Roswell, New Mexico creator Carina Adly MacKenzie is out as co-showrunner

The Hollywood Reporter

MacKenzie won't be returning for Season 3 of The CW Roswell reboot for a number of reasons, reports Bryn Elise Sandberg. "For two-plus years, MacKenzie had co-run Roswell with Christopher Hollier (The Originals, Once Upon a Time) but was the show's sole creator and its chief creative voice," reports Sandberg. "During her time on the show, she is said to have fostered a working environment that some say was rife with tension. Among the issues, according to those insiders, is that MacKenzie would spend an unusual amount of time on the set in New Mexico, away from the show's Los Angeles-based writers' room — a move that was said to frustrate some of the writers. Showrunners typically spend the bulk of their time during the writing process in the room (or at least they did pre-COVID) and though Hollier was technically in charge in MacKenzie's absence, some point to the fact that MacKenzie did a lot of re-writing and often turned scripts in late as proof the show may have been run more smoothly were she around in person more. Sources note that the situation improved some in the second season when the writers' room was given more lead time before production started." Another source of contention came when MacKenzie lashed out at ITV last month on Twitter, accusing the British broadcaster of editing a Roswell, New Mexico gay sex scene, prompting Warner Bros. to do "damage control" with a foreign distributor.