4400 VS. The 4400: How the arrival to the present changes

Even though the CW Network’s 4400 is only in its first season, there are still noticeable differences between how the remake treats its stories and characters compared to the USA Network’s original premise. One of the most significant ways shown is how each series handles the 4400‘s arrival to the present.

A noteworthy difference occurs in the pilot. In the original series, the 4400 are let loose due to a several-week time jump. But, the remake keeps its characters together for far more episodes.

Due to keeping them together for so long and portraying it on-screen, the audience gets a glimpse into the changing relationships the 4400 gain with each other. Through being together and learning about the world around them, the arrivals discover the significant changes and devastating similarities in how the world in 2021 compared to the year they came from.

In the original series, NTAC, a group of government agents, looks after the returnees. The guards in quarantine with the 4400 do not have much to do and are seen in the background. That is a vast difference from the 2021 portrayal.

The remake shows a social worker and a parole officer working with the 4400 rather than a stream of government agents. But, that is not the only significant change. The guards with the arrivals are not simply in the background but are a forceful danger to the 4400.

Unsurprisingly, there are stories that each show shares, such as a mother returning home to discover her baby has grown into a teenager and her husband has gotten remarried in the years she was away. Another similarity lies in how some members of the 4400 have powers.

However, the remake spends more time focusing on similarities and differences of the past and present, including extended flashbacks to the 4400‘s lives before arriving in 2021. Those from the past discover things they have never known before, along with the vast technological advances the original does not take the time to explore.

Andre, who had been a doctor before being abducted, is in awe of the advancements in medicine and the hospitals of 2021.

Yet, one of the most significant changes also comes from the remake’s mysterious feeling that the original dealt with faster. The 4400 had its main characters working in the government, desperately trying to solve the mystery of the arrivals and figure out what happened to them. Even their reasoning for the 4400‘s return was explained by the end of the six-episode first season.

On the other hand, the remake decided to stretch the stories out, giving more time to understand the complexities of what it emotionally means to return to a time where loved ones have moved on.

4400 is different from the original, as it should be if it wants to be a voice of its own. Changing things from the original series allows each version, although sharing a concept, to feel like distinct and individual shows.