Nathan Dean Teases Max's Future In Roswell, New Mexico - Exclusive
Season 3 of "Roswell, New Mexico" is here with a new showrunner. The CW's alien sci-fi series captivated audiences when it first aired in 2019, pulling in fans from the original '90s series "Roswell" and amassing new fans as well. Now, they can look forward to a new, more adult direction for the series and fan-favorite character Max Evans, played by Nathan Dean. Dean spoke to Looper for an exclusive interview in which he told us all about the showrunner switch and how it's affecting the series and Max's future.
When asked about the show changing showrunners and the new direction, Dean said, "Chris Hollier is our showrunner now, and he was a producer for us the last couple of years. And when he took over, we tried to move not only Max, but I think every character, into a more adult, mature way of operating. We spent a lot of time in Season 1 in particular, but Season 2 as well, flashing back to high school."
"And we all had a high school outlook on each other," he added. "And moving forward, we've been able to mature the characters, I think. And this year is a great year, I think, for Max in particular, because he has to literally look himself in the eye and become the person that he was meant to be instead of someone he used to be."
The kids are growing up
Nathan Dean revealed the direction he hopes Max goes in the future, explaining, "Well, Max spends a whole lot of time this season having to look himself in the face — literally questions a lot of things. We've done a lot in the past, the high school flashbacks and this and that, but I think this year, not only for Max but for all the characters, we see this maturation happen where you're no longer looking backward into who they used to be."
"Now this season, we're finally looking forward to who we want to be. And I think Max and Joan embody that dynamic, but yeah, you see it with Michael, Isabel, Maria, Liz. You see every character really take a step forward this year, and that's a credit to our showrunner and to our writers for trusting us to take that leap and move the show, looking forward instead of looking back."
Finding a healthier dynamic
When asked which adult storylines he's most excited and hopeful to tackle in the future, Nathan Dean said his relationship with Liz was at the top of the list. "We ended Season 2 in a pretty bad place. I mean, Liz runs off, Max goes all arsonist on her, it's a little bit of an immature response to something. You just have a temper tantrum and light everything on fire."
"But I think this year, yeah, we really see Max and Liz move forward in a way that is much more mature and adult and respectful," Dean continued. "And they, I mean, obviously the elephant in the room is, 'Well hey, you blew up all my stuff.' 'Yeah, sorry.' But how do you come back from that? And I think we see them take a step forward in a big way this year, and I'm excited for people to see that this year because we haven't historically had a very adult relationship, and now we're moving towards that."
Fans can catch new episodes of "Roswell, New Mexico" on Mondays on the CW. If you miss it live, new episodes are available to stream on the CW the following day.