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Defiance beefs up its TV cast with big-name stars

by Justin Olivetti on Mar 14th 2012 4:00PM

Sci-Fi, MMO Industry, New Titles, Miscellaneous, Defiance

Next month the pilot for Syfy's Defiance will commence filming, and the station has announced several additional cast members joining lead star Grant Bowler in the sci-fi post-apocalyptic series. As the show and Trion World's upcoming MMO will share the same world and influence one another, it's quite possible that gamers could be running into virtual versions of these characters.

Four new actors have been announced for the show. The first is Julie Benz (Dexter, Angel), who will be playing Mayor Amanda Rosewater, a leader of a small mining town. Stephanie Leonidas (MirrorMask) is Irisa, an alien warrior who's adopted by the lead's character and raised as his bodyguard and daughter. Finally, Tony Curran (Gladiator, Blade II) and Jaime Murray (Warehouse 13, Dexter) are coming on as an alien husband-and-wife team fleeing the destruction of their home world.

[Source: Trion Worlds press release]

More coverage: Defiance official site

Tags: actors, Angel, Blade II, blade-ii, BladeIi, casting, defiance, Dexter, Gladiator, Grant-Bowler, Jaime-Murray, JaimeMurray, Julie-Benz, MirrorMask, mmofps, pilot, series, Stephanie-Leonidas, syfy, Tony-Curran, trion, trion-worlds, tv, tv-series, Warehouse 13, warehouse-13, Warehouse13

Reader Comments (23)

I...really do not know any of these "big name" stars....

:(

@Space Cobra

I think in the movies they were in, they played roles like:

"Crewman Number 5" and "Girl in Shop buying coffee". It's SyFy so looking at their history of movies and 'blockbuster stars', I don't expect this to last longer than five episodes.

Not good to have your mmo tied to something that doesn't do well, regardless of how many people watch tv or not.

@Space Cobra

Then you have not been watching Dexter - which you really should be!

@real65rcncom

Actually, Julie Benz was one of the leads in Dexter for three seasons, until she ended up the victim of the Trinity killer. Likewise, Jaime Murray played a pivotal role for most of season two (I think it was two) before meeting her untimely demise, then went on to a regular role in Warehouse 13.

I agree that the sifee channel has a poor track record for actual, ya know, sci fi shows, but I am cautiously optimistic about this one. And I am really looking forward to seeing what Trion does with the mmo.

@real65rcncom Still it will be interesting to see how it goes, who knows it might do ok, but will be interesting even if it does not. Sci Fi series seem pretty hit and miss, and need big budgets to really feel epic.

At any rate i'm looking forward to Defiance, if Trion can build upon the knowledge of MMO development RIFT has given them, then it might be a really good game. There also plush with venture capital at the moment so hopefuly it has a decent sized budget.

We need more AAA post apocaliptic MMOs imo, especialy as Fallout MMO will likly never happen or not in the forseeable future.

@Space Cobra I know the 2 ladies in the corners from Dexter and they played VERY important roles actually (possibly my favourite series of all time). I've also seen the guy in a few movies here and there. So yeah, they are more than good for a tv series I'd say.

@(Unverified) Yeah, I haven't watched Dexter much. I'm more of a Boardwalk Empire/The Wire/Justified/Game of Thrones guy. Dexter always struck me as a show that was just too unbelievable. ( I know, I know.. it's a show) Just didnt' seem feasible how the show was set many times and the things I saw as plausible which kind of dampened it as a murder drama.

I hope SyFy is able to make something.. good for a change lately. Their last "Earth under attack" series that I watched was pretty bad (forget the name) and their reputation preceeds them:

"Sci Fi Pictures original films are typically independently-made B-movies with production budgets of $1 to 2 million each. They usually premiere on Saturday nights."

@(Unverified)
Julie is also currently in "A Gifted Man" on CBS as the lead's sister. She's been in most of this season's episodes. Before that she was one of the leads as the mother in ABC's "No Ordinary Family".

@real65rcncom
Well, the writers for the show have some very well-regarded, well-known series under their belts. I told my roommate the lead writer/executive producer did Farscape and Alien Nation and she went "YUSSSS" at the top of her lungs, so yeah.

F L O P

@oxlar

Oh yeah. Big ol' ugly belly-flop. This one started stinking the second it was announced.

Awsome, Curran's was unforgettable as Assassin #1 in Gladiator. ;)

ya i barely pay attention to celebs and i know all of them mostly the hot girls of course and yep i will watch the pilot

Hmm the only one I am not familiar with it Stephanie Leonidas .

I think big name stars is a bit of a stretch but certainly Tony Curran and Jamie Murray have been in some pretty decent TV series in the past and Julie Benz is no slouch either.

Keeping an open mind and will wait and see what they come up with rather than writing off something with out seeing it.

Julie Benz....drooooooooooooooooooool...

@Traptz

MMmm, Darla. She also played the wife on No ordinary family.

Better actors than expected for SyFy. The game also sounds interesting. Looking forward to it.

the chick on the right is hawt. and resembles Elixabeth

You know, a lot of people on here dislike SyFy I've noticed. I on the other hand really enjoy the channel. I never got into Rift, but I like their idea's for event game play. I really miss the days of EQ where GM's would get on and do fun event related stuff. Rifts constant stream of content and world events makes me take a closer look at this title, and I think if this is done well, and possibly even done very well, this is where I see gaming entertainment going in the future. I'm positively psyched for this, all you angry haters of everything be damned!

Really interested to see what they do with this game. I haven't watched TV for something like ten years (hazard of spending most of my media-related leisure time gaming), but so far I'm intrigued enough that if the MMO is good, I'll probably try to track down the series, too.

| 1 | 2 | Most Recent | Next 20 Comments

Defiance beefs up its TV cast with big-name stars

Reader Comments (23)

Posted: Mar 14th 2012 4:19PM Space Cobra said

Posted: Mar 14th 2012 4:46PM real65rcncom said

Posted: Mar 14th 2012 4:48PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Mar 14th 2012 4:52PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Mar 14th 2012 5:15PM avaloner said

Posted: Mar 14th 2012 6:31PM paterah said

Posted: Mar 14th 2012 6:43PM real65rcncom said

Posted: Mar 14th 2012 7:49PM aurickle said

Posted: Mar 14th 2012 9:17PM Irem said

Posted: Mar 14th 2012 4:23PM oxlar said

Posted: Mar 15th 2012 3:32PM ApathyCurve said

Posted: Mar 14th 2012 4:28PM cingeto said

Posted: Mar 14th 2012 4:48PM zuchaka said

Posted: Mar 14th 2012 4:57PM Balraw said

Posted: Mar 14th 2012 5:18PM Traptz said

Posted: Mar 15th 2012 12:19AM Graill440 said

Posted: Mar 14th 2012 5:50PM HokieKC said

Posted: Mar 14th 2012 6:19PM corpusc said

Posted: Mar 14th 2012 6:38PM LucentWolf said

Posted: Mar 14th 2012 8:25PM Irem said

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