It's been almost 25 years since NBC canceled the first "V" following two miniseries and a single season of weekly episodes. The show's breakout star, actress Jane Badler ("One Life to Live"), played the evil Diana, a guinea pig-swallowing, nostril-flaring, lizard-skinned space Nazi in a red jumpsuit.

After "V," Badler turned up in "The Highwayman" and in a 1988-90 revival of "Mission: Impossible," which was filmed in Australia. Then she fell off the American pop culture radar. Badler stayed in Australia, got married, raised a family and acted in some Australian stage and screen productions while putting together a cabaret act and releasing her first CD.

With a new "V" about to premiere on ABC, Badler may be poised to return to the American public eye if the new show invites her to appear as a guest star. She reached out to "V" producers and met one for lunch in Los Angeles two months ago.

"They know there is a huge amount of fans, and I'm not talking about people in my age group but people in their 30s who watch television and would be very cheated not to have at least one or two [cast members] brought back," Badler, 55, said. "I'm not saying I'm the one, I just know it's very important to connect them in some way."

Syfy's "Battlestar Galactica" took that exact approach, casting Richard Hatch, a star of the original, in the new "BSG" as a different character. It sounds like that's what might happen with Badler and "V," although she said nothing is likely to occur until after the first episodes get on the air and prove successful.

"I definitely think they're looking for a different character," Badler said. "I don't think they're interested in bringing me back in the same guise. I think they want more of a surprise element so everyone would go, 'Whoa!' I think that's more interesting to them and having it done so it makes total sense with lots of integrity. I'm sure I would be a Visitor, but if I was going to be part of a story line maybe I would be a judge or a lawyer, but that wouldn't be who I really am, it would be something twisted."

Executive producer Scott Peters echoed that sentiment.

"I don't want somebody just to walk by in the background," he said in August. "I want to find a really interesting role, an ironic role based on what their old role was. I want them to have fun doing it. I think it's a fun thing to tip your hat to the old show."

So far, the new "V" has not lined up any of the stars of the original -- Badler, Faye Grant, Marc Singer -- to appear. That may because the show has had to worry about getting its own new universe in order before importing anyone from the first series.

Production has shut down at least once and ABC announced it will air only four episodes this fall, beginning Nov. 3, and save the balance of the 13-episode order for March. Entertainment Weekly reported network executives are nervous about the show being perceived as too sci-fi and may even insist the word "alien" not be uttered, a particularly preposterous notion that ABC denies.

The new "V" features another dark-haired female as leader of the Visitors, but Morena Baccarin ("Firefly"), who plays the character, said her Anna is no Diana.

"That character was a little more fascist and a little more truly evil," Baccarin said. "[Anna] is definitely more contained, more deliberate but warm. It was important to Scott Peters that this character be warm and not just a robotic alien chick. People need to be able to relate and feel drawn toward her."

Syfy will rebroadcast the original "V" miniseries today at 1 and 11 p.m. and will air the sequel miniseries, "V: The Finale Battle," at 5 p.m. Episodes from the "V" series will air Monday (8 a.m.-7 p.m.) and Tuesday (8 a.m.-4 p.m.) followed by the original miniseries (4 p.m. Tuesday).

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