The 4400 Comes To USA
Rene Echevarria, executive producer of USA Network's upcoming SF show The 4400, told SCI FI Wire 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," Echevarria (Dark Angel) said in an interview. "It's equal parts SF and nighttime soap, so there's something for everybody in it."
The 4400 features E.T. star Peter Coyote as Ryland, who heads up the regional office of a government agency formed to keep track of the 4,400 people after one of them commits a murder and others start to exhibit unexplained powers. The cast also includes Joel Gretsch (SCI FI Channel's original miniseries Steven Spielberg Presents Taken) as Tom, a government agent who discovers a link between his comatose young son and the return of the 4,400. Jacqueline McKenzie portrays Diana, a biomedical researcher who's partnered with Tom. Gretsch's Taken co-star, Michael Moriarty, plays Orson, a recent returnee devastated by all that's happened to his family, business and wealth in the 25 years he's been away.
"The show was originally developed as a weekly series, and that's still a possibility if audiences respond to the story," said Echevarria, who also wrote for and produced Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. "The challenge was in constructing a six-hour miniseries that builds to a satisfying conclusion, and at the same time leaves some questions unanswered so we could continue the story if there's interest in doing that." The 4400 will debut as a two-hour special at 9 p.m. ET/PT July 11 on USA Network, with subsequent hours airing Sunday nights until Aug. 8. ...