Roswell Boss Comments on Season 4 Ending After Surprise Cancelation

On Monday night, Roswell, New Mexico came to an end after four seasons on The CW, with the episode "How's It Going to Be?" wrapping up the network's reimagining of the original Roswell series from the 1990s. But while the episode closed out the stories of its major characters — and left audiences with plenty to think about — the Season 4 finale wasn't originally intended to be a series finale and now, showrunner Chris Hollier is opening up about how the series' cancellation changed that final episode and what fans could have expected in Season 5.

Warning: spoilers for the series finale of Roswell, New Mexico, "How's It Going to Be?", beyond this point.

In the episode, there was an engagement, a wedding, and a goodbye. Michael (Michael Vlamis) and Alex (Tyler Blackburn) finally tied the knot, something fans had been looking forward to for some time while Max (Nathan Parsons) and Liz (Jeanine Mason) finally got engaged — though Max ultimately ended up having to head off back to his home world of Oasis, at least for now. According to Hollier, all of those elements were present in the episode before the series cancellation, they just had to make one change to Max's departure.

"There was one change afterwards where the console melted, and Liz would feel like, 'Oh no, I just got engaged and maybe he's trapped there forever.'" Hollier told Variety. "It was the only thing we removed."

Hollier explained that the episode had been designed overall to serve as a series finale, but that he was prepared for another season and had pitched the idea to the network that would have seen various time jumps for each of the characters.

"I loosely had to pitch [the network] and had to get them to sign off on letting me [have Max] go away. And they're like, 'Well, when does he come back?' was the next question," Hollier said. "They're our first audience. So yes, there was a plan actually, of how to round it out assuming that the fifth season would be our last. We had some time jumps built in to actually tell stories we've collapsed down into weeks. We wanted to actually stretch out and jump to three different times over the next couple of years for all of our characters."

"I'm very fortunate for the time we had, but you always feel like we had one more bullet in the chamber," he added.

Back in May, The CW stunned audiences when it announced the cancellation of six series, including Roswell, New Mexico. At the time, Julie Plec — who serves as an executive producer on the series — told fans that both Roswell, New Mexico and Legacies had already structured their season finales to work just in case the series were not renewed, having been given a heads up by network president Mark Pedowitz.

"One last thing re: Roswell and Legacies," Plec wrote at the time. "Mark Pedowitz and his team at The CW had the class and grace to warn the shows that they might not survive, even if The CW wanted them. Because of that, the season finales of both shows were carefully crafted to also work as series finales."

Roswell, New Mexico series creator Carina Adly Mackenzie made similar comments herself, promising fans that the final season would offer a satisfying ending.

"[Roswell, New Mexico] fans, I know it's disheartening news, but don't feel too sad!" Mackenzie wrote. "[Chris] Hollier, the cast and the whole alien team have built a season 4 that delivers on soooo many moments we've all been dying to see, and I do think the ending feels satisfying."

What did you think about the series finale for Roswell, New Mexico? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section.