SyFy’s BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: BLOOD & CHROME begins shooting in Vancouver. 2-Hour Pilot Chronicles Young William Adama’s Adventures in First Cylon War.
Per the Press Release, Lili Bordan (SILENT WITNESS) joins Luke Pasqualino and Ben Cotton in the cast.
“Production has begun in Vancouver on Syfy’s highly anticipated 2-hour pilot, Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome, the all-new chapter in the Battlestar Galactica saga. Universal Cable Productions will produce the event with Syfy utilizing cutting edge CGI and virtual technology.
Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome takes place in the 10th year of the first Cylon war. As the battle between humans and their creation, the sentient robotic Cylons, rages across the 12 colonial worlds, a young, talented fighter pilot, William Adama (Luke Pasqualino), finds himself assigned to one of the most powerful Battlestars in the Colonial fleet: the Galactica. Full of ambition and in pursuit of the intense action that the Cylon war promises, Adama quickly find himself at odds with Coker (Ben Cotton), the battle-weary officer to whom he reports. With 47 days left in his tour of duty, Coker desires an end to battle just as much as Adama craves the start of it. Though they clash at first, the two men forge an unlikely bond when a routine mission turns dangerous and becomes a pivotal one for the desperate fleet.
Joining Pasqualino and Cotton in the cast is Lili Bordan, who will play Dr. Beka Kelly, a Ph.D. who worked for Graystone Industries that created the Cylon robots. Currently assigned to a secret military mission, Beka and Adama quickly establish a rapport. Click to Enlarge
From the award-winning producers of Battlestar Galactica, this new action-packed chapter of the BSG canon was written by Michael Taylor from a story by David Eick, Taylor and Bradley Thompson & David Weddle and directed by Jonas Pate. David Eick, Jonas Pate and Michael Taylor will serve as executive producers.”
Entertainment Weekly revealed that 21-year-old Luke Pasqualino (the UK version of SKINS) has been cast as the young William Adama in SyFy’s BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: BLOOD & CHROME.
Ben Cotton, (HELLCATS, the SyFy web series RIESE) will play Adama’s commanding officer. Looks like the whole show is skewing younger.
The BSG prequel, originally planned as just a web mini-series, got greenlighted as a full series, possibly as a response to the low ratings of previous prequel CAPRICA.
That series, much more “grounded” and concerened with slow moving personal tragedies and conspiracies generated some devoted fans, but insufficent overall viewers.
Young fighter pilot “Husker” Adama was previously played by Nico Cortez in RAZOR.
Official character descriptions:
“Pasqualino will star as the young, talented fighter pilot William Adama, a recent Academy graduate who finds himself assigned to the newest Battlestar in the Colonial fleet: the Galactica. Full of ambition and in pursuit of the intense action that the Cylon war promises, Adama quickly finds himself at odds with Coker (Cotton), the battle-weary officer to whom he reports. Cotton in HELLCATS
With 45 days left in his tour of duty, Coker desires an end to battle just as much as Adama craves the start of it. Though they clash at first, the two men forge an unlikely bond when a routine mission turns dangerous and becomes a pivotal one for the desperate fleet. Blood & Chrome is set during the 10th year of the first Cylon war. The show will debut with a two-hour pilot on SyFy, executive produced by David Eick.”
Ben Cotton also appeared as recurring character Dr. Peter Kavanagh on STARGATE: ATLANTIS, and guested twice on CAPRICA.
Syfy has given the green light to a new BATTLESTAR GALACTICA pilot/TV Movie, BLOOD & CHROME.
SyFy’s Press Release:
Syfy is readying an exciting all-new chapter in the Battlestar Galactica saga with a greenlight for Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome from Executive Producer David Eick, it was announced today by Mark Stern, Executive Vice President of Original Programming, Syfy and Co-Head of Content for Universal Cable Productions. Universal Cable Productions will produce the 2-hour pilot with Syfy utilizing cutting edge CGI and virtual technology.
Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome takes place in the 10th year of the first Cylon war. As the battle between humans and their creation, a sentient robotic race, rages across the 12 colonial worlds, a brash rookie viper pilot enters the fray. Ensign William Adama, barely in his 20’s and a recent Academy graduate, finds himself assigned to the newest battlestar in the Colonial fleet… the Galactica. The talented but hot-headed risk-taker soon finds himself leading a dangerous top secret mission that, if successful, will turn the tide of the decade long war in favor of the desperate fleet.
“The ‘Galactica’ universe as re-imagined by Ron Moore and David Eick is rich with possibilities and backstory,” said Mark Stern. “We jumped at the chance to revisit the William Adama character and explore this exciting chapter in the BSG narrative which falls between the events of the original series and the prequel, ‘Caprica,’ currently airing on Syfy.”
“While maintaining the themes of politics, social propaganda, and the timeless question: what does it mean to be human? – ‘Blood & Chrome’ will also return us to the authentic, relentless depiction of combat and the agony and ecstasy of human-Cylon war, which was the hallmark of ‘Battlestar Galactica’s’ early seasons,” said David Eick.
Michael Taylor wrote the teleplay from a story by Eick, Taylor and Bradley Thompson & David Weddle.
Nico Cortez as 'Husker' Adama in RAZOR
The pilot was originally announced as an online series, but the script apparently impressed SyFy enough that a feature length film was commisioned. It’s unknown as yet whether Nico Cortez will reprise his role of the young Adama from RAZOR.
Whether CAPRICA, the current SfyFy GALACTICA spin-off , will be renewed is still an open question.
