“Look, we got our interview!” Michael Vlamis said to me as we started our chat about all things Roswell, New Mexico Season 3, and in particular, the upcoming season finale.
I’ve not so secretly wanted a chance to speak with Michael Vlamis for a long time now because he’s the dream interview. Getting to talk to an actor who brings so much heart and soul to the characters he brings to life is all we want as critics. And Vlamis is nothing short of amazing to speak with.
And if that wasn’t enough of a treat, I also got a chance to interview EP Christopher Hollier, who speaks about the show with so much reverence and joy.
Both men were open, honest, and incredibly insightful as they talked about some of the best moments of the season at large and gave us a little preview of what’s to come on Roswell, New Mexico Season 3 Episode 12 and Roswell, New Mexico Season 3 Episode 13. Join me for part one of the Roswell finale interviews!
I feel pretty confident declaring this the best season of Roswell yet. And considering it was produced while the world was in the throes of a global pandemic was no easy feat.
“I’d say what I’m most proud about is the fact that we got to employ a whole team of people during a global pandemic. And we challenged them, and we wrote something I think even stronger, more complicated, during the midst of that,” Hollier replied when asked about what he was most proud of about this season.
And he has every reason to be proud, as the show took risks and crafted a story that was fast-paced and gave the audience a lot to process every week. Seeing as how the season took place over a couple of weeks, the characters had to make a lot of decisions quickly, creating a very emotionally heightened experience for the audience.
As far as the thought process behind framing the season in that way, Hollier said, “Some of it was just looking at what was going on in the world. One thing doesn’t come at once; all things come at you.
“And as you stand in the rainstorm, you’re like, “Well, now why is it flooding? And why is there an earthquake happening at the same time?” It just happens that way sometimes. So, the goal was to put pressure on them to really force them to evaluate who they are because nothing shows you who you are like putting you in a stressful situation.”
That makes sense on a show like Roswell that lives for the character moments, as well as the splashy actions scenes. They do both very well, and Vlamis’ character Michael Guerin is often smack in the middle of both the fights and the emotional beats.
This season, Guerin found out his father was an evil, murderous dictator who looked identical to Max, the person with whom he’s had his own complicated relationship with over the years.
This was a twist Vlamis was rather excited about.
“I just thought it was going to be so fun for the fans. So many times, when I’m reading something, first of all, I think about how can I attach myself to it, right.
“How can I make this very real, and personal, and deep, but when it’s something like that, it’s like all you can think about is what people are going to say when they’re like, oh my God. All this time, your dad has looked exactly like Max; that’s hilarious to me. It’s just such a fun move to do in the show.
“So, I was pretty stoked, but Nathan has made it very easy. I mean, because he is, as Jones, he’s a completely different person. Even the way he holds himself, his mannerisms, the way he talks. He’s a lot of fun.
“And so when you line up against that, it’s lining up against basically a whole new actor, it seems, so you have something completely new to play off of.”
Dealing with Jones was one thing, but Guerin also dealt with finding out new things about his mother as well. And we got many scenes throughout the season of him trying to deal with those complicated emotions.
But as Vlamis explains, he had some exceptional people in his corner that helped him to cope with the new realities of his lineage.
“I mean, honestly, I think he comes to terms with it through his support system. And I would say especially Tyler Blackburn, Alex and Nicholas Ballas, Sanders. It’s funny because Sanders seems like he’s this character that isn’t around a lot. He pops in here and there, but when he pops in, you don’t forget those scenes.
“There’s something special going on. That’s the father figure Michael never had. So it’s those people because Michael Guerin, unfortunately, he’s not at the point in his life where he’s going to be able to make these self-discoveries alone.
“And even if he does make them, I don’t know if he’s going to be able to accept them. It’s the people around him who have always seen what he really is, continuously telling him. And then the more he’s heard it and the more info he learns, the more he’s starting to maybe believe it.”
Meeting Jones introduced the audience to the Oasis for the first time, a wondrous planet that we often visited throughout the season. And Hollier admits the Oasis will continue to be something we may see in the future.
“You can never put the toothpaste back in the tube. So, our goal is to slowly build out the world, just show you little pops and let your imagination continue to fill in the gaps. We made it a point this year; we want to show a creature from them.
“We want to show a bigger shot of it. We want to start to hint at mythology and let people, again, play along on the big sense of what is happening and where they think we might be going ultimately with a two-world story.”
And we were introduced to more than just the alien’s home planet.
We got to meet Dallas, played to perfection by Quentin Plair, who we quickly learned was a part of a triad with Michael and Isobel. Guerin was hesitant to embrace Dallas at first, but once he let his guard down, the two bonded rather quickly and gave us one of the best scenes of the season.
When asked about Dallas, Vlamis first responded, “I’m a big fan of Quentin,” before talking more in-depth about his feelings on the Michael and Dallas dynamic and bringing a new alien into the fold.
“I love it. It’s another one of those things that I kind of had early on with, with Nathan Parson’s character, Max early in season 1, and whatnot. It’s kind of like a brother I never had.
“But the difference is with that brother I never had with Max, I mean, I did have him, but it was a brother who maybe didn’t understand where I come from or who I was exactly.
“And I think this character, Dallas’ character, he understands that a little bit more. You know I say I read his file three times. Finally, I just had to stop obsessing over the trauma that he went through as well.
“So, to have someone that is not only a part of my triad but also had a similar past as I did, that’s a new way to approach a brotherly bond.
“It’s a whole new feeling. There’s almost comfort in the fact that we both went through some of these horrible experiences. Anytime I can do super deep personal work, I love it so much. And to have him do the deep personal work too, and be kind of just a bouncing board off of him was really special too.
“Just to sit there at that lake and listen, and Lily comes up, and one of my favorite parts about that scene is at the very end when Lily sits down, and it’s just such a beautiful feeling, like sibling moment when she sits down. And we’re kind of back-to-back with each other, looking at Dallas, talking about going into what exactly are we?”
The season has been chockfull of fantastic scenes like that, where the characters get time to connect, which carries over into the finale, a two-part epic battle for the ages.
When we left everyone in Roswell, New Mexico Season 3 Episode 11, Jones had everyone trapped in his mind.
And as Vlamis previewed for us, “I think they did a really cool thing that I saw people speculating and talking about on Twitter, which was everybody in the mindscape, in Jones’s mindscape, at that dinner table at the end of episode 11 is sitting, except for Michael Guerin.
“And some people have actually guessed right on Twitter, which is cool. But the fact that he is his father’s son, maybe he hasn’t exercised his abilities in the way or trained them in the way to be as powerful as his father, but he does have the ability.
“He’s still in the mindscape, but he is more powerful than Jones ever expected and actually might have a fighting chance against him. Therefore, he’s not succumbing completely to his mind control.”
This makes for a very intriguing start to the finale and an intriguing start to these interviews! After the episodes, we’ll return for a look back at the two hours and some great reflection from both Hollier and Vlamis about some of the most significant moments.
And what things they were most excited for the audience to see!
Roswell, New Mexico airs Monday at 8/7c on The CW.
Whitney Evans is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.