Five years on, and the wild child that was LFN has finally come of age.  Born, arguably, before its time, it has seen its pale imitators (e.g. Alias ) come and go,  and spawned its fabulously successful offspring 24 .  The armchair-based world has finally caught up with the grimness and unpredictability of life in the dark underbelly of counter-terrorism.

The series continues to be aired around the world, picking up a generation who missed it first time round, but for whom it will never be as groundbreaking as it was to the original viewers back in the late 90’s. 

Thanks in no small way to the militant wing of the fandom who redirected their efforts from keeping alive the failing show to getting it immortalised in digital format, Warner Brothers finally, albeit falteringly, issued the entire series on DVD boxed sets between 2003 and 2006.  (In an implausibly ironic accident of fate, Season 2 discs had to be pulled a week before the release date due to unresolved licensing issues over the Off Profile song Loaded Gun by Hednoize.  This delayed the release by 8 months and is only the second time in WB’s history that it has happened, but the incident symbolised the angst which has consistently marked the fans’ relationship with Warner’s.)  Throughout the series the sparse bonus features, restricted to a sprinkling of outtakes, deleted scenes and directors’ episode commentaries were merely adequate, but welcomed with gratitude.

And last but by no means least, Joel Surnow’s erstwhile LFN assistant, Christopher Heyn, has finally published the long-awaited definitive guide to the series, Inside Section One  (Pub. POV Press, 2006).

There remains outstanding only one final medium, dear to many hearts – a feature film reuniting the main characters.  To date, it is still in the pile marked ‘never-say-never’.

As for Roy in the meantime, he has virtually shunned the small screen, even turning down the standing invitation he most certainly has to participate in the phenomenon that is 24.  Despite his international exposure, of his tally of twelve feature films in the can since he left the set of LFN, all have been primarily Canadian productions and, with the exception of a few weeks on location in Mexico and Rwanda, all shot within an easy commute from home.  He picked up both Canadian ‘Best Actor’ trophies, the Genie and the Jutra, for Mémoires affectives, and with heavyweight biographical roles such as Maurice Richard and General Dallaire still eligible for awards, more accolades must surely be in the pipeline.   

He has delivered bravura performances and subtle cameos, good guys and bad guys, torment and comedy, populist fare and arthouse, fact and fiction, on both (relatively) big budgets and shoestrings. The only thing that links these twelve roles is their variety – a far cry from the previous five years in Section - and the fact that none of them resembles Michael.

However, the impassive agent still remains, for many, the character who has touched them most, the one in which they are most vested emotionally.  Neither Roy nor any other actor has since managed to produce a character to outshine Michael. His appeal is proving to be enduring.

Recommendation:  For  an exceptional analysis of the character of Michael, see John the Obscure™