The CW may be gearing up for the last season of Jane the Virgin in October, but if you looked at their slate of upcoming series you might think it was still the late ’90s. The network known for catering to teens is slowly taking their landmark series and diversifying them, starting with their Latina-centric retread of Charmed, whose first trailer showed this new trio of witches were a force to be reckoned with. But Charmed isn’t the CW’s only throwback series. Earlier this year they announced plans to reboot Roswell, the teen soap opera/sci-fi series that ran for three seasons starting in 1999. Now, the trailer has dropped showing a world that doesn’t look so different from 1999.
Roswell, New Mexico follows Liz Ortecho (played by Cuban-American actress Jeanine Mason) who returns to her hometown of the title. She’s reunited with her high-school love turned police officer, Max (Nathan Parsons) who, along with his sister and best friend harbor a secret that goes all the way back to 1947. The trailer lays things out pretty clearly: Max, his sister, Isobel (Lily Cowles) and friend, Michael (Michael Vlamis) are aliens who survived the legendary crash we’ve all heard about. Liz’s return conjures up old memories between her and Max, while Isobel and Michael believe her arrival means she’s a threat to their survival. The trailer briefly shows the trio’s powers, particularly Max’s ability to heal and Michael’s strength and ability to levitate objects. There are also callbacks to alien hunters and the belief that the group just want to be considered normal.
As someone obsessed with Roswell back in 1999, this trailer left me confused. It’s regurgitating a lot of moments from the original series, though making the group adults as opposed to high-schoolers. This series is also touting itself as a new take on the material, with Liz’s parents being undocumented immigrants, though that’s not evident in the trailer. In fact, outside of Liz herself, none of the aliens are Latinx, which leads one to wonder what the point of remaking this specific series was. (It was never a big hit, rating’s wise.) That being said, they best include that Dido theme song or I’m gonna revolt!
Roswell, New Mexico doesn’t have a release date yet but it is anticipated to have a mid-season premiere.