Syfy is attempting something that one of the Big Four couldn’t do – adapt Lev Grossman’s best selling fantasy The Magicians for TV. Prime Suspect’s John McNamara will write the script with Supernatural’s Sera Gamble.
The one-hour drama series would follow a group of twentysomethings who, while studying magic in New York City, discover that the imaginary world they read about as kids is real – and poses a danger to our world.For more details, follow the jump.
Syfy’s new zombie series, Z Nation has cast Harold Perrineau (Oz, Lost), Tom Everett Scott (Southland, Beauty and the Beast) and DJ Qualls (Supernatural, Legit) as part of the show’s ensemble cast – along with Michael Welch (Joan of Arcadia. Twilight Trilogy) and Kellita Smith (The Bernie Mac Show).
In the series, a group of everyday folks from New York must transport the only survivor of a zombie plague to the last functioning viral lab in California in hopes of creating a vaccine. Z Nation is set for a fall release. For more, check out the press release after the jump.
Laura Mennell, who played the persuasive Nina Theroux on the late and lamented Alphas, has joined the cast of Haven for its fifth season. She will play Dr. Erin Reid, a brilliant epidemiologist from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) who has unknowingly discovered a genetic marker found only in the Troubled.
Haven is currently shooting its 26-episode fifth season in Canada’s Nova Scotia province. For more details, check out the press release following the jump.
Brian Van Holt, who plays the easy-going Bobby Cobb on Cougar Town, has been cast as Captain William Denninger, the commander of the starship Ascension. Denninger became captain by rising through the ranks – though it was his quick actions during a fire that nearly destroyed the ship early in its journey that proved he had leadership potential. He has a very public, if tortured marriage to Viondra (Tricia Helfer).
Ascension launches on Syfy in November – specific date to be determined – and will run through December.
Syfy has two new and two returning series set for summer, 2014 – along with a startling documentary. It’s angels versus humans in new series Dominion, which follows season two of alien invasion series Defiance on July 19th; sci-fi make-up effects series Face Off returns July 22nd, and competitive magic series Wizard Wars debuts on August 19th.
The documentary Aliens on the Moon takes a look at what ‘really might have’ happened the day that we landed on the moon. For details, check out the press release following the jump.
To celebrate (if that’s the right word) the upcoming premiere of Syfy’s Sharknado 2: The Second One, the network has planned Sharknado Week. Between July 26th and August 2nd, Syfy will unleash three, count ‘em, three original movies featuring the world’s most perfect predator – and a light-hearted look at the fifteen best shark movie bites of all time.
The fun begins with the July 26th premiere of Mega Shark vs. Mecha Shark; Sharkmania: The Top 15 Biggest Baddest Bloodiest Bites follows the next day; Sharknado 2: The Second One premieres on July 30th, and Sharktopus vs. Pteracuda concludes the week’s grisly fun on August 2nd. Check out the press release for cast and plot details.
Syfy has acquired the U.S. basic cable rights to all thirty-nine episodes of Starz Entertainment’s Spartacus. The series will premiere on Syfy on Thursday, June 26th (10/9C) – following the second season premiere of Defiance (8/7C) and series premiere of Dominion (9/8C) – and it will be interesting to see how the very R-rated series will edited for basic cable.
The press release follows the jump.
Syfy has been snatching up all kinds of cool stuff to adapt for television: Frank Miller’s sci-fi miniseries, Ronin; Jonathan Hickman’s military SF/time travel graphic novel, Pax Roman; Robert Kirkman’s clone/conspiracy thriller, Clone; and Lev Grossman’s fantasy novels series, The Magicians. Also, the previously mentioned Letter 44.
Plus (under the category of retread/WHY?) Sharknado 3. For details on all of the above, check out the press releases following the jump.
Killjoys, a 10-episode series built around three fun-loving interstellar bounty hunters, has been greenlit by Syfy to premiere in 2015. The series was created by Michelle Lovretta (Lost Girl) and is produced by Temple Street Productions (Orphan Black). With that pedigree it should be quite a ride.
For further details, follow the jump to the press release.
Combine the politics of a new President of the United States with the possibility of a threat from outer space, and you have the premise of Oni Press’ critically acclaimed Letter 44 – a premise, and a hit comics series that has found a potential television home. Letter 44 is being developed as a series by Syfy.
The series is being developed by genre veterans Showrunner René Echevarria (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Castle, The 4400) and Writer/Director Jonathan Mostow (Terminator 3, U-571). For more, check out the press release after the jump.
