Michael Vlamis should probably thank his ex. After all, it’s because of their breakup that he was able to land the iconic role of Michael Guerin in The CW’s new Roswell reboot for millennials: Roswell, New Mexico.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

The damaged alien cowboy with a heart of gold quickly stole fans’ hearts since the premiere, in no small part due to his highly shippable love story with a certain human war vet, Alex Manes (played by PLL favorite Tyler Blackburn). Malex is obviously the ship of dreams, but can you picture Tyler with Nathan Dean Parson—who now plays lead alien Max Evans—instead? That’s right, we almost had a completely different Michael on our hands.

“Nathan actually had the role of Michael. He was booked, which I didn’t know when I auditioned, thank god,” Vlamis tells me over the phone. “Originally, they wouldn’t give me an audition. They thought I was just a comedy guy, so I couldn’t even get in the room. So I already had Michael Guerin’s chip on my shoulder.”

Vlamis sent in a tape anyway...from a house filled with pictures of a happy couple, right after going through a breakup of his own. “I was like, ‘Are you kidding me? This is in my face right now,’” he remembers. “I really channeled that pain I was feeling that day with the chip on my shoulder and this lost romance—which was kind of what I was talking about in the audition, with Alex.”



A producer saw his tape and forced showrunner Carina MacKenzie to watch it because Vlamis was, quote, “sex on legs.” She wasn’t wrong, and the rest is history.

The CW

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

But as the first season progresses, something is causing a rift between Roswell, NM fans. A steamy romance between Michael and Maria DeLuca (Heather Hemmens) has set the fandom ablaze. Some who remember the connection between Maria and Michael in the original Roswell are loving the drama, but many fans fear what that means for their favorite LGBTQ+ matchup. As Michael would put it, it’s a “bisexual alien blast” up in here.

Vlamis talked to Cosmo about the Michael/Maria/Alex of it all and what you can expect for the rest of the season...especially from Malex. Don’t worry too much, fam.

Tap here to vote

Were you expecting fans to latch on to Malex the way they have?

Tyler has been on a show where he was part of a popular ship...I use the term ship now as if I were using it two months ago. I was not. But that’s where I’m at.

Tyler told me you can expect stuff like this to happen. He’s never played a role like Alex, but I think he knew. He let me know, “I think this is gonna mean a lot to a certain group of people.” That was our goal. To affect people. To make people feel better about the situation they’re in or give them an outlet to escape with our show and our relationship, specifically.

But did I expect there to be an LGBTQ Michael page on Instagram? Did I think there would be tons of Malex accounts? It’s insane, but it’s so cool. These people who run these fan accounts are sharing content and making friends. I think it’s really special.

Can you blame them? The CW

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Tumblr might actually explode over the Michael/Alex/Maria love triangle situation....What would you say to those concerned about Malex—what are your thoughts on Michael’s feelings?

Michael is the type of guy who has flings, right? If he’s going to have a fling, it’s going to be a fling. I think he’s smarter than to really complicate—because that’s what Maria does. She complicates his life even further because she is so close with Alex. But in that moment, when you feel strongly about someone, sometimes you make bad decisions and that goes out the window.

Right now, I don’t think he feels like he owes Alex anything, so he goes for it. I don’t know if I would say if it’s a fling—I don’t want to spoil anything for the rest of the season—but at the end of the day, it’s how the character feels, and I think Michael feels that it’s justified.

That doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel bad about it, but I think he likes the fact that she’s super spunky and gives him a hard time because he’s the kind of guy who needs to be put in his place. I think he enjoys her. He might enjoy her more than just a fling, but obviously he’s also in love with Alex, so we’ll see.

For a guy with his background, Michael gets extremely emotionally attached to a lot of people, from his siblings to Alex. So it’s funny that he’s building this rocket ship to go to outer space. Do you think he could really leave these people?

I would say with the way I play Michael Guerin: No. He could not leave those people.

Could he leave the planet? One thousand percent, but I don’t know if he could leave these people. I don’t know what’s going to happen with season two, if we’re gonna get a season two or season three, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a moment where he will have to make that decision.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Chris Frawley

The writing will tell me what to do in that situation, but as I know him now, no, I don’t think he could leave them. So if he could bring everybody, that’s something he would try to convince them to do.

What can you tease for the rest of the season?

Michael and Alex’s relationship comes to a boiling point. I’m not gonna say what the resolution is, but you will know how the two really, really feel about each other. You will get that moment.

You will also see Michael and Alex working together through the rest of the season to figure out what exactly has been going on. You can see our growth as people—I won’t say if it’s through a relationship or friendship—but the love is very apparent and you will see us together a lot.

You will not see what’s coming at the end. Get ready for a lot more surprises.