Sometimes the end of a season also brings about the end of a character, and sadly for Peter Shinkoda, that’s exactly what happened on Falling Skies‘ Aug. 19 finale. After two full seasons of fighting off an alien invasion, Peter’s character Dai was the victim of a fatal ambush. HollywoodLife.com caught up with Peter to collect his thoughts on leaving Falling Skies.

As it turns out, Peter only found out about Dai’s fate “a day or so” before shooting the big scene, which he describes as “spiritually crushing.”

“It was very difficult to be suspended on wires and stare out at my cast mates knowing that it would be the last time Dai would see them,” he says.

He describes his Falling Skies co-stars as “the best group of people that I ever had the chance to work with,” making his departure from the show even more devastating.

Fortunately, Peter is walking away from his two-year run on the show with life-long lessons.

“This show has single-handedly elevated my understanding of the industry,” he tells us. “From conceptualizing how to achieve certain scenes, all the way to personal conduct on a set, there is an unlimited wealth of information that I have absorbed; knowledge that presents itself to an actor only if he/she is fortunate enough to find themselves on a TV show. The lessons were invaluable!”

Drop me a comment with your reaction to Dai’s Falling Skies death!

— Andy Swift

Follow @AndySwift

More shocking TV deaths:

1. ‘True Blood’ Scoop: Jacob Hopkins Talks Last Night’s Surprise Death
2. ’90210′ Season Finale Recap: Is Dixon Really Dead?
3. ‘True Blood’ Recap: Russell Edgington Claims His First Victim

If there’s one thing I learned from the June 19 series of premiere of TNT’s Falling Skies, it’s that I would be the first person killed upon an alien invasion. In case you missed the two-hour opener, Falling Skies is the story of Tom Mason (Noah Wyle), a history professor-turned-refugee who must survive following the invasion of robotic alien creatures known as “mechs” and “skitters.”

And while the show may have been produced by Steven Spielberg, these aliens were far from the cute-and-cuddly E.T. I was secretly hoping for. Nope, these guys were enormous, metallic, and armed with enough lasers to blow Tom and his merry band of refugees — known as the 2nd Massachusetts – to pieces.

But what surprised me the most about the two-hour premiere was that, underneath all the gunfire and explosions, was a show with a lot of heart. In some ways, I felt like I was watching an alien version of The Walking Dead, as we were given a pretty solid glance into the lives of Tom and his fellow survivors.

The focus on Tom’s relationships with his three sons made it oddly appropriate for Falling Skies to premiere on Father’s Day. While Tom’s middle son, Ben (Connor Jessup), was kidnapped by the aliens, his other two sons — Matt (Maxim Knight) and Hal (Drew Roy) — were right there by his side, hoping to learn enough about the “mechs” and “skitters” to kill them.

Also to the show’s credit, I wasted a TON of time on its surprisingly addictive website. (Click here to check that out.) If you find yourself obsessed with the show’s theology — or just its intense soundtrack — you’ll probably get lost surfing it as well.

But now that I’m sucked in, there are a ton of questions I want answered. What happened to the characters between the invasion and the formation of the 2nd Massachusetts? How do you kill those stupid things? And, dear God, will Tom & friends ever find Ben?!

— Andy Swift

Aliens may not be as sexy as vampires, but we don’t think you’ll have too much trouble getting hooked on TNT’s Steven Spielberg-produced miniseries Falling Skies, which kicks off at 9 p.m. tonight with a two-hour premiere. Star Noah Wyle plays a history professor who must lead a group of survivors after a devastating alien invasion.

But the extraterrestrial series isn’t all guns and gore. Noah tells TVLine that underneath the show’s action-packed exterior is a lot of heart. Viewers will see his character grapple with themes of “fatherhood, leadership, loss [and] grief.”

And for those of you who like a little mystery with your summer TV, it sounds like Falling Skies has you covered there, too.

“The more we learn, the more we learn we don’t really know” what’s going down on Earth, Noah tells TVLine.

Watch the trailer for Falling Skies below, then drop us a comment and tell us if you’ll be watching!

Click here to view the embedded video.