Courtesy of TV GUIDE! First Hercules. Then Xena. Now…Conor, as Fox rolls out a new action-adventure series set in ancient Ireland. B Y S A N D R A L E E As waves from the South Pacific roll in on Fingal Head Beach, 18 miles south of Surfer's Paradise in New South Wales, Australia, a television crew hustles to move a fishing-village set of thatched huts away from the approaching tide. Dozens of extras perched on sand dunes watch as their village is moved yet again. With their muddied druid costumes and matted hair, they seem an incongruous bunch on one of Australia's most popular surfing coastlines. But the spectacular beach and nearby cliff are masquerading as the coast of Ireland, circa 400 A.D., the setting for Fox's new mythical action-adventure series, Roar. The Monday-night show, which premieres July 14 (9 P.M./ET), is the network's big gun in a lineup of original summer shows aimed at attracting rerun-weary viewers. Fox Entertainment Group president Peter Roth explains the strategy: "The biggest mistake we make as network programmers is our abdication of the summer [to cable]. The thing about Roar is that this is risky programming: Whenever you dare to be different, there is always a risk involved. So by putting [Roar] on in the summer, we believe it enables us to get its best launching possibilities." The approach has worked before: Both CBS's Northern Exposure and Fox's Melrose Place debuted during the off-season. Roar may also be able to capitalize on the growing audience, both in the U.S. and abroad, for action-adventure shows like Xena: Warrior Princess, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, and Highlander, The Series. Roar cocreater and executive producer Shaun Cassidy (American Gothic) says the genre has "replaced the Western. Our show's tone is reflective of Bonanza.… You have classic heroes helping people in need. I think [the trend] reflects the openness on the part of the public to embrace a more classic hero." Greg Meidel, chairman of Universal Television Group, which produces Roar (along with Hercules and Xena), says the show was designed "from day one to have worldwide appeal. It has an enormous amount of action, which lends itself to the international marketplace." He says any one-hour show with high production values depends on a combination of domestic and international revenues. Roar will be seen in many countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and New Zealand. Roar's fortunes rest heavily on the shoulders of newcomer Heath Ledger, a 19-year-old Australian actor unknown in America. Dressed for this cool June day's shoot in a rustic costume of suede pants, leather wrist guard, and fake druid tattoos on his back, biceps, and ankles, he plays the 20-year-old Conor, a Celtic prince who watches the massacre of his entire royal family by a rival tribe on his brother's wedding day. Conor is the reluctant hero who emerges to unite his island's disparate tribes and free them from their Roman oppressors in a country that will one day be Ireland. The self-deprecating Ledger thought he had blown his February audition with Cassidy and Roar cocreator and executive producer Ron Koslow (Beauty and the Beast). Ledger says he was nervous and jet-lagged after a 14-hour flight from hometown Sydney to Los Angeles: "I had to fly out on a Friday night, and I didn't sleep. It was the hardest audition I've ever had." Yet after a talent search that spanned the U.S., Canada, Ireland, and England, the producers finally found their hero in Ledger. "On paper it probably sounds a risk," says Koslow, "but when you meet him, he has such presence. He has a tremendous amount of experience for someone his age, [including] stage work and Shakespeare." It took the affable young actor a while to comprehend the importance of his role in Roar, which will introduce him to the American public. "It's fun to be horseback riding and fighting; you're just playing every day," he says in his unmistakable Australian accent. "It's one of those roles that [comes along] once in a lifetime." Conor also gets to roar -- a rebel yell meant to signify the passion of his people. Ledger says he didn't practice the battle cry: "I didn't want to sit on my balcony and roar. I decided I would wait until the day and find this inner strength." The young actor leads an ensemble of six swashbuckling characters whom Cassidy, the former teen idol who found fame in the '70s as a Hardy Boy and pop singer ("Da Doo Ron Ron"), laughingly dubs "the original heavy-metal gang." The show has been described as "Braveheart, the series," but Koslow counters that "Braveheart" was set 800 years after Roar. Conor's mentor, the legendary warrior Fergus, is played with brio and sly wit by British actor John Saint Ryan, whose TV credits include Murder, She Wrote and General Hospital. Newcomer Alonzo Greer, a 26-year-old Los Angeles resident, plays Tully, the rowdy apprentice magician. Rounding out the Celtic clan is Vera Farmiga (Rose Hill), a 23-year-old Syracuse University graduate cast as the former slave Catlin. Farmiga is bound to be compared to Lucy Lawless's Xena. As Catlin, she fights, rides, and practices archery with fatal precision. In the fourth week of filming, Farmiga proved to be just as tough as her character when she managed to get back on the set five days after having her appendix removed. "I couldn't laugh, cough, cry, anything, and I thought, 'Forget it. The way I'm feeling now, it's the end,'" she recalls. She got out of bed when she realized her stunt double was playing her part. Then there are the villains. Sebastian Roché (New York Undercover), a 32-year-old English actor, portrays the evil sorcerer Longinus, who appears as a 30-year-old man but is actually a 400-year-old cursed Roman centurion unable to die. Chicago native Lisa Zane (Profit) is the manipulative, power-hungry Queen Diana. "The great thing about our cast is that [the actors] all have a unique, timeless quality about them," says Cassidy. "When you are doing a period piece, you don't want them looking as if they have just stepped out of the mall." Each hour-long episode follows a similar setup: Conor confronts a difficult situation that he must resolve to ensure the safety and unity of his people. "Our stories for the most part are emotional quests as well as physical ones," says Cassidy. "We deal with classic themes like family, loyalty, courage, and survival." Much of the shooting is being done in the northeastern state of Queensland, chosen because of its varied vistas, not to mention the mostly favorable weather. Roar also has six sets just outside of Surfer's Paradise, one of Australia's leading beach resorts. Everything from sets to costumes had to be created, making the show expensive -- about $1.5 million per episode. Fox has ordered 13 episodes, and while Roar isn't on the fall schedule, network chief Roth says that if the show does well, it will stay in production and reappear at some point. "I am hopeful we will get a broad-based audience," says Cassidy, whose American Gothic was a critical hit but a ratings failure on CBSlast season. "But all we can do is make the best television possible. We are inventing something that really is not on right now." The next Xena, perhaps? "I don't think we are trying to create the next Xena," says Koslow. "We are trying to give people a view into a world that not many know about. The fascinating thing is that not much was written; it was an oral tradition of passing on history, so I would hope it's a show that will be intellectually challenging." The cast members are hoping for big things too. Roché believes Roar is the "perfect kind of show to break into movies. This series is a dream for any actor in the cast, and if it leads to movies, then fantastic. But I am not saying I will be the next Tom Cruise or Liam Neeson." As for Zane, the sister of actor Billy Zane ("The Phantom"), she wants to make her character Diana a "memorable role in television history." Perhaps best known as George Clooney's love interest Diane Leeds during ER's first season, she's reluctant to call this a breakthrough role: "Who knows? I always hope that whatever I do will lead to something great." Back on the beach, a crew member calls to the episode's American director, Tucker Gates, to hurry up -- the sun is setting behind the clifftop where Conor has let out his roar. With smoke from the campfire blowing into the actors' eyes, the last take is finished, and the director calls cut. Within minutes, the fishing village set is collapsed, the actors walk over the sand dunes to their trailers, and the surf rolls in.