Earlier this month, “Farscape” creator Rockne S. O’Bannon signed a deal to bring “Cult” to The CW after a half-decade in development. And “Cult” may soon be joined by O’Bannon’s newest series for Syfy, “Defiance.”
After months of silence about the project, Deadline is reporting that Grant Bowler has been cast in the lead for “Defiance,” signalling that the long-gestating co-production between Syfy and Trion is finally moving forward. Bowler will portray Jeb Nolan, a former Marine living on Earth in the future when humans and aliens live together after decades of war and alien terra-forming have radically changed the planet.
Jeb Nolan is the main character of “Defiance,” who in the past lost his wife and child in the war against the aliens. After time spent wandering in the wildly transformed landscape, Nolan will serve as the “law-keeper” in a burgeoning frontier town that may be one of the few locations in the world where civilization is still maintained.
Bowler recently starred in the film adaptation of “Atlas Shrugged” (pictured above), in addition to roles in “True Blood,” “Lost,” “Farscape,” “Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World,” “Ugly Betty” and “Killer Elite” Bowler is also the host of the Australian edition of “The Amazing Race.”
Earlier this year, Syfy and Trion announced their intentions to develop “Defiance” simultaneously as a TV series and a video game, which will be released on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. The TV series and the video game are said to be deeply linked as a “cross-media experience” which will allow events in the game and the TV series to reflect on each other.
The “Defiance” TV pilot will be directed by Scott Stewart (“Legion”) with production slated to begin in April 2012 in Toronto.
