The CW's The 4400: the Same Premise But a Focus on the Black Perspective

If you’re into shows where people mysteriously go missing, are later found, and have superpowers, then The 4400 on is the show for you. The show is a reboot of the 2007 series that had four successful seasons, currently streaming on Netflix.

The 4400 on The CW and the original show tells the story of 4,400 people mysteriously reappearing at the same time and place after they disappeared at different times years before. But what’s so interesting about this series is that the main cast is Black and we are able to see a depiction of their lives with this supernatural twist. “I could say with this version, you see more of the lives of the 4400 from a Black perspective,” AMARR, who plays Hayden in the series, shares. What would you do if you were going to work in 2015 and woke up in 2020? We won’t go there but you can imagine the questions that you will have.

We had the opportunity to speak with the actor about the new series and his role in Netflix’s Colin in Black & White.

On the new version for The 4400, we have the same idea but a different focus.

“It's the same premise of 4400 missing people from throughout the past century showing up in one spot. And that spot is 2021. So, you got people from the 20s, 30s, 70s, 80s, 90s, just a bunch of different people throughout time. And of course, there's more than just Black people. But just focusing on a Black perspective, and different things that we've been through that aren't talked about around TV, cinema, whichever. But it's a really cool concept. When I first saw it, I was like, man, this is something I got to be a part of hopefully.”

AMARR shares what attracted him to his character Hayden.

“With Hayden, I feel not only the quiet aspect, but I feel like it's a challenge. With me, I've done drama. But as time went on, I haven't really done drama on this level where I really have to play a character. Throughout my career, I played roles. But with this, I really feel like I'm playing a character. You see the character development as the season goes on. [I] feel like with Hayden, every single thing that he says means something. It's like a back and forth. I just want everything that I say as him just to be important. And the writers, we try to figure out just something with Hayden. I don't want to give too much away.”

On the stories told in 4400.

"Yeah. Of course, there are different moments where we talk about different things that have happened throughout America but that's not necessarily our main focus of the show. We want to tell stories about Black people just throughout the entire century that is more than just gang-banging or slavery, different things like that. I guess for me, I can be someone's grandfather, and they can relate to that. Or Claudette, that can be someone's grandmother or someone's best friend when they were younger. Just to tell a completely different side of TV in sci-fi, Black sci-fi show."

Check out the full interview.