Steven Spielberg’s Terra Nova has been experiencing a seemingly uneven pace in the show’s development thus far. The sci-fi, time-traveling series was originally to be featured at Comic-Con, but that presentation was canceled and the show launch date was delayed to the fall of 2011 in order to give it an “unique launch to distinguish that the show is unlike any other.” The show also lost David Fury from the producer team, but Brannon Braga held his position as showrunner.
What’s the news for the series now? The show has recently secured actors for a few key roles to complete its ensemble cast and now has had to suffer lay-offs in the writing staff. 20th Century Fox Television was forced to lay off most of the writing staff, including Chris Brancato (X-Files), to cut expenses back due to the change in scheduling of the show’s launch. Since production would now occur next summer and it simply could not afford to pay writers for the time the production was delayed. Writers that it did not have an overall deal with were dealt pink slips. If it’s possible it may try to hire back the same writers next year.
However, the show had made significant headway in casting. Take a look at the cast as it stands now:
[L-R: Christine Adams, Stephen Lang, Mido Hamada, Allison Miller]
Christine Adams (The Whole Truth, Pushing Daisies) will play “the battle-hardened Mira, a resident of Terra Nova and friend of the Shannon family.”
Stephen Lang (Conan, Avatar) has been confirmed to play the starring role opposite lead Jason O’Mara. Lang takes on the role of Frank Taylor, “the charismatic and ruthless leader of the Terra Nova settlement.”
Mido Hamada (24) has been cast to play Guzman, “the head of a security team who also serves as a trusted advisor to Frank Taylor.”
Allison Miller (Kings, Blood: The Last Vampire) takes on the role of Skye, who is “a veteran Terra Nova resident who takes Josh Shannon under her wing.”
[The Shannons L-R: Shelley Conn, Landon Liboiron, Naomi Scott, Jason O’Mara]
Shelley Conn (Mistresses, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) will play Elizabeth Shannon, wife of O’Mara’s lead role of Jim Shannon.
Landon Liboiron (DeGrassi: The Next Generation) will play the Shannon’s 17-year old son, Josh, who “has a friendship with Frank Taylor.”
Naomi Scott (Life Bites) will play the Shannon’s 15-year old daughter Maddy.
Alana Mansour will play the youngest of the Shannon’s children, Zoe, who is “reportedly smuggled into the time-travelling device.”
Jason O’Mara (Life on Mars) plays the lead role of Jim Shannon.
The series will follow the Shannon family who travels back in time from a dying world in 2149 to prehistoric Earth to be a part of human colony called Terra Nova to rebuild civilization. Terra Nova is a production from 20th TV, Chernin Entertainment, Kapital Entertainment and Dream Works TV.
Terra Nova will premiere a two-hour pilot in May, followed by a series launch in the fall of 2010.
[Source] LATimes, DigitalSpy
