‘Roswell, New Mexico’ Premiere: 7 Similarities Between The Original And Reboot

“Roswell, New Mexico” looks a little different than the original. The reboot takes the characters from Melinda Metz’s “Roswell High” books and ages them up to full-fledged adults, but fans will still recognize some of their favorite aspects of the story.

While “Roswell, New Mexico” takes inspiration from the original series, it is very much a new story. Liz (Jeanine Mason) returns home, and everyone is in town for her 10-year high school reunion. She runs into Max (Nathan Parsons) and remembers the crush she used to have. Things change after Max uses his alien powers to intervene when she gets shot.

That sounds pretty different from the high school story that aired from 1999 to 2002, but there are some similarities to the new version.

Liz Parker is still a role model. She’s just a little more confident in who she is now. Where Liz Parker was a shy teenager and, like most teens, still figuring out who she wanted to be, Liz Ortecho is a confident girl who knows what she believes in.

“She’s Liz Ortecho, she’s not Liz Parker. She’s Mexican American, which she was in the book series so we’re honoring that,” Mason told reporters at New York Comic Con. “Life is just different. We’re honoring the political climate, we’re honoring that it’s a border town. She’s a scientist. She’s 28. She’s an activist. She’s a woman on fire, I like to say, and doesn’t apologize for a step she takes or a word she spits.”

It’s still about not being accepted. “Roswell” was always about xenophobia and the fear of what is other, but “Roswell, New Mexico” brings in a very realistic element with Liz’s father being undocumented. Kyle (Michael Trevino), however, comes from a family who immigrated legally. New showrunner Carina MacKenzie pitched it as a show that she wanted to write in 2018 rather than a rehash of what viewers have already seen.

“We’re telling a story about a town in border state,” MacKenzie explained. “We’re telling a story about different immigrant families, a Mexican family that immigrated legally many years ago, a Mexican family that is undocumented and an alien family from another planet that is also undocumented. Sci-fi is all about metaphor, and it’s cool to have a show where we’re playing the metaphor but we’re also playing the reality.”

A Valenti is still Sheriff. The original “Roswell” had Sheriff Jim Valenti being the antagonist for much of the beginning of the series, but he is dead in the reboot. “His wife Michelle has taken over as Sheriff. Alex Maines’ father has sort of become our antagonist at the beginning,” MacKenzie teased.

Kyle is still the ex. Max is the lab partner Liz only had a crush on while Kyle was her high school boyfriend. Yet, Kyle is the character whose personality feels the most different. While the original “Roswell” portrayed Kyle as a dumb jock, Michael Trevino’s new version is a lot smarter. It makes more sense why Liz would’ve been interested in him, and his brain allows him to get involved in the alien drama much earlier than in the original.

Michael is still lost. Michael (Michael Vlamis) is pretty much where you’d expect him to be had the events of the original series not happened. He’s living in a trailer on land he does not own and getting arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct. He needs some help.

Everyone still has secrets. Adults have more history, and that’s more time to get into trouble. “They all have very dark secrets that the characters on the original show didn’t necessarily have,” MacKenzie hinted.

It looks similar. Expect to see a lot of things old fans recognize. From Liz’s waitress uniform to the alien handprints to the Jeep that is in the flashbacks, “Roswell, New Mexico” throws original “Roswell” fans plenty of Easter eggs in the early episodes.

“Roswell, New Mexico” premieres Tuesday at 9 p.m. EST on The CW.