Winter TV Preview 2014: The CW’s Star-Crossed [INTERVIEW and VIDEO] 

Warning: Spoilers Ahead

The CW premieres a new series called Star-Crossed tonight. It’s part Roswell part Romeo and Juliet. So that means the show does involve aliens…and high school.

Synopsis for Star-Crossed 

When Emery was 6 years old, an alien spacecraft crash-landed in her small town. Whether they came in peace or with more sinister intentions didn’t matter: a fierce battle erupted as humans fought for control over their new rivals, an alien species called the Atrians. In the midst of the conflict, Roman, a 6-year-old Atrian boy, found his way to a shed behind Emery’s house, where she protected him from harm, bringing him food, comfort – and friendship. In their brief time together, Emery and Roman forged a deep bond, but the authorities wasted no time tracking Roman down and capturing him in a violent confrontation. Emery has grown up believing that Roman was killed that day.

Ten years later, the Atrians have been acclimated to life on Earth, but they are interned in a heavily-guarded camp known as the Sector to keep them separate from humans. Now, for the first time, a group of Atrian teens will enroll in a suburban human high school, with the goal of testing the feasibility of human/alien integration. The eyes of the nation and the whole world are fixed on this historical social experiment, an endeavor fraught with suspicion and fear. In the mayhem of the first day, Emery is amazed to learn that Roman was not killed by the authorities and is, in fact, one of the Atrian students. Their childhood bond is quickly rekindled – in a school and a society that distrusts everything about the Atrians, Emery and Roman have found each other again.

However, their relationship is threatened by the small-mindedness of their respective communities and the political agendas of people in power. While the world around them rages with anger and prejudice, their bond becomes increasingly strong and increasingly dangerous. As an epic Romeo and Juliet romance unfolds, a violent encounter between Roman’s father and Emery’s father occurs in the Sector. Can Roman and Emery’s love – and peace between the species – survive?

The Cast

One major thing going for Star-Crossed has to be the cast. There are so many familiar faces. Actors we’re glad to see back on TV. Where have you seen them before? Let’s Deja View them:

Aimee Teegarden (Emery): Julie Taylor from Friday Night Lights 
Matt Lanter (Roman): Liam Court from the 90210 reboot
Malese Jow (Julia): Anna from The Vampire Diaries
Grey Damon (Grayson): Hastings from Friday Night Lights, Brian from The Nine Lives of Chloe King, Lee from The Secret Circle, Archie from Twisted
Natalie Hall (Taylor): Colby Chandler from All My Children, Kate Randall from Pretty Little Liars

The Interview

At last summer’s Comic-Con, we were part of a round table of reporters that got the chance to chat with Star-Crossed star Aimee Teegarden. Here’s what she had to say about the show, her favorite moment from tonight’s pilot and alien technology.

The romance between Emery and Roman

AIMEE TEEGARDEN: It’s an age-old sort of theme. Two young lovers being star-crossed and not being able to be together for whatever reason. And with this particular thing — he’s an alien, I’m a human. His dad is an alien trying to work on bridging the gap and integrating aliens into society. And my dad is on the opposite side. He’s working for the military and is trying to keep the aliens sort of…he kind of gets turned into the poster boy for the anti-alien movement. And after the very first episode, there’s something that happens that even puts more stress on our relationship. So I think throughout the first season it’s going to be very twist-y and turn-y about the interactions between the two of us.

Favorite moment from the pilot

AIMEE: Favorite moment from the pilot — I think the scene where Matt [Lanter] and I have in the empty lot somewhere. I think originally it was written so everyone got the idea — in like a corn maze or a corn field. But we were in Louisiana [where the pilot was shot] and there wasn’t any corn field so we used a back lot of some house in the middle of nowhere. And that was a really fun scene because also…not only was it a really heartfelt scene and it kind of just…in that moment you stripped away everything. It wasn’t about the fact that she was a human; he was an alien or anything like that. It was really just about two people connecting on a different level…but it was also like five in the morning and the sun was starting to come up and poor Matthew — like the birds are chirping it was…I felt so awful for him because we were just so tired and then the sun’s coming up and we’re all still trying to pretend and be like out of breath and whatever and it was like ‘Oh my gosh, this is not gonna match at all…’ So I think that they did a lot of color timing to try to correct that but…we got it. We got the scene.

Potential alien technology that she wants included in the show 

AIMEE: Oh so much. I’m so excited about this. I had a full on conversation with the prop crew when we were shooting the pilot and I was like what’s going on, what are we doing, like where are you coming up with these ideas? And they have so many different ideas of, you know, different technology that’s gonna be…because technology now versus technology ten years ago is so incredibly…ten years ago I didn’t own a cell phone. Like nobody texted. It just wasn’t something. And now it’s like everything’s social media or texting or Facebook-ing and I’m so excited to see where it’s sort of going in the future. I was having a conversation about somebody who had an iPOD and it’s like the idea of an iPOD singular doesn’t register with me anymore. Like it’s iPAD or an iPHONE — it does something else, right? It’s not just an iPOD. What is that? I don’t understand. Even just like the guns themselves — on the show they had constructed them themselves and it was cool ’cause he [prop guy] was taking it apart and showing me — oh this is a piece from this kind of thing. And this is a piece from that. Oh this is just like a fishing line or something. It was just all these cool things put together. And also the phones — the phones are like pieces of glass that the image is projected on. So that was pretty cool. The school books and stuff are all iPADS and tablets of some sort. So I’m excited to get kind of get more involved and see what kind of cool things they come up with.

What drew her to the pilot — the sci fi factor

AIMEE: That was definitely one of the big factors. I think that the idea of — sci fi is fantastic — but you’re getting to create a world. You’re getting to create everything not just, you know, the relationships and the people, but you’re getting to create, how do people talk in the future; what do people wear; what do they eat; how do people get around; what do you want to see? If you could see ten years into the future what is something you’d like to change — for better or for worse. But I think that that’s so fun. It’s part of my job as an actor and getting to create these things. And so it’s a different way to sort of create and imagine.

TV Goodness Winter Preview Ratings System
Watch Live
Watch Later on DVR
Undecided — Need to Watch Some More
Not Watching at All

I’m going with Undecided — Need to Watch More. I liked the pilot. Didn’t quite love it. I will definitely need to sample this series more before I make a judgment. But the biggest selling point for me is 1. The cast. Especially Malese Jow. She’s an instant favorite of mine from the pilot. 2. I loved Roswell back in the day and this kinda sorta reminds me of that show. 3. I’m interested in seeing how more of this show plays out in general. Right now the drama isn’t quite hooking me. But it’s only the first episode. As for the romance, I want to stick around and see if that gels a bit more as well. 4. There’s a twist in the pilot that gives me incentive enough to keep watching.

Star-Crossed premieres tonight on the CW at 8/7 central.

Star-Crossed Clip

Producer’s Pilot Preview