Megalyn Echikunwoke

Big Surprises In Store For ’The 4400’

SPOILERS: New cast member and new direction for third season

(March 08 2006) - The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the third season of "The 4400."

Dramatic developments are ahead for the main characters in "The 4400." In its upcoming third season the show will place them firmly in the big picture, according to SciFi Wire.

Like "The Dead Zone," "The 4400" has been a genre hit for the USA Network. The show, which has included Star Trek alumni Ira Stephen Behr and René Echevarria among its executive producers, started out as a mini-series about the mysterious reappearance of 4,400 missing people and the special powers they possess. After it was nominated in the "Outstanding Mini-Series and Outstanding Writing for A Mini-Series" categories in the 2005 Emmys, however, it developed into a fully fledged series with continuing characters. It has since been favourably compared with "The X-Files."

That earlier show was famous for its so-called mythology — the alien invasion conspiracy thread that intermitently weaved its way throughout the series’ nine seasons. "The 4400" has a mythology, too, which centers on the intentions of the future humans who originally abducted the titular characters and gave them their diverse talents. That’s apparently going to get a lot more attention in the season to come.

"Last year, we kind of alternated kind of big mythology type of episodes with episodes in which we’d introduce the 4400," said Behr. "They would have a problem that either affected them or affected society in general, and we would deal with that problem. What we’re going to be focusing on basically this season is bigger sweep. I call it playing big ball rather than little ball. I think every story this year will have an impact on our people."

Another big change in the show’s third season will be the portrayal of Isabelle. In seasons 1 and 2 she appeared as a baby, albeit one with the ability to detect and deter threats to her safety that could be fatal to anyone with harm in mind. In thee second season finale, she grew up fast, however.

Behr revealed that in the third season, her character will be played by the adult actress Megan Echikunwoke. Echikunwoke has previously appeared in "24," "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" and Supernatural."

Behr is confident that fans will relish the change."The character herself, I think, is going to surprise people," Behr said. "I think people have been arguing about or trying to figure out Isabelle at the end of the miniseries, and I think a portion of the audience is goin g to expect a fastball down the middle with her character. I think they’re going to be surprised. It’s going to be more of a ride, more of a discovery, and not so clear-cut where you can say, ’She’s the angel’ or ’She’s the devil,’ you know? And I think that makes for really nice storytelling.

"Season 3 of "The 4400" will begin on the USA Network on Sunday, June 4. Season 2 will be released on DVD in North America on Tuesday, May 23.....