The CW is officially bringing back The WB’s cult alien drama, Roswell – and Shiri Appleby is ready to be a part of it! Appleby, who starred alongside Jason Behr and Katherine Heigl in the original teen drama, tells Us Weekly she’s just waiting for the call.
“I heard! I can’t wait for them to call me to direct an episode. I can’t wait to direct it,” Appleby, 39, tells Us exclusively, with a laugh. “Jason Behr and I are back in touch and really close and we’re actually looking for something to work on together. I don’t know if it’s Roswell or anything else, but I am excited to direct in the reboot.”
The original series aired on UPN and The WB from 1999 to 2002, and was based on Melinda Metz’s book Roswell High. The reboot will also be based on the book, but will have a new spin. Here’s the official logline for the reboot:
“After reluctantly returning to her tourist-trap hometown of Roswell, New Mexico, the daughter of undocumented immigrants discovers a shocking truth about her teenage crush who is now a police officer: he’s an alien who has kept his unearthly abilities hidden his entire life. She protects his secret as the two reconnect and begin to investigate his origins, but when a violent attack and long-standing government cover-up point to a greater alien presence on Earth, the politics of fear and hatred threaten to expose him and destroy their deepening romance.”
The Originals writer Carina MacKenzie will write and executive produce with Justin Falvey, Darryl Frank, Lawrence Bender and Kevin Kelly Brown, the latter of whom was an EP on the original. The original series was created by Jason Katims, who went on to also develop Friday Night Lights, Parenthood and Rise.
The Roswell cast reunited at the ATX TV Festival in 2014 where Katims was asked where the cast would be today. “It was funny, last night when we all met and I’m talking to all these guys and they’re starting to tell me about their kids and their families,” he said on the panel. “To me, I’m frozen in time with you guys at a very different part of your life, so that would be the first thing I would think about, if I were gonna tell that story, is what they’ve been through over the last 15 years and catch them at another phase, catch them in adulthood.”
