‘Roswell, New Mexico’ Star Michael Vlamis Teases Malex Jealousy, 1940s Flashbacks

The CW’s “Roswell, New Mexico” Season 2 is giving Michael Guerin plenty of drama. In the first two episodes, the character has grieved the loss of his brother, tried to make amends with Maria, learned new information about his alien mother and he’s already been arrested once. Actor Michael Vlamis told International Business Times that there’s plenty more to come.

The Chicago native talked to IBT last week in a phone interview while he was social distancing in Los Angeles, and he opened up about Michael’s anger, jealousy and longing. Plus, of course, he teased more tension for Michael and Alex (Tyler Blackburn), AKA Malex, as Michael tries to move on with Maria and Alex gets a new love interest.

IBT: What’s your favorite aspect of Michael's storyline this year?

Vlamis: My favorite aspect is probably also my least favorite aspect, which is the feeling of losing a brother because that is also such a difficult thing. There's losing a relationship, and then there's losing a family member. Fortunately, aside from grandparents, I haven't had to deal with losing a direct family member, but I have lost a very close friend. That actually happened right before the season started, which was, it was a crazy experience. I don't want to get into it. It's way too dark.

But that person that I lost, my buddy, was such a proponent of my career and me as an actor. Back in the day, he was always so excited for me to take a chance and come out to LA and do this thing, and so I felt like this responsibility, I kind of channeled that guy on set during this season while reeling from the loss of my brother. It was a very beautiful and cathartic thing, but it was also a very tough thing because consistently I'm putting myself in this headspace of what I felt like at the time when he was gone.... If that dude was going to go down, he would want to go down with a purpose, and I just try to take some of him and put it into my work.

IBT: How do you think Michael is different without Max around?

Vlamis: I think he's pissed off because he feels like he has to step up now, and he has to now all of a sudden be the protector. He has to be the savior. In a lot of ways, he is a protector, but he never thinks of himself as that. He just does what he has to do, and now the fact that Max has gone--because he played the hero card, because he played the savior card, which is a big reason we're in this whole mess, he's always kind of done that--he kind of feels responsible that he needs to be the one to look after Isobel.

I think that's why he shows up to the funeral. I don't think he wants to be there. I think he wants to be drinking away all of his sorrows, and that's why he shows up not dressed and filthy and hammered and he's got a bottle with him. Deep down, he knows what he has to do, but he hates the fact that he has to do it.

IBT: Michael is also learning about his real family and his mom. At the end of the last episode, we see him become suddenly more determined to learn about his mom. Can you tease a little bit of where that journey's going to take him?

Vlamis: I think he was always very interested in learning about his mother, and then when she passed at the end of Season 1, he gave up. Now that this new information's coming, it's pissing him off because he's been drinking, wallowing in his sorrows, playing this victim card, wanting this whole thing to be over on the outside. Like just, "Okay, maybe there is no purpose, and that's it. Screw it. I don't have a family. I don't have anything. I'm kind of this lost soul."

But this new information comes up, and just when he's deciding to give up on it, deep down, he's still that kid who's longing for his family, who bounced around from foster home to foster home. He wants to find out his roots, and he does this season. He really finds out a lot about his mother and where she came from and did she spend any time when she landed in Roswell, or was she taken as a prisoner immediately?

This is all information that gets explained as the season goes on, and they do it in a really cool way. They use the flashback device to go back to the late 1940s and early 1950s and see what Roswell was like back in the day during that time, and that's all through the information that he's finding. It's a really cool journey for the character, but also for the show because we get to see all these old pieces.

IBT: Of course, I have to talk to you about Michael's many romances.

Vlamis: Of course. Of course, you do.

IBT: I was re-watching the end of the last episode earlier today, and Michael really says, "I want to be with Maria," to Alex very kind of abruptly. Why is he so anxious to tell him that he likes Maria?

Vlamis: I think because he wants to be left alone right now. When it comes to Alex, I think that there's too much pain, too much trauma between the two of them, too many reminders of a darker time that he needs to let go, and whether he wants to say that--Maybe it came out so abruptly because maybe he doesn't know what he wants exactly, but he knows that he deserves to be happy, and maybe he wants to actually be happy for once.

Does he want to push Alex away? Probably not. I mean, they have a kind of love that's unexplainable. It's been around forever, and there's so much history. That's always a tough thing. But unless you lay a hammer down, you're never going to go explore these other possibilities and maybe a life that you actually deserve and that is better for you.

I think that's probably why I said it so abruptly just because it just needed to be said, and such a hard thing to say. And I could play this yo-yo effect forever and go back and forth with the two characters. Or I could take a shot, which is even harder to do, to say no to someone and say yes to another. I think that's what he's doing right there.

IBT: Last time we talked was at New York Comic Con, and you said that there's definitely sexual tension between the guys, but they're going to try to be friends. Are they going to struggle with being friends? Being friends with your ex is not the easiest.

Vlamis: No, I've never been friends with one of my exes. I don't know how that works, so I kind of take in a lot of my life experience into the character. I always try to do that. I will say that it's very rocky at first, but with that being said, he's the one guy who's really helping me uncover this truth about my mother, so whether there's animosity towards one another or not, we are stuck together. There are so many more Malex scenes this season, maybe even more than last year.

It's just a different dynamic. But that's something that we really enjoy to play too. We enjoy that sexual tension because no matter what happens, they have a deep love for one another, so whatever the lines are, there's going to be that, "What if that worked out, What if?" Whether that's good for him or not, whether he wants that or not, you always kind of wonder that.

IBT: I know that Alex has also getting a new love interest this season. Will we see any jealousy in Michael?

Vlamis: Yes. Screw that guy. Hate that guy. [laughs] Oh, man. I actually love that actor, Christian [Antidormi]'s the man, but there is a lot of... Yes. You will see a lot of jealousy from Michael Guerin--even though he shouldn't be jealous because he's in a different relationship. But we all act actually have some scenes together too coming up, the three of us, which is really fun. Yes, you get to see the subtext of Guerin not being too happy about this new guy in the world of Roswell.

IBT: You have been playing Michael for two seasons now, and I believe you guys are renewed for a third, right?

Vlamis: We are. Yes. We just got word that we might go back a little later to Santa Fe to shoot, but they're just being safe right now and kind of … trying to figure it out, but it seems like, yes, we 100% have a Season 3, and it'll be shot sometime this year.

IBT: You get to actually think about this character's future and know that your character does have a future. So what do you really want to see Michael do?

Vlamis: Man, if I answered this, honestly, I'd probably give away spoilers, so I have to be careful in how I answer this, but I would want him to find peace within himself and knowing that he's enough and that there are people that love him and care about him in the way that he's always longed for, which his family, whether him and the aliens are actually related not or whether they were separated from different homes growing up.

I think I really want him to realize that none of that matters and he has a family, which is something that he's back and forth on. He struggled a lot. He knows that they-- The Pod Squad, what everyone calls us. Yeah, I love that actually--But he knows that they're there for him. But deep, deep, deep down, they weren't in the house every day.

He didn't wake up and eat a cereal with those siblings and everything just went about. No, he was getting beat up, and he would sneak out to the Foster Ranch and wonder about where he's supposed to be. I would like him to find a little bit more peace with himself. At the same time, I'm a little conflicted because I love being in a jail cell as the character. I love being dirty. I love fighting. I love the drama. I don't know which way they're going to take me, but I'm going to be happy with either.

“Roswell” Season 2 airs Mondays at 9 p.m. EDT on The CW.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.