Laura Roslin
| Laura Roslin | |
|---|---|
| Battlestar Galactica character | |
 |
|
| First appearance | "Miniseries" |
| Last appearance | "Daybreak (Part 3)" |
| Portrayed by | Mary McDonnell |
| Information | |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Female |
| Occupation | Secretary of Education of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol (Miniseries) President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol |
| Colony | Caprica |
| Affiliation | Twelve Colonies |
Laura Roslin is a fictional character in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica series, portrayed by Mary McDonnell. She is the President of the Twelve Colonies and one of the primary characters in the show.
Roslin's mother is revealed to have also died from breast cancer, and Roslin speaks of her mother's life and death in Season 4's episode "Faith". In "Daybreak", Roslin is shown to have had two sisters, one of whom is pregnant, and a father prior to the Cylon attack on the Colonies. The morning after her sister's baby shower, two police officers inform Roslin that her family had been struck by a drunk driver and killed the previous night. Several months later, Roslin has become somewhat of a recluse and agrees to a blind date after turning down a position alongside her friend, Caprica City Mayor Richard Adar, who is running for President. Though her blind date turns out to be a younger man who is a former student of hers, Roslin has dinner with him and sleeps with him later that night. She later calls and accepts the position with Adar, saying she will stick with it "to the very end."
Just prior to the Cylon attack on the Colonies, Roslin is the Secretary of Education under President Adar. Roslin appears to have been in a romantic relationship with Adar, which fell apart when Roslin successfully defused a large-scale teachers strike. Adar (who assumed Roslin would fail at breaking the strike through peaceful means) demands Roslin's resignation, citing the fact that he wants to use force against the teachers in order to intimidate the other unions on Caprica from striking.
Roslin refuses to resign and vows to fight for her job, as she leaves for a doctor's appointment and the decommissioning ceremony for the Galactica. At her doctor's appointment, Roslin is told that she has breast cancer. Roslin attends the Galactica ceremony, and upon leaving, the Cylons attack the Twelve Colonies. During the attack, Roslin responds to "Case Orange", the official Colonial Government emergency automated signal, and is informed that she is the highest ranking surviving member of the Presidential line of succession. She was in fact the 43rd in line of succession, and is sworn in as President.
"Laura Roslin's presidency was unique in that she became president during war and cataclysm without the energy of ambition fueling her decisions. This was a woman who hadn't a clear political ambition. This made her very different from the women in power that we see on TV. Her story was one of a woman grappling with untapped, literally unrecognized, qualities classically male, in order to achieve one paramount goal — the survival of the human race."
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Wikipedia