Reboots and remakes are all the rage for television in recent years. Some have certainly flopped pretty hard, but others have become quite popular for putting a fresh twist on a tried-and-true premise. There are still plenty of reboots and revivals in the works, and we now have another we can add to the list. The late 1990s series Roswell is getting the reboot treatment for the perfect network: The CW.
A Roswell reboot is currently in the works at The CW. The network is collaborating with Carina MacKenzie to bring the show to the small screen. MacKenzie has proven her ability to craft genre stories for television thanks to her work as producer of The Vampire Diaries spinoff The Originals, which concluded its fourth season on The CW back in June. Although The Originals will be ending after Season 5, The CW clearly has faith in MacKenzie. She is on board to write the script for the Roswell reboot, and she'll executive produce as well.
The Roswell reboot won't be a simple redo of the original series, which ran for three seasons, first on The WB and ultimately on UPN. THR reports that the new Roswell won't focus on a group of high schools kids the way the first version of the series did. Instead, the series will follow the daughter of undocumented immigrants who returns to her hometown of Roswell. She discovers something entirely unexpected about the boy she crushed on as a teenager: he's actually an alien posing as a human, and he is currently working as a police officer.
Our heroine will choose to protect his secret rather than expose him for his otherworldly origin as they begin to spend time together. When she learns of an ongoing government goal to conceal the existence of aliens on Earth and discovers that aliens have a larger presence than expected following a violent attack, fear and hatred get in the way of their growing romantic feelings.
Fans of the original Roswell will be able to spot some major differences right off the bat. The premise of the first series centered on a group of high school students in the town of Roswell. Three alien/human hybrids attended the local high school, and things got complicated when another student fell in love with one of them. Forbidden love blossomed and complications arose, all with an alien twist.
No production date has yet been announced, and it may be a while before we learn who will bring the characters to life on the Roswell reboot. The description of the series with its forbidden love bears some similarities to The Vampire Diaries, which was a huge hit (especially in its early years) for The CW. Perhaps Roswell will be a hit as well.
For what you can watch while we wait for news of more Roswell, check out our fall TV premiere guide. If you're now in the mood to watch or rewatch the original series, you can find all three seasons streaming on Hulu. If you're still on the fence about a Hulu subscription, take a listen to the Hulu-centric episode of The Cord Cutter Podcast.
