What happened to Rick Neale? Resident Alien Season 3 title card tribute explained

Syfy’s hit show Resident Alien cast and crew are mourning the death of Rick Neale, a 41-year-old teamster who worked on several TV series and movie productions across Metro Vancouver. Resident Alien returned to television for a third season on February 14, 2024, following a long hiatus attributed to a writer’s strike.

At the end of the episode titled Lone Wolf, the cast and crew of Resident Alien paid homage to a late crew member, Rick Neale, dedicating the episode to the 41-year-old teamster killed in a head-on collision on the Trans Canada Highway near Spences Bridge on October 5, 2023. The title card tribute read,

“In memory of Rick Neale.”

Title card tribute to Rick Neale (Image via Peacock)

According to CTV News, Rick Neale, who had worked on TV series and movie productions across Metro Vancouver for the past eight years, had taken up a job as a long-haul trucker during the Hollywood writers' strike to support his wife and two children.

Neale was reportedly driving a dump truck on October 5 when he was killed in a fiery crash following a head-on collision on the Trans Canada Highway near Spences Bridge.

---

Rick Neale worked on the third season of Syfy’s hit show Resident Alien

Rick Neale (Image via Ever Loved)

Rick Neale, who worked on the third season of Syfy’s hit show Resident Alien, which wrapped production on May 1, 2023, was reportedly forced to find other means of employment to support his family following the writer’s strike that shut down productions across North America.

According to CTV News, shortly after the fatal crash, Rick Neale’s friends told the network he began working as a long-haul trucker on May 29, 2023 and was ambivalent toward the job that he loved and despised at the same time due to the dangers involved. At the time, a friend, Paul Smith, said,

"He was a provider for his family, he wasn’t going to let his family suffer. He would do whatever it took, and he took the trucking job.”

Another friend, Ryan Bieber, added,

"He liked it and hated it at the same time, just because of how dangerous it was."

Rick Neale left behind his wife, Monica, their seven-year-old boy, Nathan, and their five-year-old girl, Lexi. In the wake of his death, family members organized an online fundraiser to render financial assistance to the victim’s widow and two young children. The fundraiser on Ever Loved, which has raised over $30,000, said,

“The world lost a one-of-a-kind soul. A husband, father, son, brother, uncle and friend. He will be deeply missed by so many. We have put together this fundraiser to help raise costs for funeral expenses and to help lessen the load for his wife, Monica and their two kids, Nathan and Lexi. On behalf of the Neale’s thank you for your kind words and generosity.”

The third season of Syfy’s hit show Resident Alien premiered on February 14. It brought back most of its core cast, led by Alan Tudyk as Harry Vanderspeigle, an alien intruder impersonating a local doctor from Patience, Colorado.

The show’s plot, which revolves around Alan Tudyk’s character, follows his journey as a gray alien who tries to invade Earth but embraces humanity and defies his superior's orders to wage war against humans.