News
Nathan Phillips Toplines Syfy’s “Hunters”
Syfy and Universal Cable Productions today announced that production has commenced in Melbourne, Australia on the upcoming thriller series “Hunters.”
The series stars Nathan Phillips (pictured; Wolf Creek) as Flynn, a headstrong Baltimore FBI agent with a dark past trying to piece together the disappearance of his wife. Britne Oldford (American Horror Story) will play Regan, who is one of the government’s most valuable operatives and may be keeping secrets of her own. Julian McMahon portrays McCarthy, an unhinged junkie and Hunter cell leader.
“Hunters” is inspired by Whitley Strieber’s best-selling novel, Alien Hunter, in which the disappearance of a decorated FBI agent’s wife leads him to a secret government unit assembled to hunt a group of ruthless terrorists – shadowy figures that may or may not be from this world. The series will be tonally dark and offer a unique crossover twist between gritty crime drama and sci-fi thriller.
The series is from executive producers Gale Anne Hurd (The Walking Dead, The Terminator Trilogy) and Natalie Chaidez (12 Monkeys, Heroes), who will also serve as showrunner, and Emile Levisetti (Royal Pains). Ernest Dickerson (The Walking Dead, Dexter) is set to direct the pilot.
The 13-part series from Universal Cable Productions will premiere on Syfy in 2016.
Sam Neill, the New Zealand actor best known for his role in 1993’s Jurassic Park, has passed away this week at 78 years old. In a statement shared on Neill’s Instagram page this morning, the actor’s family said that his passing was “sudden and unexpected.”
Neill had been diagnosed with a rare blood cancer in 2022, but stated the following year that he was in remission. The family notes that he “remained cancer free” at the time of his passing.
The family statement reads, “It is with immense sadness that the whānau of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13th July, in Sydney Australia. Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life. The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free.
“They would like to express their deepest gratitude to the staff at St Vincent’s Private Hospital for their incredible care. More details will be shared later, but for now, on behalf of the family, we ask that you respect their privacy as they navigate this immeasurable loss.”
In addition to his iconic role as Dr. Alan Grant in the original Jurassic Park and the sequels Jurassic Park III and Jurassic World: Dominion, Sam Neill left an indelible mark on the horror genre with memorable roles in Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession, The Omen: The Final Conflict, John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness, and sci-fi horror favorite Event Horizon.
Sam Neill’s vast resume in film and television began in the early 1970s and also includes the films Sleeping Dogs, Enigma, The Good Wife, A Cry in the Dark, Dead Calm, The Hunt for Red October, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Hostage, The Jungle Book, Snow White: A Tale of Terror, The Horse Whisperer, Bicentennial Man, Daybreakers, Escape Plan, and Thor: Ragnarok.
Sam Neill is survived by his four children and eight grandchildren.
Steven Spielberg said in a statement to Variety, “I owe a debt of gratitude to Roger Donaldson, Gilliam Armstrong, Graham Baker and Phillip Noyce for casting Sam Neill in the roles in which he was so brilliant that brought him to my attention and led to his playing Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park. Sam was exceptionally collaborative. It was a stretch for him to play a character who acted as though children were messy and smelly because this was the opposite of the loving father he was to his children. I adored making all the Jurassic movies with him.”
Spielberg adds, “Along with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, we will always have our Jurassic family and Sam will never be forgotten by us or his many millions of fans around the world.”
Sam Neill in ‘Event Horizon’
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