After returning to her hometown of Roswell, New Mexico, the daughter of illegal immigrants discovers her teenage crush is an alien who has kept his unearthly abilities hidden his entire life. She protects his secret as the two reconnect, but when a violent attack points to a greater alien presence on Earth, the politics of fear and hatred threaten to expose him.
Cast and characters
Main
Jeanine Mason as Liz Ortecho, a jaded biomedical researcher and the daughter of undocumented immigrants.
Michael Vlamis as Michael Guerin, a troubled but brilliant alien drifter, who survived a traumatic childhood and is trying to find a way to escape Earth.
Lily Cowles as Isobel Evans, an alien and sister to Max, who keeps her true identity a secret by living her life with grace and enthusiasm.
Tyler Blackburn as Alex Manes, a military veteran with his fair share of physical and psychological trauma. Alex prepares to abandon his dreams and the possibility of a future with the man he loves to fulfill his father's expectations.
Michael Trevino as Kyle Valenti, a doctor and the son of the town sheriff, who learns about horrible things that have happened in his family's past.
Trevor St. John as Jesse Manes, Alex's homophobic and violent father, a senior master sergeant with a secret to hide.
Karan Oberoi as Noah Bracken, Isobel's charming, devoted lawyer husband, who senses a secret in his wife.
Amber Midthunder as Rosa Ortecho, Liz's older sister, who was apparently killed in a car crash while driving high on drugs, killing two other girl passengers in the process. Liz gradually comes to realize that Max may have been involved in her death.
Recurring
Rosa Arredondo as Michelle Valenti, Kyle's mother, who succeeded her late husband, Jim Valenti, as sheriff of Roswell.
Carlos Compean as Arturo Ortecho, Liz's father, who runs the Crashdown Cafe diner. He is an illegal immigrant from Mexico and has been hiding his undocumented status for nearly 30 years.
Riley Voelkel as Jenna Cameron, Max's fellow deputy and partner.
Sherri Saum as Mimi DeLuca, Maria's mother, who suffers from an undiagnosed mental illness typified by some temporary memory loss and her belief in aliens.
In January 2018, The CW ordered the show to pilot, with Julie Plec set to direct. Production companies involved with the pilot include Amblin Television, Bender Brown Productions, CBS Television Studios and Warner Bros. Television. The CW ordered the show to series on May 11, 2018. On April 24, 2019, The CW renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on March 16, 2020. On January 7, 2020, the series was renewed for a third season.
Casting
On February 16, 2018, Jeanine Mason was cast in the lead role of Liz Ortecho. In early March, the rest of the cast was filled out, with Nathan Parsons as Max Evans, Lily Cowles as Isobel, Michael Vlamis as Michael Guerin, Tyler Blackburn as Alex Manes, Heather Hemmens as Maria DeLuca, and Michael Trevino as Kyle Valenti. Karan Oberoi was cast in the final series regular role of Noah Bracken on March 27, 2018. Trevor St. John was cast in a recurring role as Alex's father on March 12, 2018. In April 2019, Amber Midthunder, who played Liz's older sister Rosa in a recurring capacity in the first season, was promoted to the main cast for the second season.
Filming
Filming for the pilot took place in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Production on the pilot begin on March 14, 2018, and ended on March 30, 2018. The rest of the episodes began filming August 13, 2018, in Las Vegas, New Mexico; Nevada; and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The series holds an approval rating of 55% based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 6.22/10 on Rotten Tomatoes. The website's critic consensus reads: "Roswell, New Mexico admirably adds modern political context to its premise, but this reboot hews too closely to its predecessor to transcend the pitfalls of a redundant retread." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the series a score of 58 out of 100 based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Ratings
Overall
Season 1
Season 2
Home media
released a manufacture-on-demand DVD of the first season on January 28, 2020.
