on inside there," Aubuchon said, "and that's not too different from what's happening with this characer. He's not exactly as he appears to be."

I'm calling it now: Manchester is harnessed.

Manchester will appear in the next episode of Falling Skies, Sunday's "The Price of Greatness." The season finale, "A More Perfect Union" will air August 19 on TNT.