CW’s ‘4400’ Reboot Star on Playing an Advocate for the ‘Invisible’ From History

Sci-fi fans, gear up for 4400, The CW’s timely reboot of USA’s 2004–07 series. The premise is the same: 4,400 people who disappeared over the course of the last century suddenly reappear in the present with no idea how they got there.

This time, they’re mostly from marginalized groups — “people who typically throughout history have been invisible,” says Brittany Adebumola (above), who plays impressive lawyer Shanice from 2005 Detroit.

While trying to reconnect with her husband and now-teenage daughter, she’s “concerned with making sure the 4,400 understand their rights — [she’s] always advocating for them,” explains Adebumola. “She’s a bad-ass.” Mixed up with the grand mystery is this much more grounded plot. “The government basically treats the 4,400 like prisoners.”

The time refugees — among them Claudette (Jaye Ladymore), a Mississippi activist in the Civil Rights Movement, and Andre (TL Thompson), a physician from 1920s Harlem — do discover a secret advantage in strange powers they’ve developed. One person exhibits amazing healing abilities; another opens locked doors with her mind. Hmmm, that could come in handy on the “exciting heist” episode Adebumola teases.

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The CW's '4400' vs. the Original: How It's Different, How It's the Same

4400, Series Premiere, Monday, October 25, 9/8c, The CW