Fans of sexy red-head Nikolaj Coster-Waldau are rejoicing. The star of the cancelled-too-soon FOX fantasy series, New Amsterdam, will be back on home theatre screens in 2009 starring in a new science fiction show called “Virtuality.”
Coster-Waldau will play “Commander Pike” (a not-so-subtle nod to Star Trek fandom), the highest-ranking officer on an interstellar spaceship named Phaeton.
The premise of the new show follows the crew of the first manned spaceflight on a 10-year journey from Earth to a nearby star system. Being that the trip will take years in cramped quarters, the crew are mostly kept sane by tapping into an on-board computer to allow their minds roam free in computer simulated adventures. And, of course, SOMETHING GOES HORRIBLY WRONG!! (Viola, a science fiction TV series)
The concept was created by TV power producer team Lloyd Braun and Gail Berman (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel).
The concept was developed into a two-hour TV pilot by the writing team of Battlestar Glactica veterans, Michael Taylor and Ronald B. Moore. [Moore also either created or wrote scripts for Carnivale, Roswell and Star Trek: TNG, DS9 and Voyager.]
The director is Peter Berg, who is best known for creating the critically-acclaimed Friday Night Lights on NBC and is currently in pre-production for re-making Dune as a feature film to be released in 2010.
Officially being promoted as a 2-hour science fiction television movie set to air in early 2009, media newspapers are calling Virtuality a “backdoor pilot.” This means is enough people watch it, it could be ordered to full series.
Other actors cast to be in the show include:
- James D’Arcy (Exorcist: The Beginning), the “psych officer” who creates the virtual reality programs the crew engages in.
- Joy Bryant (Spider-Man 2) as “Alice Thibadeau”
- Sienna Guillory (Eragon) as “Rika Goddard”
- Nelson Lee (Blade: The Series) as “Keni Yamaguchi”
- Richie Coster (The Dark Knight) as “Jimmy Johnson”
- Omar Metwally (Rendition) as “Dr. Eyal Meyer”
- Jimmi Simpson (Carnivale, Rose Red) as unknown character
- Kerry Bishé (Sex and the City) as unknown character