It debuted four years after Lost, but it predated Manifest, La Brea, The Returned (both French and English versions) and most of the other series in the where-the-heck-are-we-where-the-Hell-have-you-been-did-you-miss-me-while-we-were-gone genre, by several years. It lasted four seasons and lent itself well to distinctive title graphics, so it makes sense Rene Echevarria & Scott Peters’ science fiction franchise would get a new treatment—and here it is. The pilot episode of Anna Fricke & Ariana Jackson’s rebooted The 4400 premieres this coming Monday on the CW.
One moment Shanice is driving to work and the next thing she knows, she is falling from the sky, landing in a Detroit park with several hundred other people. It is sixteen years later, but she doesn’t know that yet. Apparently, many of her fellow drop-ins came from further in the past and at least one influencer came from about 2015. She will find her followers and likes are down drastically.
The super-helpful Federal government collects them in a downtown hotel and bring a local probation officer and a bleeding-heart social worker to conduct interviews. This really doesn’t make sense, especially considering how psychologists must be on staff at the DOD, VA, and DOJ, even if the P.O.’s lover is the FBI agent in charge. However, it turns out Jharrrel Mateo, the social worker, has a personal reason for taking the case. He also quickly proves to be slightly less than vigilant when Shanice escapes, thanks to the help of teenaged Mildred, who suddenly exhibits telekinetic abilities. She is not the only one with strange new powers.