1 of 3 | Michael Vlamis can now be seen in the fourth and final season of "Roswell, N.M." File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI |
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NEW YORK, June 13 (UPI) -- Michael Vlamis said he hopes his beloved, but recently canceled space-alien western, Roswell, N.M., will be remembered not only for its laughter, tears and romance, but also for the intelligent and heartfelt messages it imparted.
"A legacy comes down to what a show has to say and I think our show had a lot to say, whether it was about feeling like an outsider or being afraid to accept love or understanding what home really means and where you belong," Vlamis told UPI in a recent phone interview.
"The show will find an afterlife of people who didn't watch it, didn't know about it prior. It will be found again and [new viewers] will relate to all these themes," he added. "The themes and what we explore are relatable and told in an exciting way."
Roswell was one of the nine CW shows WarnerMedia canceled this spring as it changes its business model to focus more on its streaming properties.
"I don't think it was personal," Vlamis said of how Roswell won't be getting a fifth season on the cable network.
"A lot of people nowadays are really putting value into the audience that they are finding on streamers. Well, Roswell did a good job in both deals [with repeats streaming on Netflix]. But sometimes it's not enough," the actor explained.
"At the end of the day, I think our show definitely could have kept going."
Roswell follows space aliens Michael Guerin (Vlamis), Max Evans (Nathan Dean) and Isobel Evans (Lily Cowles), who crash-land in the titular southwestern town when they are children and have been pretending to be ordinary humans ever since.
The fourth and final season is now airing on The CW Monday nights.
In Season 3, the brilliant, but troubled Guerin and his on-off beau, U.S. Air Force veteran Alex Manes (Tyler Blackburn), got a fairytale ending when they went on their official first public date after saving Earth from a villain from their home planet that looked exactly like Max and was actually Guerin's biological father.
"It was so fun and freeing," Vlamis said of Guerin and Alex's adorable night out.
"All the scenes that we had over the years that were so traumatic, to be in front of the Manes statue in town holding hands in front of him and just walking off, that was so satisfying."
The statue honored Alex's late father Jess (Trevor St. John), a military hero who beat Alex and broke guitarist Michael's hand when he learned of their teen romance years earlier.
"The writers do a great job of callbacks. The fact that I put my hand into his hand, Episode 1 of Season 4, that's no coincidence!" Vlamis said. "It is truthful and it's earned."
Season 4 opens with commitment-phobic Michael moving out of his trailer and into open-hearted Alex's house.
It will take a little more self-acceptance before Guerin truly believes he deserves love and happiness, though.
"By the end of the season, Guerin gets there and he gets there in a very beautiful way with all of the characters in the show," Vlamis promised.
"It's such an answer no one wants to hear, but when you are going through things in life, it really is just time," he added. "Guerin is willing to do the work. Deep down, he wants happiness, he wants love, he wants family, he wants a home and he is realizing that he has found that in Alex and it was there all along."
Vlamis thinks the character's struggles to find purpose, be a good man, forgive himself for past mistakes and trust those who matter most to him make Guerin one of the show's most relatable characters.
"Everyone deserves love," Vlamis emphasized.
"You can repent, you can learn, you can grow, you can put the work in and I think people are very complicated and they see that in Guerin. In earlier seasons, Guerin said, 'Hope is a dangerous thing,' but hope is also a beautiful thing. I think everybody should be hopeful."
As Roswell comes to a close, Vlamis is working on the next chapter of his career. He is on the hunt for another steady acting job, but also recently wrote and directed his first feature film, a psychological thriller called Crossword.
"We just wrapped," he said. "We just hired our editor, which I am really excited about and so our editor is now getting to work and I'll have a first cut in the second week of July and I will dive into all of my notes and shaping the movie so we can get it finished by the end of the year for festivals."
