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 of Kobol and is one of the primary characters in the show. Character biography Background In Season 4's episode "Faith," Roslin's mother is revealed to have died from breast cancer. 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." Cylon attack and escape Just before the Cylon attack on the Colonies, Roslin is the Secretary of Education under President Adar, with whom she appears to have been in a romantic relationship. Adar asks her to defuse a teachers strike, believing she will fail and he will get to use force against the teachers and intimidate other Caprica unions. When she succeeds, he demands her resignation; she refuses and 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. Early presidency Her first actions include organizing all FTL-capable ships together and convincing Commander William Adama to abandon a retaliatory attack on the Cylons. President Roslin and Billy Keikeya, her aide/press secretary/chief of staff, establish a working office space aboard her transport, renamed Colonial One (which the series' production team intentionally designed to resemble Air