**SPOILER ALERT**
If you haven’t seen the season opener for “The 4400” (The New World) then you may not want to read what follows.
Actress Laura Allen, who played the pivotal role of Lily Moore Tyler in the series made a business decision at the last minute before shooting began on the new season to not come back. This left writers scrambling for a way to script her off without actually using the actress in new scenes on camera. The answer to their quandry? In steps the venerable actress renowned for her role in the Alfred Hitchcock classic “The Birds,” Tippi Hedren.
We were treated to a real class act in Hedren’s performance of the rapidly aging Lily, as her new (grown up) daughter began oozing the life right out of her in order to make that instant age transformation. The tender moments between her and Richard (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali) as she was dying were good television by anyone’s barometer.
According to series executive producer Ira Steven Behr, Allen will not be back, so the chances of seeing some kind of miraculous return from the dead are unlikely. He indicated that Allen left the program, not for creative differences between her and the show, but strictly for business purposes on her part.
Behr went on to say, “at the beginning of the season, when we meet with the network to start talking about the new season, we pitched the series that had Laura Allen in it, and events kind of took hold on their own, and I was basically told that she wasn’t going to be back. And we [came] back to [rewrite] the opening two hours, and we had to, you know, change course.”
I was wondering what the reason was. I figured it was either this or the network trying to save money for newer ongoing characters. I’m glad to see that it was for the reasons stated.
And I agree completely: Tippi pulled of a wonderful performance. As was stated on show #61, this is the second best show on television behind BSG.
i for one am glad she’s no longer a part of the show. her character was simply a conduit for isabel to come into the world and the story thread of Isabel chosing to preserve her own life at the expense of her momther’s was genius. once again Behr has provided us with an invigorating chunk of scifi media and i’m looking forward to the expanding story.
oh, and about the comment of the 4400 being the next best thing after BSG. . . well have to give props to the LOST juggernot and re-incarnated Doctor, but overall total aggreement
long live the DS9 geniuses and may they mass produce
i just watched the premiere episode for the new season and i think hedren’s performance was amazing.
i actually teared-up at the end.
i must admit, when the series first started, i was a little ticked-off that lily was…well, white. (pun here? hmmm…)
i was wondering why not a have a black woman play that part. then i thought maybe it was a bit of ingenuity on the writer’s part to have isabell, the product of some alien interference be bi-“racial”. i don’t know.
whatever.
i came to admire lily and looked forward to the lily/richard story arc.
whatever allen’s reasons, i wish her luck.
tippi hedren gave an emmy-worthy performance.
Agreed, Tippi Hedren was and is a first rate actor; her performances in “The Birds” and particularly in “Marnie,” were both intense and intelligent . “Marnie” of course was panned at the opening, but later recognized as one of Hiitchcock’s top line masterpieces, and Tippi Hendren, like Kim Novak before her (in “Vertigo”) transformed the stock image of the icy blonde into something deeply moving.
I missed this article prior to the show running. I knew something had to be up, but they handled it quite well.
For as hard as people work to be actors, it always surprises me when they bail like this.
Tippi Hedren was a class act. Glad they chose her to be Lilys end of life. Marnie was my favorite Hitchcock movie and Tippi was reason, her and Sean were fireworks together. Richard and her in this series were warmth and very tender. Wish she could have been on longer.