Roswell (TV series)

Roswell is an American science fiction television series that presents a timeline where the Roswell UFO exists, and aliens are hiding in plain sight as a trio of high school-aged teenagers. Developed, produced, and co-written by Jason Katims, the series aired on The WB from October 6, 1999 to May 21, 2001, and later on UPN from October 9, 2001 to May 14, 2002. Sixty-one episodes in total were broadcast over the show's three seasons. In the United Kingdom, the show aired as both Roswell High and Roswell.

The series is based on the Roswell High young adult book series, written by Melinda Metz and edited by Laura J. Burns, who later became staff writers for the television series.

A reimagining of the series, Roswell, New Mexico (2019–2022), aired for four seasons on the CW.

Cast

thumb|Season 2 main cast: [[Shiri Appleby, Nick Wechsler ; Katherine Heigl, Colin Hanks, Emilie de Ravin, Majandra Delfino ; William Sadler, Jason Behr, Brendan Fehr .]]

Main

Shiri Appleby as Liz Parker: A teenage girl who discovers the aliens' true identities after Max saves her life. The two develop a relationship.
Jason Behr as Max Evans: The Alien Leader of the Royal Four with healing powers. Throughout the series, Max struggles with his relationship with Liz, his mysterious past, and developing as a leader.
Brendan Fehr as Michael Guerin: Max's best friend. Michael is an alien who struggles to find his place on Earth. He has a relationship with Maria. He has the difficulty controlling himself, especially when his emotions are strong. His special power is never revealed.
Katherine Heigl as Isabel Evans: Max's sister, who struggles with the weight of her secret alien identity. Isabel has the power to "dream-walk", or enter people's minds during their dreams or her own.
Majandra Delfino as Maria DeLuca: Liz's best friend who is in on the secret. She is in a relationship with Michael and struggles with it.
Colin Hanks as Alex Whitman: Liz and Maria's best friend who helps them on their adventures while nurturing a crush on Isabel.
Nick Wechsler as Kyle Valenti: Jim's son who overcomes initial suspicions about Max to eventually become a friend.
William Sadler as Sheriff Jim Valenti: The town sheriff who starts out as an enemy but becomes a powerful ally. He later becomes the Royal Four's new protector after Nesedo dies. He also becomes the legal guardian of Tess as well.
Emilie de Ravin as Tess Harding: The "fourth" alien who was raised by Nasedo. Tess has the power to "mind-warp", or cause people to see things that are not really happening.
Adam Rodriguez as Jesse Ramirez

Recurring

Garrett M. Brown as Philip Evans: Max and Isabel's adoptive father
Mary Ellen Trainor as Diane Evans: Max and Isabel's adoptive mother
Diane Farr as Amy DeLuca: Maria's single mother
John Doe as Jeff Parker: Liz's father and owner of the Crashdown Cafe
Jo Anderson as Nancy Parker: Liz's mother
Nicholas Stratton as Young Michael (season 1): Appears in several flashback sequences
Julie Benz as Kathleen Topolsky (season 1): FBI agent posing as a high school guidance counselor
Jim Ortlieb as Nasedo (seasons 1–2): Alien sent from Antar to watch over the Royal Four. He has the ability to shapeshift. He is murdered at the beginning of season 2 by "Skins."
Michael Horse as Deputy Owen Blackwood: Sheriff Jim Valenti's assistant
Steve Hytner as Milton Ross (season 1): Owner of the UFO center
Richard Schiff as Agent John Stevens (season 1): FBI agent from a special unit tasked with investigating alien existence
David Conrad as Deputy David "Dave" Fisher/FBI Agent Daniel Pierce (seasons 1–2): Head of the FBI special unit assigned to investigate alien existence
Devon Gummersall as Sean DeLuca (season 2): Maria's delinquent cousin who has feelings for Liz
Desmond Askew as Brody Davis/Larek (season 2): New owner of the UFO center who has a young daughter and passion for researching aliens
Gretchen Egolf as Congresswoman Vanessa Whitaker (season 2): Congresswoman for whom Liz is an assistant before her identity as a "Skin" is discovered
Sara Downing as Courtney Banks (season 2): "Skin" who works at the Cafe and thinks Michael should be the leader of the Royal Four
Miko Hughes as Nicholas Crawford (season 2): Powerful "Skin" who has the appearance of a teenage boy

Episodes

Production

Roswell High was originally developed by 20th Century Fox Television and Regency Television for the Fox Network, but it eventually landed on The WB (retitled simply to Roswell) thanks to the latter network's offer to extend a full 22-episode upfront commitment. The pilot episode was filmed in 12 days with a budget of $2,000,000. "The Morning After," the second episode of the series, was the first episode with the full title sequence utilizing the theme song, "Here With Me" by Dido.

Filming locations

thumb|right|Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park.

Roswell was filmed in various locations around California. City Hall, Charter Oak High School, and several other businesses and residences in Covina served as stand ins for fictional locations in Roswell, New Mexico, as well as Vasquez Rocks, a park in Los Angeles County. Episode 1 of season 3 was filmed partially in Salina, Utah.

Airing history

The series premiered on October 6, 1999, on The WB in the United States to generally favorable reviews, and quickly gained an outspoken fanbase.

In response to low ratings during the first season, the relationship-driven stand-alone episodes of the early first season were to be replaced with more science fiction themes and multi-episode plot arcs. Starting with the second season, after a fierce fan-driven campaign involving bottles of Tabasco sauce—a favorite condiment of the show's alien characters—were sent to the network's offices, veteran science fiction writer Ronald D. Moore was brought in as an executive producer and showrunner to further develop the science fiction elements of the show.

Not all fans responded favorably to the shift to more science fiction-driven storylines during the second season and the ratings continued to disappoint, causing the network to finally cancel the show on May 15, 2001, after the show's second-season finale. However, producing studio 20th Century Fox persuaded UPN to commit to a third season as a package deal when UPN outbid The WB for one of its popular flagship series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. During the 2001–2002 television season, Roswell, in its third season, aired directly after Buffy on Tuesday nights on UPN, though it was unable to hold on to the audience Buffy provided. This led to the show's final cancellation. The soundtrack featured Ash, Coldplay, Sarah McLachlan and others.

Although the show used many popular songs throughout its original airing, due to licensing issues many songs were replaced on the home video releases, with the new songs handpicked by the show's original music supervisors. There are notable exceptions in which songs that became important or symbolic plot moments were retained, such as the use of "Fear" by Sarah McLachlan and "Crash Into Me" by Dave Matthews Band in the pilot and "I Shall Believe" by Sheryl Crow in a later episode. Similarly, Dido's "Here with Me" was also kept as the show's opening theme music throughout all three seasons on DVD.

However, the German language track is the only audio track to contain the original music. Similarly, the syndicated episodes of the show also contain all of the original music.

Novels

In addition to the original Roswell High book series that inspired the television series, a range of novels were published based on the events depicted in the show. These focused on events that largely went unexplained on screen.

Pocket Books

While Roswell was still on air, three novels were published by Pocket Books. When the show was cancelled, this series ceased publication.

Loose Ends by Greg Cox (June 2001)
No Good Deed by Dean Wesley Smith & Kristine Kathryn Rusch (August 2001)
Little Green Men by D.W. Smith and K.K. Rusch (April 2002)

Simon Spotlight Entertainment

In 2002, Simon Spotlight Entertainment picked up the Roswell range and published eight more novels. Following low sales, the series ended a year later. The first four novels act as a bridge between seasons two and three, and the last four are set after the events of the series.

Shades by Mel Odom (September 2002)
Skeletons in the Closet by Andy Mangels & Michael A. Martin (November 2002)
Dreamwalk by Paul Ruditis (January 2003)
Quarantine by Laura Burns (March 2003)
A New Beginning by Kevin Ryan (June 2003)
Nightscape by Kevin Ryan (July 2003)
Pursuit by Andy Mangels & Michael A. Martin (September 2003)
Turnabout by Andy Mangels & Michael A. Martin (November 2003)

Re-imagining

On October 12, 2017, The CW announced that a re-imagining of the book series was in development. Unlike the original series, the new series has an immigration twist, focusing on the young daughter of undocumented immigrants who returns to her hometown of Roswell to shockingly discover that her teenage crush, now a police officer, is an extraterrestrial. On January 30, 2018, The CW issued a pilot order for the new version. On February 15, 2018, it was announced that Julie Plec would direct the pilot.

Production companies involved with the pilot include Amblin Television, Bender Brown Productions, CBS Television Studios and Warner Bros. Television (previously produced from Regency Television and 20th Century Fox Television).

On February 16, 2018, Jeanine Mason was cast in the lead role. Weeks later, it was announced that Nathan Parsons, Michael Trevino, Heather Hemmens, Michael Vlamis, Lily Cowles and Tyler Blackburn were added to the cast.

On May 11, 2018, it was announced that The CW ordered Roswell, New Mexico and would premiere on January 15, 2019. It concluded its run after four seasons in September 2022.

References

External links

official site (Sci Fi Channel). Archived from the original on April 17, 2004