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Any interesting news about The 4400, including cast member news, will now be found on the message board. Rather than just delete all the links that used to clutter up this page that often led to error pages, I decided to go through them all and create something of a news history for The 4400 here.
The earliest item here was dated December 4th, 2003, announcing that USA Network had given a green light to a pilot plus five episodes of The 4400. At that time, no casting had been done, and it was reported that the show was going to air in the summer of 2004. In March of 2004, the first eight cast members were announced: Michael Moriarty, Peter Coyote, Joel Gretsch, Laura Allen, Jacqueline McKenzie, Chad Faust, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali and Kaj-Erik Eriksen. In June 2004, Executive producer, Rene Echevarria, said in an interview that the limited series picks up where Close Encounters of the Third Kind left off, as 4,400 long-missing people suddenly reappear all at once without having aged a day. "They don't know what happened to them, who or what was responsible, and now they have to pick up the pieces of their lives." The 4400 debuted as a two-hour special at 9 p.m. ET/PT on July 11, 2004, with subsequent hours of what would be the first of four seasons airing Sunday nights through until August 8.
Several articles discussed how the series boasted mutliple sci fi vets, cast and crew. Rene Echevarria worked on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, as well as Dark Angel and Now and Again. Writers included Ira Steven Behr and Robert Hewitt Wolfe, who, like Echevarria, worked on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. Wolfe developed Andromeda and wrote for The Dead Zone and UPN's The Twilight Zone update, which Behr produced. 4400 writer Scott Peters, meanwhile, counts among his credits The Outer Limits and Animorphs. Among the cast regulars were a cornucopia of genre actors: Peter Coyote [ET}, Joel Gretsch and Chad Faust [Steven Speilberg's Taken], Jacqueline McKenzie [Deep Blue Sea] Billy Campbell [The Rocketeer, Bram Stoker's Dracula], Megalyn Echikunwoke [made-for-TV movie Creature, appearances in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Veronica Mars and Supernatural]. Kaj-Erik Eriksen [appearances on MacGyver, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Goosebumps, Poltergeist: The Legacy, The Outer Limits, and Tru Calling]. And of course the recurring characters are even more prolific in the sci fi world, like Helen Shaver, Michael Moriarty, Lexa Doig, Pobert Picardo, Alice Krige, Jeffrey Combs, and Summer Glau. Just a little bit of trvia; Joel Gretsch is actually family to a science fiction legend, as he's marrried to William Shatner's daughter, Melanie.
On July 14th, numbers were in, and they were saying The 4400 had become the highest-rated and most-watched new series premiere ever on basic cable. This, fortunately, led to more, but as we fans all know, renewals were not a sure thing over the next few years, and the show was cancelled in 2007. Anyway, back to the news, in an orderly way... By August 2004, there were numerous reports that The 4400 would return 'in some form'. September found reports surfacing that it almost certain that there would be more 4400, but there were problems. There were several companies involved in producing and distributing the show, they were squabbling amongst themselves, and since the talent weren't under contract for more episodes, they were looking for raises. Things looked a little grim....but on October 20, 2004 came the news fans were waiting anxiously for - The 4400 was getting a 13-episode second season.
The second season premiere aired on June 5th, 2005. Also on that date was The 4400 Meter Run/Walk, which took place in Exposition Park in Southern California. USA Network partneried with The National Center on Missing Adults (NCMA) and The Nation's Missing Children's Organization (NMCO) to raise awareness and funds for NCMA and NMCO for their efforts to return missing Americans to their homes Cast members were on hand to participate. Season two went on to open with strong numbers, about 5 million viewers, less than the 1st season, but still excellent numbers.
The 13-episode third season was announced on 9/29/05. The third season opener aired in June 11, 2006, and we lost a beloved character and gained a wildcard. Lily Moore, played by original series regular Laura Allen, aged suddenly by 50 years and was played by guest star Tippi Hedren (of the classic The Birds); Allen left voluntarily. At the end of the episode, Lily died, but we'd been introduced to her daughter, Isabelle, who grew into a young woman overnight. While Lily's role as a 4400 seemed to have been to become Richard's wife and mother to Isabelle, with no 'power' per se, her daughter's powers were almost limitless.
The announcement that there would be a fourth season (which would be it's last) came on August 22nd, 2006, shortly before the third season ended. Unfortunately, on December 20, 2007 we were told The 4400 had been cancelled, and the final episode of the series, "The Great Leap Forward," aired on September 16, 2007.
