‘Roswell, New Mexico’: Jeanine Mason, Nathan Dean Parsons’ Chemistry Read ‘Just Felt Right’

At the center of The CW’s “Roswell, New Mexico” is a love story between alien Max and human Liz, and last week’s premiere made it clear that their chemistry is off the charts. Stars Jeanine Mason and Nathan Dean Parsons both told International Business Times that it helped that they weren’t strangers.

“I’m standing outside our chemistry read, and Jeanine walks up and I realize I know this girl,” Parsons told IBT at New York Comic Con. “We had worked together years ago on a show called ‘Bunheads.’ Instantly, it was just sort of relief of like, I know who you are. There’s a comfort level that kind of immediately started out. It carried through the chemistry read, and I guess somebody noticed it.”

Mason revealed that she was cast on the “Roswell” reboot before Parsons. She had landed the role of Liz Ortecho, an updated version of Liz Parker. She’s the daughter of undocumented immigrants who returns to her hometown and finds out that her high school crush, Max Evans, is an alien after he saves her life. Mason read with several different Max actors, but she knew that Parsons was her man.

“We hadn’t kept in touch. We had both been off doing other gigs and then [‘Roswell, New Mexico’ was] struggling to find someone,” Mason told IBT. “Testing and testing and testing, chemistry reading and then I got an email that I was going to chemistry read with one more person, Nathan Parsons. I was like ‘Nathan Parsons? Oh my god, I haven’t seen him in a minute.’”

It doesn’t seem like their time apart affected anything, though. “It just felt right,” Mason said of the chemistry read. “[Executives] called and asked my opinions throughout that process. I don’t think they were ever going to necessarily honor it, but it’s nice that they asked. I was a champion for him from the start, and it’s been so fun working with him.”

On “Bunheads,” which ran from 2012 to 2013 on Freeform (then called ABC Family), Mason played Cosette, a new dancer at school, while Parsons played Godot, a bartender. They didn’t share many scenes, but that didn’t stop one fan from recognizing the two while they were filming the “Roswell, New Mexico” pilot.

“That show has a cult following. People love it, but it [only] did a season,” Mason said. “So that’s like the least likely show I’ll get recognized for, ever. Maybe it’s happened twice. We were, the two of us, in the elevator at the hotel in Albuquerque when we were shooting the pilot, and this woman was in there with her family. She was sort of quiet, I could see her kind of like eyeing us. I didn’t know what she was gonna say, but she was like, ‘You guys were on Bunheads, right?’ Yes! This woman walked into the one elevator in the world where there are two ‘Bunheads’ cast members! We were like, yes, that was us! So funny.”

Check out the “Bunheads” alums on “Roswell, New Mexico” on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. EST on The CW.