Jordan Collier
| Jordan Collier | |
|---|---|
| The 4400 character | |
 Billy Campbell as Jordan Collier | |
| First appearance | "Becoming" |
| Last appearance | "The Great Leap Forward" |
| Created by |
René Echevarria Scott Peters |
| Portrayed by | Billy Campbell |
| Information | |
| Occupation | Leader of the promicin movement |
| Abilities | Neutralize promicin |
Jordan Collier is a fictional character on the USA Network science fiction television series The 4400. He is portrayed by American actor Billy Campbell.
Character Profile
Jordan Collier quickly became one of the central figures of the 4400. Intelligent and persuasive, he quickly recognized the 4400 and their situation as being on a war footing with the government. Although his motives and means change during the course of the series from greed to altruism, Jordan's greatest wish appears to be that he will be remembered as a hero who changed the world, in the eye of the future.
Season One
Jordan Collier first appears in the episode "Becoming". A real estate mogul, he disappeared April 10, 2002, from the Seattle, Washington area. After Barbera Yates begins demonizing the returnees, he publicly reveals himself as a 4400 and begins to speak on their behalf. Meeting many of the returnees at their gatherings on Highland Beach, he announces his plans to build a complex where they can live in safety.
Jordan shows keen interest in Lily Tyler and her unborn child, Isabelle Tyler. He gives Lily and Richard Tyler a house on the estate and employs Richard as a member of his security force. It soon becomes evident, however, that his main focus is on Lily's child; after Richard discovers Jordan's intense interest in the baby, he and Lily prepare to leave. Jordan attempts to stop them, claiming that the baby represents the future and he is the best man to raise her. Lily and Richard escape, leaving Collier severely injured by a psychic attack from the unborn Isabelle.
Season Two
Jordan starts the 4400 Center, a place where 4400s can live and supposedly where non-4400s can "unlock their own ability". He mentors Shawn Farrell, who sought shelter after a turbulent homecoming. Shawn's healing ability is very useful to Jordan as it brings in a large revenue, and Jordan's influence is very useful to Shawn as it allows him to reach many people in need of healing. They become very close, with Jordan assuming the role of a surrogate father to Shawn.
Due to the continuing threat to 4400s from the government and general anti-4400 sentiment, Jordan is still determined to track down Lily and her family; he confides in Shawn that his former arrogance and greed have been destroyed by Isabelle's attack. He eventually locates Richard, held in police custody, and offers him and Lily sanctuary in the 4400 Center. He appears to become accepted by Isabelle, and she fully heals him of the damage her earlier attack inflicted on him.
Shawn comes to realize that Jordan's own motives and methods are less than ideal, when he sees Jordan sleeping with one of his students, a famous singer. Jordan responds that she will spread the word of the center and benefit them all; heartbroken by revelations of Jordan's promiscuity, an employee he was having an affair with, Devon, attempts suicide.
Jordan's relationship with NTAC is mostly antagonistic during this period. NTAC suspects him of being nothing less than a revolutionary, but attempts to monitor his activities meet with limited success. Jordan is noted to have dealt with suspicious or criminal characters; it is during this time that Jordan's motives become apparent, as he tells Gary Nevarro "We're in a war here. Don't pick the losing side." He also tells the baby Isabelle "Welcome to the revolution."
When Jordan's assassination is predicted by Maia Skouris, Jordan asks the infant Isabelle if he is safe. She offers him an encouraging vision of a future where he is honored for his work with the 4400. Reassured, he goes through with plans for a 4400 reunion. He is shot and killed at the event, his last words being "She lies." After being assassinated by Kyle Baldwin, his body disappears, but he reappears alive in a dazed condition at Highland Beach, at the conclusion of the second season finale. It is hinted that his resurrection was at the hands of the same future forces that created the 4400 in the first place.
Season Three
Jordan, in a state of amnesia, visits Kyle in prison, asking "Did you kill me?" Questioned by NTAC, Collier claims to have wandered the Earth "forever", and describes scenes of devastation. With Alana Mareva's help, he regains his memories fully. After helping to effect Kyle's release from prison, he returns to and resumes control of the 4400 Center, casting Isabelle out.
It transpires that Jordan has been much affected by his post-death experiences. He appears to have either visited or witnessed the future of mankind, in which a powerful, brutal elite rule in the last city, with the rest of the world a ruined wasteland. Whilst an amnesiac, he had been spreading news of his visions as a gospel in homeless people's camps across the country. Once his full memory returns, he becomes determined to prevent that future from coming to pass.
After regaining his leadership of the 4400 Center, Jordan revives the Nova Group and steals Haspel Corporation's stores of promicin, with the intent of distributing it to the people. He succeeds in having his followers spread around the world and distribute promicin to all those who are willing to take the risks to gain an ability. He hides out in a cabin in the country to elude law enforcement in the season three finale, "Fifty–Fifty".
Season Four
Jordan feels guilty over the deaths suffered by the people whose bodies could not tolerate promicin. When Graham Holt begins to convert Seattle into his own private city, using his newfound ability to inspire worship, Jordan neutralizes the threat (with his previously unknown ability) and informs the world that although there will be scares, the end result is worth it.
Jordan is later joined by Kyle Baldwin and Isabelle Tyler. Kyle had taken promicin and gained the ability to see a "guide" who calls herself Cassie. Cassie guided Kyle to Isabelle Tyler when she escaped from custody, and to a book that appears to be prophecies about Jordan Collier and his movement. Although Kyle is now convinced that Jordan is a messiah, Jordan flatly denies this and cautions Kyle about the danger of taking the book literally. Jordan also agrees to give Isabelle Tyler a chance to prove herself, but warns her not to make him "nervous".
Jordan and his movement settle a small deserted town, Evanstone, using it as a model for a better future. After being forced to leave due to NTAC locating the town, the movement returns to Seattle. Jordan attempts to convince Shawn to rejoin him, but Shawn refuses, on the grounds that distributing promicin was a grave error.
Jordan's next step is to annex a polluted and uninhabited part of Seattle, calling it "Promise City", with a perimeter that causes pain to any who approach. The government send in a squad of its enhanced soldiers to assassinate him, but due to Maia Skouris, they are discovered and stripped of their abilities by Jordan, who releases the soldiers unharmed. Warned by Maia that further killing will lead to a full-scale war, Jordan retaliates by moving the perimeter of "Promise City" to double its size. When Shawn later visits Promise City to ask Jordan to delay giving out promicin, Jordan reveals that he wants every single person to take promicin, leaving the surviving half of the planet with abilities. His justification for this is that "positives" and "negatives" could never live side-by-side.
Jordan is pleased when fellow 4400 Richard Tyler reappears, having entered Promise City to see Isabelle. He asks Richard to join him, but instead Richard attacks Isabelle and leaves with her. Jordan helps NTAC locate Richard by passing on the name of Richard's confidante. He warns Kyle against attempting to rescue Isabelle, saying her place in the movement is still unclear and that the risk of losing Kyle far outweighs the benefits of retrieving Isabelle.
When Jordan discovers Kevin Burkhoff has begun developing a series of tests which will determine whether or not an individual can survive a promicin injection, he adamantly refuses to endorse it to his followers. Promicin positives and promicin negatives, Jordan explains, cannot coexist - to allow only half of the population to gain superhuman abilities would create a rift between the two classes. He explains that he would rather the human race endure one generation of sacrifice, leaving a smaller but far more evolved population behind. Kyle Baldwin kidnaps Kevin without Jordan's knowledge, but once in Promise City, Jordan agrees to keep Kevin as a "guest," offering him a position of influence in Promise City in hopes of convincing him to abandon his efforts. This plan ends in failure, however, as Tess Doerner and Shawn Farrell are able to rescue Burkhoff thanks to the former's suggestive abilities.
In "Tiny Machines", Jordan is himself kidnapped by Isabelle Tyler, who had regained her powers after being forced to take promicin by the now "Marked" Tom Baldwin. Though he initially believes the action to have murderous intent, it is later revealed that their true intention is to implant another "Marked" operative within Jordan himself. Though he is defiant in the face of his enemies despite being surrounded and helpless, he is speechless when it is revealed The Marked are planning to use his ability to eliminate the entire movement and all of Promise City from within. Due to the interventions of Tom (now back to normal) and Isabelle (whose cooperation was secured by threatening her father), Jordan is freed from the grasp of The Marked, and cured of the agent placed inside him. Tom gives him a list of the seven remaining members of The Marked, since NTAC is unable to reach them through official channels. After learning about the chaos of the promicin infection caused by Danny Farrell and that his followers were offering their assistance to the ailing Seattle, he takes advantage of the situation and uses the aftermath to bolster his position in the city and subsequently annexes it to Promise City.
Abilities
Jordan Collier's ability to neutralize promicin is discovered in "The Wrath of Graham" when he strips Graham Holt of his ability. It is theorized that this ability only works on promicin-positive non-4400s. Jordan Collier and Danny Farrell have the exact opposite ability.
Departure and return
Campbell took most of season three off to sail around the world.[1] He returned in season four as a series regular, differing from being a guest star in previous seasons.[2]