Colony Season 3 begins months after the events of last season’s finale, when the Bowman family and Snyder (Peter Jacobson) escaped Los Angeles with the Gauntlet. After months of living in the wild, Will (Josh Holloway) and Katie (Sarah Wayne Callies) leave their place of relative safety to search out The Resistance with Snyder in tow.

Last fall, I visited Colony’s Resistance set in the remote woods of Coquitlam, BC with a group of journalists. As we drove away from the city and into the forest without cell service and plenty of bear warnings, the set felt exactly like entering a rebel camp. The tall trees provided cover for the camp, while rustic buildings were used for housing, schools, and community spaces.

On this very cold day, we spoke with Josh Holloway and Sarah Wayne Callies about where we find the Bowmans as the season begins, the relationship between Will and Katie, Snyder’s place in the family, and their place in the Resistance:

QUESTION: Where do we find them as a family when we meet them in Season 3?

SARAH WAYNE CALLIES: Apart from intact, which is significant, and happy. For my money, one of the most interesting developments has been Bram (Alex Neustaedter), who I think when we pick him up has been folded into the Will and Katie world much more. I think he's made a major transition from being a boy who was frustrated by his lack of participation and then got into some real trouble trying to get involved with The Resistance to someone whose parents do listen to and take seriously.

JOSH HOLLOWAY: It's changed our relationship quite a bit, which is fantastic. To me, the repressive parent, that relationship, he and I were like, "Oooh, we're so tired of that!" So we were glad it evolved into more trust and partners and letting him come of age as a man. That's a significant shift. And also, they're happy. For once, they're together. They're safe. It's a time cut, so it's been six month together living in the forest in relative safety. They've experienced something we haven't seen the Bowmans experience even for a second. That's very significant.

CALLIES: I will say that in that safety, I think weighing very heavily on Katie and to Bram to a certain extent as well, is that fact that they are-- there's a price to their family's safety, right? Which is that I promised Broussard, we promised Broussard, that we would get this really important piece of intelligence to The Resistance. In a way, the continuing theme of the show, but certainly of this season continues to be, what's the balance of safety and liberty? What are the things you give up in order to be safe? And what are the things you're willing to give up in order to be free? It's an incredibly exciting time to be asking those specific questions.

Do you think Katie and Will are on the same page?

CALLIES: Maybe not the same paragraph in the page. [Laughs]

HOLLOWAY: [Laughs] Yeah. Same page. Different paragraph. Exactly. Will understands and believes also what his wife believes in. He married a rebel. He knows that. He, himself, is one, but his priorities are family, safety, protection first, and then I'll deal with saving the world. It strikes a good balance, but what is nice about this season is that we are on the same page. Different paragraph, same page. I am listening. I try to convince them lightly to stay in the woods forever, but I know that that is not the reality. So I'm entrusting my son into becoming a man. I am open. Reluctantly open to what they are talking about.

CALLIES: At the same time, I'm not a combat veteran. I think Katie's willingness, as much of the shine, has come off of her kind of naivety over the first few seasons, Will still has a much more profound understanding of what engaging the enemy means, especially on a large scale. I always try and kind of think of it from Will's perspective, as well as, Katie's, which is that it's easy and romantic to say, "It is better to die standing than on your knees." And it's another thing to have been somebody, who as a character, has a past of going overseas and engaging in combat and losing people.

HOLLOWAY: And understanding military power and the fact that we were taken over in less than eight hours is not lost on Will. Throughout this series, he's been reluctant of resistance for those reasons. Simply, they don't have enough information to fight this enemy yet and he states that to his son in Season 2. We win by surviving first.

CALLIES: And then once we survive, we fight.

HOLLOWAY: Exactly. I get that.

Snyder is kind of part of the Bowman family in a way now. Do the Bowmans trust him? What's their take on him?

CALLIES: This might be a same page, different paragraph kind of thing. I think Katie would happily leave him on the side of a road and be like, "Here's a granola bar. Good luck."

HOLLOWAY: I agree. I again, knowing this guy and his capabilities and what information he may still have, he like eeks out information. For me, he's still an asset. And the trust--

CALLIES: I just think he's an ass. [Laughs]

HOLLOWAY: [Laughs] Yes. Yes, I still think he's an asset and he's helped us in the past here and there. He saved my son from the prison camp. He's done certain things that to me make him still valuable to keep around, and valid not to leave on the side of the road without a granola bar.

CALLIES: I just figure a granola bar makes the bears come faster.

Season 2 showed us a little bit more about the alien culture and that there are different factions. How will that world broaden this season?

HOLLOWAY: Right away, you're going to learn quite a bit and go, "Oh, shit." There's going to be a very cool moment where the science fiction opens up, broadens quite a bit quickly.

CALLIES:  You know that moment where there were these people in Afghanistan that the US decided to arm so they could beat the Soviets? And then a little bit later, the US was like, "Oh, wait, maybe that wasn't a great idea?" We kinda have a moment like that.

When you are talking about fighting back, it seems like such an unfair fight. The aliens clearly have technology that we don't understand. Do you have the tools to fight back?

CALLIES: I think that's our hope with the Gauntlet. Our hope is that the Gauntlet and whatever wrap they've captured will finally level the playing field. I always get that Tiananmen Square image of the guy and the tank. Is this just a symbolic resistance? Or is there actually the potential to affect a change. I think the hope from the beginning with the Gauntlet, especially when Noah shows up and says, "We've got this Rap and all of that."

HOLLOWAY: And Broussard's discovery, they are able to interface with the drones and possibly control. That is step one: drones. You don't even get to the Raps before you're obliterated by these damn drones, so it's step-by-step in figuring out tactically what we can do. In Will's world, still not enough info, but making progress to it.

Will and Katie join the Resistance at a camp with McGregor (Graham McTavish) as the head of the Resistance? What's their relationship? What's this group?

CALLIES: [McGregor] is a red-headed leader of men who may or may not be completely unhinged and running his group into the ground. I'm just sayin'... [Laughs]

HOLLOWAY: Just sayin'. [Laughs] Okay. Yeah, and for my character, this is an interesting thing because this is her territory more. It's cool in the storytelling that [Katie] kind of takes the lead in this thing. I'm here and I'm with it, but it's kind of driven by Katie really trying to make this resistance what it should be, what it could be, what it's supposed to be.

CALLIES: They've done a lot. Joking aside. They've survived and built a community for at least six months.

HOLLOWAY: Yes. And that is valid and undeniable. When we show up with our children and they have a school and children to play with. My God, just that to me as my character before we find out all about the camp so much as Katie and Bram were dead on. They were right, it's time to move back to society, civilization in whatever form that may be.

From the scene you are shooting today, it’s clear that Katie and Will entering the community upsets the internal politics of the camp. How does joining this community change the dynamic of their marriage and their relationship with their kids?

CALLIES: They remain a pretty strong, united-- In the sense, there's a lot of trust.

HOLLOWAY: Yeah. This is nothing compared to what they went through with the collaborating, and her starting in the Resistance, and us around each other. We're on the same page AND the same paragraph.

CALLIES: And recognizing each other's strengths. Will and Katie weren't allowed to be a team really until the very end of Season 2. What we find is that they're a very good team. He's got a great line in this episode where I say something about, "I'm not going to take no for an answer." And, he says, "Then, God have mercy on this camp." And, there's a cool like, "Don't fuck with my wife." "Don't fuck with my husband." Like, I mean, "We're the Bowmans, Bitch. We've got this." [Laughs] And, that's before you get to my sons.

HOLLOWAY: That's what I mean about her kind of taking the lead in this because the trust thing. My skills as an investigator is to gather information, find out things, so I kind of fold into the world here and have my own job and try to get information. Bram's doing kind of the same thing. I'm teaching that boy good. And Katie's getting to the heart of it. Straight to the heart of it. We're playing as a team and it's working. And even Snyder is even valuable in his instincts. He's a survivor and we know it. We know how well he can survive. We don't disregard everything he says.

CALLIES: He has a good spidey sense.

HOLLOWAY: We disregard him, but not what he says. [Laughs]

Colony Season 3 premieres Wednesday, May 2 on USA Network.