Do You Remember: Roar

The world over knows the late actor Heath Ledger because of his roles in box office films like 10 Things I Hate About You, The Patriot, A Knight’s Tale, Monster’s Ball, Brokeback Mountain and a little thing called The Dark Knight; but how many of you remember a little show from 1997 called Roar that starred a then unknown Heath Ledger?

Sure, Roar was one of those “blink-and-you-missed-it” kind of TV shows that aired on FOX from July 14, 1997 to September 1, 1997, airing only eight episodes of its debut season before it was removed from the schedule due to low ratings. But, it did come from series creators Shaun Cassidy (the Hardy Boys actor and singer who has carved out quite a career of his own behind the scenes) and Ron Koslow (the man behind the original Beauty and the Beast that starred Linda Hamilton and Ron Perlman).

Roar focused on the life of 20-year-old orphaned prince Conor (Ledger), who had to rise above tragedy to lead his people to freedom. Conor took on a band of ragtag allies that included Tully (Alonzo Greer), a teenage apprentice magician; Catlin (Vera Farmiga of Bates Motel and box office fame), a beautiful former slave, and Fergus (John Saint Ryan), Conor’s big-hearted, ebullient protector.

Conor and his allies had to battle against Longinus (Sebastian Roche, best known for his work on Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries, The Originals and General Hospital), a supernatural creature whose true essence is that of a 400-year-old Roman centurion ready to do the bidding of evil Queen Diana (Lisa Zane, older sister of actor Billy Zane), who is an emissary of the Romans.

Roar was obviously a fantasy action adventure series, set in the year 400 AD, and was reminiscent of Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys; but where those shows excelled with viewers, Roar did not find the same cult classic success. However, the remaining five episodes were broadcast by FOX in 2000 (after Heath Ledger had reached acclaim in the Mel Gibson led film The Patriot).

It should be noted that the show featured guest stars such as Melissa George (Heartbeat and Grey’s Anatomy), Keri Russell (Felicity and The Americans), Virginia Hey (Farscape), Brigid Brannagh (Army Wives), Brenda Strong (Desperate Housewives and The 100) and Susanna Thompson (NCIS and Arrow).

Do you remember Roar?