CCH Pounder has been added to the cast of SCI FI Channel’s paranormal drama pilot Warehouse 13, Variety reported. Pounder will play Mrs. Fredric, the director of a secret government organization. She joins a cast that also includes Eddie McClintock, Saul Rubinek and Joanne Kelly. Warehouse 13 follows a pair of FBI agents who investigate artifacts in a mysterious South Dakota facility; Pounder’s character is charged with securing those threatening objects.
Saul Rubinek has been added to Sci Fi’s pilot Warehouse 13. In Warehouse, Rubinek (Leverage) will play Artie Nielsen, a longtime Secret Service agent in charge of Warehouse 13, a location where the government houses supernatural objects.
Polly Walker has come on board Sci Fi Channel’s two-hour pilot Caprica. On the Galactica prequel Caprica, Walker (Rome) will play Sister Clarice Willow, the gracious, eloquent and duplicitous high priestess and headmistress of the Athena Academy, a private religious school.
Eric Stoltz has signed on to star opposite Esai Morales in Sci Fi Channel’s two-hour Caprica pilot. Alessandra Toressani also has joined Caprica, a prequel to Sci Fi’s Battlestar Galactica. Stoltz will play Daniel Graystone, a wealthy computer engineer who, after an emotionally crippling family tragedy, uses his technological wizardry to forever change the future of Caprica. Toressani plays Daniel’s daughter, Zoe.
Esai Morales has joined Sci Fi Channel’s Battlestar Galactica prequel pilot Caprica cast in the role of Joseph Adama, a Caprican lawyer and the father of Commander William Adama. The Hollywood Reporter describes Joseph as a deeply passionate man with a strong sense of justice - and someone you wouldn’t want as your enemy. This casting comes after the recent announcement that Deadwood’s Paula Malcolmson had landed the role of Amanda Greystone, a surgeon who goes to extraordinary lengths to help her husband revive her dead 16-year-old daughter via robotics. Amanda is the mother of Zoe Graystone, whose likeness and personality are utilized to create the first Cylon.
Battlestar Galactica may be ending its run next year, but the show will live on with Caprica. At its upfront presentation Tuesday in New York, Sci Fi Channel announced that it has picked a two-hour back-door pilot for the prequel, which had been in development for two years. Caprica, which is set 50 years before the events in the departing Battlestar Galactica series, will begin production in the spring. As for Galactica, the series’ final-season premiere will debut online nine hours before it airs on TV.
Sci Fi also has given the go-ahead to True Believer, a two-hour back-door pilot created by Rosario Dawson and David Atchinson - who co-wrote the comic book series Occult Crimes Task Force - about a comic book enthusiast who hires a former superhero to teach him about crime fighting. It joins The Stranded, a two-hour pilot of a Sci Fi/Virgin Comics joint venture. The network also plans an Alice in Wonderland-based six-hour miniseries titled Alice, from RHI Entertainment. A two-hour comedy-drama pilot, Deputized, follows a man who fights crime around the galaxy after getting super powers.
Continue reading Sci Fi Channel Upfront, Caprica Picked Up For Pilot
TV Guide is reporting that Battlestar Galactica will return with a pair of back-to-back specials airing Friday, March 28 at 10 pm/ET. The first special is Battlestar Galactica: Revisited, presenting essential information on the characters, relationships and major plot points of the series’ first three seasons. Battlestar Galactica: The Phenomenon follows, offering a celebrity-studded celebration of the show’s impact on pop culture. The first new Season 4 episodes will air on Friday, April 4, at 10 pm/ET.
Stargate Atlantis will begin production later this month on its fifth season, Sci Fi Channel announced. The 20-episode season will include the series’ benchmark 100th episode. Paul McGillion will return for five episodes to reprise his role as Dr. Carson Beckett. Amanda Tapping (Col. Samantha Carter) will appear as a special guest star in several episodes, and Stargate SG-1 star Michael Shanks (Dr. Daniel Jackson) will appear as a special guest in episodes as well.
Robert Picardo, who plays International Oversight Committee rep Richard Woolsey, joins the Atlantis cast this season as Woolsey assumes command of the Atlantis expedition. The team, led by Lt. Col. Sheppard (Joe Flanigan), Dr. Rodney McKay (David Hewlett), Teyla (Rachel Luttrell), Ronon (Jason Momoa) and Dr. Jennifer Keller (Jewel Staite), must adjust to his unique leadership style. In the fifth season, the status quo is shaken following the events of season four, which is currently airing on SCI FI Fridays at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
SCI FI Channel has greenlighted a television series based on the Web series Sanctuary, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The show will be the first to use live-action actors against virtual sets in the style of the features 300 and Sin City. SCI FI has ordered a full 13-episode season of the new scripted drama series, which originated online as the first high-definition SF Web series. Sanctuary is a side project from the Stargate SG-1 trio of star Amanda Tapping, writer-producer Damian Kindler and producer-director Martin Wood. They are executive producing the series with Sam Egan. Kindler created Sanctuary, Wood directed the webisodes starring Tapping. Tapping plays the enigmatic Dr. Helen Magnus, who is on a quest with her young protege, Will Zimmerman (Robin Dunne), to track down, aid and protect strange creatures that walk the earth. Sanctuary will be produced by Stage 3 Media in association with SCI FI Channel. Filming is slated to begin in March.
Sci Fi Channel has snapped up cable rerun rights to the post-apocalyptic drama Jericho from CBS Television Distribution. The three-year agreement gives Sci Fi rights to the first and second seasons of the series, which includes an exclusive first run in basic cable for the first six months of the deal. Jericho is set to make its Sci Fi debut with a four-episode marathon February 11, the day before the show’s second-season premiere on CBS. Jericho, which will be simulcast in high definition on Sci Fi HD, will begin airing in its regular Sci Fi time slot of 10 p.m. Mondays on February 18. Jericho stars Skeet Ulrich and revolves around the survivors of a nuclear attack in a Kansas town. It debuted in September 2006 to promising ratings but struggled upon its return to the schedule after a three-month hiatus when it had to face Fox’s American Idol.