Sci-Fi Storm

Syfy today announced that Golden Globe nominee Dennis Haysbert (24), David Hewlett (Stargate Atlantis) and Ian Tracey (Wayward Pines) have joined the cast of the channel’s new futuristic espionage thriller pilot Incorporated from Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s Pearl Street Films, CBS Television Studios and Universal Cable Productions.

Set in a world where companies have unlimited power, executive Ben Larson (Sean Teale, Reign) is forced to change his identity in order to infiltrate a cut-throat corporate world at SPIGA and save the woman he loves. In the process, he will take on the entire system — with deadly consequences.

Dennis Haysbert plays series regular Julian, Head of Security and probably the most feared person at SPIGA headquarters. Part detective and part grand inquisitor, Julian is a tenacious investigator with an uncanny ability to sniff out moles and traitors in the company. Haysbert’s numerous credits include Major League, The Unit, Absolute Power, Jarhead and Ted 2.

David Hewlett has joined the cast of the pilot as Chad, a high-level executive at SPIGA, the all-powerful company in Incorporated, who has reached his position by appeasing his superiors and taking credit for the achievements of his subordinates. Hewlett has appeared in SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate Universe, Dark Matter and Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Ian Tracey has joined the cast of the pilot as Terrence, a corrupt businessman who quickly becomes a benefactor to Theo (Eddie Ramos, Parenthood), but could also become a threat to Ben’s plans for SPIGA. Tracey has starred in Intelligence, Rogue and Bates Motel.

The pilot will also star Georgina Haig (Once Upon a Time), Eddie Ramos (Teen Wolf) and Julia Ormond (Mad Men).

Incorporated is created by David and Alex Pastor (Selfless, The Last Days), who wrote and will direct the pilot. Ted Humphrey (The Good Wife) will serve as executive producer/showrunner, with Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Todd also executive producing. Pearl Street Film’s Margaret Chernin will serve as associate producer.

Actress Yvonne Craig, best known for her pioneering role of Batgirl in the original Batman TV series, died on Monday in her home at the age of 78 after a two year long battle with breast cancer.

Craig’s foray into acting came quite accidentally. While working as a dancer, she had dinner with a producer who wanted to get her into films, but she was uninterested. But another man passed by her table and asked if she was an actress. The producer said, “Yes she is, and I’m her manager…” The man was Patrick Ford, the son of director John Ford, and was looking for a new leading lady to star opposite Patrick Wayne (John Wayne’s son) in The Young Land. And thus the dancer became the actress.

But it was when ABC wanted them to add the Batgirl character to Batman‘s third season that she was forever enshrined in genre fan’s memories. The purple-suited, motorcycle-riding female superhero (one of the first such live action roles), who’s real identity was a mystery even to Batman himself but was in reality Commissioner Gordon’s daughter Barbara, the librarian, helped ABC’s decision to pick up the show for a third (and final) season.

Star Trek fans will also remember Craig as the beautiful (but insane) green-skinned Orion slave girl Marta in the episode “Whom Gods Destroy”.

Private services are planned but not set. Her family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the cancer research and treatment center, the Angeles Clinic Foundation.

On the next episode of Dark Matter, the crew plots to retake the ship from a group of ruthless mercenaries hell-bent on delivering them to the Galactic Authority. Tune in Friday at 10/9c on Syfy!
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We were waiting for the axe to drop, and now it finally has – Syfy has officially canceled Haven after 5 seasons, although 13 episodes remain to air. Syfy had previously said they would wait for the second half of Season 5 to air before making a decision, but when the airing got pushed on the schedule to October, a year after it was filmed, it seemed more and more likely that it would not get renewed.

There were a number of factors working against it. Earlier this year the Nova Scotia government voted to significantly cut the film tax credit given to productions in the province, where Haven was filmed. While this may not have been a direct factor, it would have made the cost of production increase even more.

Also, production typically took place during the summer, where an ice rink in Chester served as the primary studio, with external shots typically taking place around Chester and Lunenburg. When the double-sized season was ordered last year, it meant that production would extend past their typical August end date into December, and Chester needed their ice rink back. So they used a vacated warehouse in Halifax for the second half. If they continued production at this late date, they would still need an alternate studio location.

Plus, contracts for actors, production, storage, etc. only last so long.

I was in Nova Scotia this past week, and people were still hopeful production would begin again. Haven brought $28 million to the province and $1 million just for Chester in local spending.

Fortunately for fans, as mentioned there are still 13 episodes yet to air and they will starting October 8th. And if there is never to be more Haven, they will wrap things up nicely, but the door is still open…TheWrap has a nice interview with showrunner Gabrielle Stanton about the ending. And fans have already started #SaveHaven in the hopes more can be done.

As peace in the Quad hangs in the balance, our Killjoys are finally compelled to choose a side. Tune in for the season finale, “Escape Velocity”, Friday at 9/8c on Syfy!

Syfy announced today the premiere dates for Childhood’s End and The Expanse.

Childhood’s End will be a six hour television event, premiering on Monday, December 14th from 8-10pm ET, and continuing on the next two consecutive nights.

The Expanse will premiere on the same night at 10pm ET, then will appear weekly on Tuesdays at 10pm ET for the remainder of its 10 episode run.

Syfy also today announced that it will develop Frederik Pohl’s Hugo and Nebula Award-winning novel [asin=0345475836]Gateway[/asin] about humanity’s encounter with a mysterious, ancient alien civilization as a one-hour scripted series with Entertainment One Television (eOne) and Universal Cable Productions (UCP). eOne will distribute the series worldwide.

David Eick (Battlestar Galactica) and Josh Pate (Falling Skies) collaborated on the adaptation and will serve as executive producers on the series. Eick will revise a pilot script written by Pate and serve as showrunner. The series will also be executive produced by Martha De Laurentiis through the De Laurentiis Company, former eOne Television executive Michael Rosenberg, and Lorenzo De Maio. eOne Television’s Gerard Bocaccio, SVP US Scripted Development, will oversee the project for the studio.

In Gateway, humanity discovers an asteroid teeming with the long abandoned spaceships of an advanced alien race — the Heechee – setting in motion a gold rush for alien artifacts and technology. The ships are preprogrammed, transporting their voyagers to distant worlds of riches — or certain death. Undaunted by the peril or the odds, prospector Robinette Broadhead gambles everything on a journey to Gateway. After one nightmare mission, he returns to extraordinary wealth and luxury, but is haunted by the loss of his crewmates, including the love of his life.
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EW is reporting that actors Jay Karnes (The Shield) and Brendan Coyle (Downton Abbey) will be appearing in the upcoming second season of Syfy’s 12 Monkeys.

Karnes will recur as a savvy FBI agent in the 1940s named Robert Gale, who believes a series of grisly murders may have something to do with a man named James Cole (Aaron Stanford) — an outsider who Gale suspects might not be from this time.

Meanwhile, Coyle will first appear in the season premiere as Dr. Benjamin Kalman, a former Markridge bioengineer racked with guilt over the deadly virus his team gave birth to. Cole and Ramse (Kirk Acevedo) find him in Budapest and recruit him in their efforts to stop the Army of the 12 Monkeys.

The Killjoys finally turn the tables on Khlyen, only to discover the shocking truth behind his presence in the Quad. Tune in for “Enemy Khlyen” Friday night at 9/8c on Syfy!
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Netflix announced today on Twitter that they are renewing Sense8 for a second season:

Birthdays are just the beginning. #sense8 is reborn. https://t.co/tmMV66gKhm

— Netflix US (@netflix) August 8, 2015

(not sure why that doesn’t seem to embed in the right style 🙁 )

I also just found out about a new 25-minute behind the scenes video for Sense8…check it out!

No details on the renewal yet, but I’m sure we’ll get that in the coming weeks.

Four abandons ship to reclaim his past, unknowingly walking into an ambush on a remote, abandoned mining planet as his crewmates race against time to time save him. Watch Dark Matter Friday night at 10/9c!
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