Matt Lanter is best known to audiences of The CW network for his role as Liam Court for most of the run of the modern incarnation of 90210. To fans of science fiction, Lanter is often associated with the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, where he voiced Anakin Skywalker. Tonight at 8PM (ET), Lanter merges those two worlds with the premiere of a new CW series titled Star-Crossed.
Lanter’s character of Roman arrives on Earth on a day that is referred to as “Arrival Day.” His people, the Atrians, crashed on Earth and there was a lot of chaos, with humans, of course, assuming that they are coming to take over the world, as people often fear the things they don’t know. Ultimately, the humans won, thanks to having more assets and more people, and they rounded up the Atrians and put them in a camp. But before being put away, Roman had a chance encounter…
“His father told him to run,” Lanter tells us about what happens to Roman upon arrival. “And he did. He just ran, and then he ended up finding himself in a wood shed at the home of the Whitehills [Emery’s family]. She found him in the wood shed and basically comforted him in the shed. She gave him food, and gave him shelter, and just kind of gave him love in a non-verbal way, because he obviously wasn’t able to communicate with her at the time.”
“He’s always remembered that. Cut to ten years later, they’re in high school, and now he sees her again, and that’s kind of like his destiny, he feels. They have this connection that happened when they were six years old, and it bonds them,” Lanter continues.
A high school program sees a group of Atrians integrated into the school system, which also provides the possibility of a reunion between Roman and Aimee Teegarden’s Emery. Does Matt feel that Roman expected to see her again, when this program came together? “I don’t know if that’s on the forefront of his mind or not. I would think it is, but I guess it’s hard to say,” Matt says. “It was one day that happened ten years ago, and although that day is very important to him, I don’t know. I imagine Roman had all kinds of feelings going on, going into that first day of the integration program. I would have to think that he probably was wondering if he would see her.”
While Roman, at least when we first meet him, seems to get along decently with humans, not every Atrian feels the same way. “There are different groups of Atrians – one group hating humans, one group including Roman’s father trying to bridge the gap between the groups. I think Roman moreso belongs in the group that wants to integrate and get along. I think it’s hard for him to see that, though, because of the way that his people have been treated. It’s just difficult to see the positivity in that. But I think having that connection with Emery, he knows that it can be done, and that humans can be trusted, and that love can happen. She is definitely his beacon of hope in the world,” Lanter says.
Atrians are much like humans, but with some small physical differences such as tattoo-like markings on their bodies. Culture, of course, is also different. Lanter also stresses that in many ways there are some similarities. “They feel. They love. They hate. It’s all there,” he says. However, don’t expect to see what life was like on their home planet just yet. “We haven’t really explored life on planet Atria before the crash. Maybe in the upcoming episodes, we will, but right now, they’re just a people that are sequestered into this slum, basically, that the U.S. government has put them in, and they’re kind of a repressed people, in a way. So, we’ll see what happens,” Matt says, before talking about what little he is able to share. “All we know is that the Atrians that crashed on Earth were in a ship, and were trying to flee, and their ship was dying. That’s really all we know. We don’t know why they left, or how long ago they left, or anything.”
Tonight’s Star-Crossed pilot features a huge risk taken by Roman that may have some severe consequences. Why would he be willing to take that risk? “He does it to help Emery,” Matt confirms. “He cares about her. He doesn’t want to see her in pain. Anything he can do to save Emery from pain – emotional, physical, anything – he’ll do it. He’ll put himself at risk and put his people at risk, really. You’ll have to watch to find out [how that goes].”
Look for Star-Crossed tonight at 8PM (ET) on The CW. You can read our advance review and see some photos here.
