Max used to be the king of an alien empire. Now he’s a high school student. His carefully protected secret alien identity has been jeopardised ever since he trusted Liz with his secret.

This is a shame, as he’s completely besotted by Liz. Fool.

Mind you, the only alternative on offer is drippy Tess. Even Liz is better than her.

He’s struggling to learn to lead his fellow aliens, and perhaps return home to reclaim his empire. He does dither a bit, though.

One of the highlights of the year, though, is that he now removes his t-shirt regularly. Hurray.

Most likely to say: "Oh, hi Liz, I was just doing some sit-ups." or "No Michael, you’re wrong. I just can’t say why."

True love: Liz. Damn him.

Michael - Brendan Fehr
  Once a warlord, now a grumpy man with a fringe.

Michael looks like a teenage Fox Mulder. He also has quite extraordinary hair and a very grumpy personality.

In his former life he was an alien war lord, so will always look to take the most aggressive line of action. He’s impatient with Max’s indecisive leadership, but at the same time he’s slightly fearful of his powers, having used them to kill last year.

Against his better judgement, he finds himself powrfully attracted to Maria. It remains to be seen how long they’ll be together, though - new waitress Courtney has caught his eye.

Most likely to say: "I think we should act now."

True love: Himself.

Isabel - Katherine Heigl
  Unreadable ice maiden... or the voice of common sense?

Isabel is the tall, intelligent alien. She has lovely honey blond hair.

She’s Max’s sister, and will often counsel him to use caution and restraint. Her intelligence isn’t her only power - she also has the ability to enter people’s dreams and influence their thoughts,

Isabel is a bit of an ice-maiden, I’m afraid. She’s spent a long time toying with the affections of haplessly lovelorn Alex. She is, however, frothing with joy at the arrival of swarthy geologist Greg.

Most likely to say: "Alex, I see you as a friend."

True love: Alex or Greg?

Tess - Emilie de Ravin
  Married to Max in a former life. No one likes her.

Tess is the latest addition to the family of aliens. In her former alien body she used to be married to Max.

She’s pretty much just an annoyance to everyone. She wants Max to fall in love with her, but he isn’t interested. Kyle resents having to live with her. And, since she wants her man, Liz doesn’t have much time for her, either.

She’s got rubbish hair, too.

Most likely to say: "Have you seen Max?"

True love: Max.

Liz - Shiri Appleby
  She thinks she's the centre of the universe.

Liz has floppy long dark hair, and has loved Max Evans ever since he saved her life.

She discovered he had alien powers, and promptly shared his secret with all her friends.

Liz is genuine, caring and sincere. She is also the most selfish woman alive, and has the worst timing in history. At moments of deep trauma and crisis for everyone else, she will instantly think of herself.

Most likely to say: "Excuse me, but I have issues with that that we’ve got to discuss."

True love: Max

Maria - Majandra Delfino
  The nicest person in Roswell. It's official.

Maria is by far the nicest person in Roswell. She’s sparky, lovely and funny, has great hair, and superb dress sense.

Unfortunately, she’s going out with Michael. Sort of.

This union between the Roswell’s perkiest and grumpiest people is frankly doomed, but extremely passionate. Even when they're not going out, and that's most of the time, there's still a fizzing sexual tension between the two of them.

She’s Liz’s best friend, and puts up with no end of self-centered rubbish from her. Why, we just don’t know.

Most likely to say: "Hello, girlfriend."

True love: Michael

Alex - Colin Hanks
  The loveable geek. He fancies Isabel rotten.

Alex is Liz and Maria’s best friend. He’s the loveable dweeb, who’s smart, cute, and completely besotted with Isabel.

He’s intelligent enough to realise that there’s little chance of anything ever happening between them, but he still hopes.

While Alex isn’t classic hero material, you’ll notice this year several attempts to buff him up a little.

Most likely to say: "It’s okay Isabel, I understand."

True love: Isabel

Kyle - Nick Wechsler
  From bully to Buddhist.

Kyle was the most objectionable character in the first series. He used to date Liz and was pretty unpleasant. She dumped him and broke his heart.

Luckily, he comes back from his summer vacation as a Buddhist, with a new sense of peace and karma. A lot of this is to do with Max saving his life - so he now has confusing feelings about the aliens.

He lives with his father, Sheriff Jim Valenti, but events soon force him to share his house with Tess. They get on like cats in a sack.

Most likely to say: "In with hate, out with love."

True love: Not Liz any more.

Sheriff Valenti - William Sadler
  Serving and protecting the aliens.

Sheriff Valenti is Roswell’s raving wrinklie. He used to fear aliens, but it now devoted to protecting Max, Michael, Isabel and Tess.

He’s got a grudging respect for Max, and feels protective towards Tess. He’s also had a certain soft spot for Maria’s mother. Like all good judges of character, though, he’s got little time for Liz.

The year ahead sees him drawing closer to his karmic jock son Kyle, but also fighting a tough battle to try and save the aliens and his career.

Most likely to say: "I don’t think anything out of the ordinary happened here, officers."

True love: Maria’s mother.