SNAPSHOT
When a team of scientists from the Centers for Disease Control travel to a high-tech research facility in the Arctic to investigate a possible disease outbreak, they quickly find themselves pulled into a terrifying life-and-death struggle that holds the key to mankind’s salvation or total annihilation. (source: beyondhollywood.com)The Killing‘s Billy Campbell will star as CDC pathologist Dr. Alan Farragut, who first and foremost is a man of science, having dedicated his life to understanding and containing infectious diseases. Although brilliant, his bedside manner leaves something to be desired. For Alan, his work is his life, especially since the devastating end of his marriage. An affair between his wife (Dr. Kimberly Walker) and his brother (Dr. Paul Farragut) has left Alan in a pretty serious state of denial. He now finds himself forced to deal with emotions old and new when tasked to save his estranged brother who has become infected with a deadly disease.
Additionally, the role of Hiroshi Hitaki, the mastermind behind the arctic base and the top-secret research happening there will be played by Hiroyuki Sanada (The Wolverine, Revenge, Lost). Walker, the former wife of Campbell’s character who hasn’t seen him in two years — who will reunite with him after two years — will be played by Kyra Zagorsky, while Balleseros, the U.S. military liaison to the CDC with a dangerous agenda of his own, will be played by Mark Ghanime.
(source: hollywoodreporter.com)
Once again it appears that humanity is doing a stellar job of bringing about its own destruction.
That’s hardly a surprise is it?
Promoting itself with the chilling tagline “The truth will spread”, which is currently splashed around the Marriott Marquis & Marina Hotel adjacent to the Convention Center that’s playing host to Comic-Con (much like ads for Defiance were last year), Helix, the new series from Battlestar Galactica producer/creator Ronald D. Moore, will underscore yet again that we are our own worst enemy.
Moore, who has been joined in bringing this apocalypse-beckoning show to air for an initial 13 episode run by co-executive producers Lynda Obst (Contact), Steven Maeda (Lost, The X-Files) and pilot scriptwriter Cameron Porsandeh – that’s quite a production pedigree there, one that bodes well for the series – promises a gripping ride saying that the CDC team will “learn that the research that they’re involved in has both the potential to save humanity and destroy humanity.”
And thanks to syfy’s decision to send the show straight to production, rather going through the usual pilot stage, Helix won’t have to pack every last facet of narrative and character development into the first hour of the show, which provides certain advantages as Maeda makes clear:
“We want to get the hooks in early but we also want to set up character so you want to come back and spend time with these people. … We’re planning to keep the tension up.”
He also sought to underline that the show would answer many of the big questions raised over the course of season 1, ratcheting up the tension for an expected second season, which would likely be set at a new location.
You can read the full report at hollywoodreporter.com
The show debuts sometime in 2014 (filming commences next week in Montreal according to insidetv.ew.com)