Director David Nutter felt that casting Željko Ivanek was the key to creating the episode, feeling that "Roland" was "probably the weakest script from start to finish" that the director had seen, but that once Ivanek had been cast, it became "important to push that as much as possible, to help outweigh the frailties in the script". Chris Carter has also praised Ivanek's involvement with the episode, calling the actor's portrayal "just an amazing performance. This guy, Zeljko, should have won an award for this". Glen Morgan, a regular writer for the series, felt that the episode "wasn't completely effective", but also added that it offered a "softer" outlook compared to the series' other episodes so far, feeling that it was important to include several "episodes that demonstrate the paranormal isn't always horrifying".