'Roswell' New Mexico': Shiri Appleby Talks Returning as Director After Starring in Original Series

Shiri Appleby may have unraveled the mysteries of the universe on the original Roswell as Liz Parker, but she embraced a whole new role behind the camera nearly two decades later on the Roswell, New Mexico reboot.

Prior to the January 15th premiere of The CW reboot, developed by Carina Adly MacKenzie, the Unreal star opened up to ComicBook.com on set about returning to the show that helped define her as a young actress as the director of a pivotal episode in the pilot season.

When The CW first tossed out the idea of rebooting the original Roswell, which aired from 1999 to 2002 on The WB and UPN, Appleby said she was immediately on board with MacKenzie's pitch, which aged up the characters from their high school days into their mid-20s. In the reboot, Liz Ortecho (Jeanine Mason) is now a Latina woman and the daughter of undocumented immigrants who reconnects with her teenage crush Max Evans (Nathan Parsons), who, as in the original, is hiding a very alien secret alongside sister Isobel (Lily Cowles) and brother Michael (Michael Vlamis).

"I mean, it made a lot of sense; it feels like a very current story in so many ways," Appleby explains. "And then when I heard the talk that they went with Carina's pitch, it's actually much more in line with the actual book ... it felt very updated. And when I started to actually see the scripts and see the show, I feel like there was a lot of nods to the original, but then very quickly it becomes its own show."

The original Liz and the reboot's Liz may be based on the same character, but Appleby is quick to point out the differences in the protagonist.

"It's so interesting because Liz is really having a strong point of view that was very different from my Liz," she tells ComicBook.com. "You know, our show was very much about 'What does it feel like to grow up? To feel like an alien in high school and not know your place?' And this is very much, 'What is it like when you're an outsider trying to fit in the world that you live in already?'"

Directing an episode and reaching out to Mason ahead of time felt like "passing the baton," she explains. "My version of Liz was 16, her version of Liz is in her late 20s, so I think my character had so much vulnerability and she was really trying to figure out who she is. And her version of Liz knows who she is; she's a very strong woman, she's capable of asking a man to dance without having a lot of insecurities. So, in some ways it's like just a much stronger, much more mature, evolved character than I played."

"I think a lot of that has to do with the age and I think a lot of that has to do with just like who Jeanine is and what she's bringing to it," she continues. "I was a young girl myself at the time that was like, life was upside down so I was just like holding on for dear life myself, you know. But she has a lot of strength."

Returning to a franchise that really helped launch her career, as well as that of Katherine Heigl and Colin Hanks, this time as an accomplished actress and director, has a special significance to Appleby.

"I started acting when I was 3 years old, and when we did Roswell we did 61 episodes — we had one female director on the very last episode," she notes, "so I never had an image in my mind of what it would be like to see a female direct."

After working on Unreal as both the star and as director, Appleby says that getting another opportunity to direct something she's not already acting in has been "incredibly challenging."

"So this is my first episode that I'm directing and not acting in, and it feels like I'm staring a new career. I am more excited to come to set than I have been in so many years," she admits. "Last week was one of the most thrilling professional experiences, and I just think that we are in such an incredible moment in time for women in this business. There is so much opportunity, and to have had so many years of experience and be able to see how much I've learned has been thrilling."

Roswell, New Mexico airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on The CW.

Photo credit: Instagram/Shiri Appleby