The 4400 Guide - 4400 Spoilers and News

The 4400: from the future to the present

by Arieanna on April 9th, 2007

The 4400 has spent three seasons trying to save the future. Now, the future forever altered by the distribution of promicin, what will happen to the present?

Last week, I had a chance to sit down with Chad Faust (Kyle Baldwin on The 4400) to talk about Season 4 of The 4400 and the developments in his character.

Chad Faust has had one of the most challenging characters on The 4400. Kyle Baldwin, sent into a coma for 3 years after the future tried to abduct him, awakened by the healing powers of his 4400 cousin Shawn Farrell, used by the future to assassinate Jordan Collier, and sent to prison.

Kyle Baldwin, who seems to be one of the most emotionally troubled on The 4400. First, how do you portray a character who has lost three years of his life?

"I was trying to connect to a character who was completely disconnected."

Chad fasted and rearranged his room with the furniture topsy turvy in his attempt to understand the turmoil of waking up and having lost three years. He discovers the anger and frustration Kyle encountered trying to fit into a future he does not understand.

Kyle has been living a life very much outside his control. He has had to react to discovering himself to be an assassin, the guilt and anger over being used by the future, and facing the temptation of promicin, the drug that has a 50/50 chance of giving you an ability - or killing you.

The 4400 left us in a state of flux at the end of Season 3: Isabelle without her powers and in prison, Shawn in a coma after Isabelle’s ‘interrogation’, April and Kyle seen with promicin, and the revolution initiated by Collier’s distribution of promicin.

In Season 4, we will see a new Kyle Baldwin, with an important role to play in shaping the present. If Conchita’s vision is correct, "Kyle is the answer."

Zoom to Season 4 of The 4400. Kyle has taken promicin, developed an ability, and is a missionary for Jordan Collier. Kyle’s ability is like a piece in the puzzle that is unfolding around The 4400. But it’s also a frustrating ability to Kyle.

I start to get guidance from this girl. At first I think she’s just someone who has a like mind to what I’m thinking of… and then it starts going other places. It turns out that no one else can see her. I’m having these ‘Shamanistic visions’.

Kyle’s ability is tied to his this girl, his guide. She is like an externalized reflection of Kyle’s own desires, but with far more ‘insight’. And the goals of his ‘Shamanistic’ guide are closely tied to those of Jordan Collier:

She ends up telling me to go and retrieve this book, that’s going to be the new Bible for The 4400 - predictions from 80 years back. The whole thing seems hokey but it turns out that each one of us plays a very specific role and Jordan Collier is the Messiah. He’s going to show us the face of God. And that Shawn is the Healer, which brings belief to it all. And I’m the Shaman, the guide.

Kyle’s ability sends him on a bit of an emotional roller coaster, yet again. He must struggle with an ability which, in others, would be considered Schizophrenic. He is initially frustrated that his ability is not so clear cut in his goal to awaken his cousin Shawn from his coma. He does find the solution, however, with the help of his guide. And he learns to trust his ability as part of his fate.

He wants to be a part of something significant now. At the end of last season, Kyle said, "I’ve been running away from this my whole life. And now it’s time for me to actually be who I’m fated to be." And now he’s really going forth in that direction.

Kyle has always been such a vulnerable character, like a pinball in a machine, and I kinda want him to come out of that and come into his own. And then change the world from that perspective… He could be a more specific human being, which would be great for him.

Does Kyle get a girlfriend? Not yet, to Chad’s disappointment. Although, he does have a mysterious meeting with Isabelle in the woods - and yes, she’s now out of jail. A tame Isabelle, stripped of her abilities and unable to take promicin, which her body now rejects.

The future saved, the war is now being fought in the present. The distribution of promicin has created an atmosphere charged with fear. Anyone caught with promicin will go to jail for life, no trial. Kyle is working as a legal aid to fight for the rights of these people. Jordan is preaching as Messiah. Shawn has re-opened the 4400 Center. Tom and Diana are fought between enforcing the new laws with NTAC and protecting their own families.

And did I mention that neither Jordan nor Tom are yet aware of Kyle’s new ability?

Characters will be pinned against each other in the war. Every camp is fighting to maintain or mould the future of humanity. It’s a war of beliefs as much as anything. There is no clear path for whose beliefs are most true, and will bring the greatest good and beauty to the future of humanity. This is the present state in The 4400 Sesason 4.

Tags: the 4400, the 4400 season 4, the 4400 season four, season 4, 4400, chad faust, kyle baldwin, the 4400 spoilers, 4400 spoilers, season 4 spoilers

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POSTED IN: 4400 Spoilers, Chad Faust, Interviews, Kyle Baldwin, Show News, Thoughts