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Syfy Sets Airdates For “Channel Zero” and “Van Helsing”
Syfy announced today at TCA that it will debut the futuristic thriller “Incorporated” on Wednesday November 30, reports Deadline. The series stars Sean Teale, Dennis Haysbert and Julia Ormond, with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck among the exec producers.
Syfy also announced premiere dates for new series “Van Helsing” (Friday, September 23), “Channel Zero: Candle Cove” (Tuesday, September 27) and “Aftermath” (Tuesday, September 27), and the return of “Z Nation” with a special two-hour Season 3 premiere (Friday, September 16).
“Incorporated” is set in a near future where corporations have unlimited power. Teale (Reign) stars as Ben Larson, a young exec who conceals his true identity to infiltrate a dangerous corporate world to save the woman he loves. Larson, though, isn’t the only one whose secrets might have deadly consequences. In addition to Haysbert (24) and Ormond (Mad Men), Incorporated also stars Allison Miller (Terra Nova) and Eddie Ramos (Teen Wolf).
Created by Alex Pastor and David Pastor (Selfless, The Last Days), with Ted Humphrey (The Good Wife) serving as executive producer/showrunner, Incorporated is from Damon, Affleck and Jennifer Todd’s Pearl Street Films and Humphrey’s Algorithm Entertainment, and is produced by CBS Television Studios and Universal Cable Productions. Damon, Affleck and Todd also executive produce, with Pearl Street’s Margaret Chernin serving as co-producer.
Zombie-apocalypse thriller “Z Nation” kicks off its third season with Lt. Warren (Kellita Smith, The Bernie Mac Show) and her group taken prisoner by a new foe. The series follows a team of everyday heroes on a mission to save humanity. Keith Allen (Rise of the Zombies) plays Murphy, the only known survivor of the zombie plague who wants to create a race of human-zombie “blends,” while Warren’s group is determined to stop him.
In addition to Smith and Allan, Z Nation also stars DJ Qualls, Anastasia Baranova, Russell Hodgkinson, Nat Zang, Joseph Gatt, Emilio Rivera and Matt Cedeño. An original co-production, Z Nation is produced by The Asylum.
After the two-hour special premiere on at 8 PM September 16, “Z Nation” moves to its regular slot at 9 PM Fridays the following week.
“Channel Zero: Candle Cove” is an original six-part anthology series based on Kris Straub’s tale that, says Syfy, gained notoriety online as a “creepypasta” — user-generated horror stories that are published and passed around the internet. The series centers on one man’s obsessive recollections of a mysterious children’s television program from the 1980s – and his ever-growing suspicions about the role it might have played in a series of nightmarish and deadly events from his childhood. Nick Antosca and Max Landis are executive producers.
“Aftermath” is a new 13-episode original co-production produced by Halfire Entertainment in association with Syfy and Space. The series focuses on the Copelands – Karen (Anne Heche) and Joshua (James Tupper) and their children – who battle for survival after civilization comes to an apocalyptic end. They’re faced with both plague and the rise of supernatural creatures.
“Van Helsing,” described as “a twist on the classic vampire adventure tale,” revolves around unlikely heroine Vanessa Helsing (Kelly Overton, True Blood), whose blood holds the key to humanity’s survival. With an immunity to vampires, Vanessa is also capable of taking out the foes by turning them into humans with her bite. Now both prey and predator, As humanity’s leader, Vanessa heads the resistance against the vampires.
An original co-production, Van Helsing is produced by Nomadic Pictures, which also serves as the studio. Executive producers are Chad Oakes & Mike Frislev from Nomadic Pictures, showrunner/writer Neil LaBute, Simon Barry, Evan Tyler (Industry Works), Dave Brown and Zadoc Angell (Echo Lake Entertainment), as well as Daniel March (Dynamic Television). Nomadic Pictures will distribute the series within Canada, Fallout Asylum and Dynamic Television will distribute the series (initial window) in the United States. Dynamic Television is also on board as international distributor. Canada’s Premium Pay TV Network SuperChannel and SuperEcran (Quebec) will air the series in Canada.
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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