One of my favorite Y2K-era shows, Alias, just turned 25. This series was a big part of my formative years. Sydney Bristow was a badass who picked up where The X-Files‘ Dana Scully left off in my personal ‘girl power’ education. Alias also cemented my love of Jennifer Garner and the action spy genre. The cast was great, too. When Bradley Cooper broke into the mainstream with The Hangover, I was absolutely that annoying friend who bragged about knowing him from his two seasons as Will Tippin.
To celebrate the occasion, Jen posted a video from an interview she gave about playing Sydney and added footage and pictures with castmates, including Gina Torres, Victor Garber, Ron Rifkin, and Merrin Dungey, as well as creator J.J. Abrams. She also posted a selfie with her former co-star and ex, Michael Vartan. They dated from around 2003-2004. From Wealth of Geeks via Yahoo! Entertainment:
Jennifer Garner marked the 25th anniversary of Alias with a new photo of former costar and ex-boyfriend Michael Vartan. The selfie appeared in Garner’s Sept. 30 Instagram montage celebrating the ABC spy drama. Garner has one arm around Vartan, who wears glasses, a chambray shirt and a New York Mets cap.
The image offered a rare recent glimpse of the former costars together. Garner played Sydney Bristow opposite Vartan’s Michael Vaughn throughout the series, which premiered Sept. 30, 2001, and ran for five seasons.
Garner’s anniversary post went well beyond one reunion, bringing together photographs, footage and memories from the cast and creative team who remained part of her life long after the show ended in 2006. The montage included current and older images with Victor Garber, Ron Rifkin, Merrin Dungey and series creator J.J. Abrams.
“They were my whole world, the cast and crew, and they still are,” Garner said in the video’s voiceover. She described the group as a small circle that had remained connected across the years.
[From Wealth of Geeks via Yahoo! Entertainment]
Jen and Michael’s selfie looks like it was taken somewhat recently. I’m not surprised that Jen stayed friendly with another one of her exes. She strikes me as an emotionally intelligent, well-adjusted woman. It’s been a while since we’ve had a Michael Vartan sighting, but I’d like some more. Jen and I must have similar taste because back in the day, Vartan and Affleck were my big celebrity crushes.
I always get so excited to see pictures of Jen and Victor Garber. Everyone who works with Victor loves him. I watched Jen’s Insta video a few times, but didn’t see any pictures of Kevin Weisman, who played tech guy Marshall Flinkman. Weisman was just in the fourth season of Reacher. He made a post for Alias’ 25th anniversary where he thanked everyone for signing the Alias Declassified book for his mom back in 2002 when it came out. Jen commented on it, writing “Moms are the best, and so are you” with two hearts and a star emoji. Aw.
These photos with Michael Vartan are from the set of Alias in 2005:
Photo note by Celebitchy: Here are Gina Torres and Jennifer Garner hanging out in Hollywood in 2008 (Garner was pregnant at the time). She’s also shown in 2010 with Victor Garber, a nanny and her daughters in Central Park, and filming Alias with Michael Vartan in 2005. Photos credit: Pedro Andrade / James Breeden,PacificCoastNews.com/Avalon, Castro, PacificCoastNews.com/Avalon and Buchan/Carrillo/Grimes/Avalon
I loved Alias too. But the best thing about it was Lena Olin. She was amazing!
It was great til that last season.
I loved Alias back in the day. It might be time for another rewatch.
Alias was my first introduction to fandom and fanfiction lol. I was such a hardcore Sydney/Vaughn shipper! I will always have a soft spot for Jennifer Garner. I also got to see Victor Garber some years ago on Broadway in NYC in Hello Dolly. He was so great!
I used to have such a crush on Michael Vartan. I don’t think he is acting anymore. He did some stuff after Alias but he hasn’t done anything in years. There were some photos of him that came out earlier this year where he looked kind of rough with scraggly beard, baseball hat, and oversized sweatshirt. I know he’s older so I don’t expect him to look the same and he looks much better in the photo Jennifer shared than in those pap pics.
In my fantasy, Jennifer reunites with him romantically and they grow old together like Sydney and Vaughn haha (she’s not married to her current boyfriend who is literally a carbon copy of Michael Vartan so you never know!).