Sci-Fi Film and Television Developments

Persons Unknown
4/20/09 – SCI FI Wire reported that Robert Picardo said his guest shot on the upcoming series Persons Unknown may evolve into a recurring role.  Persons Unknown is a co-production of Fox TV Studios and Televisa, and 13 episodes were filmed in Mexico this past fall. The show will air on Televisa in Mexico and is reportedly being shopped around domestically and elsewhere around the world. About his role in the series, Picardo said, “I'm a very powerful guy, sort of the power behind the power. I won't even tell you his name, because the name is kind of a placeholder. But it was great to work with Michael Rymer, who did Battlestar Galactica, and I'm hoping the show is picked up in the U.S. It's sold throughout Europe and South America, and I don't know that they have an American buyer yet, but I'm confident they will, because I saw the pilot and it's great.”

10/24/08 - Fox TV Studios has filled out the cast and hired a director for Persons Unknown, the company's SF-ish series from writer Christopher McQuarrie, Variety reported.  Michael Rymer, who helmed the pilot to SCI FI Channel's Battlestar Galactica, has been tapped to direct the first episode of Persons Unknown. The show, a co-production with Mexico's Televisa and Italy's RAI, starts shooting Oct. 27 in Mexico City.  The series has an initial 13-episode order and will star Jason Wiles as Joe. Also newly cast: Daisy Betts, who will play Janet; Tina Holmes as Moira; Sean O'Bryan as Blackham; and Lola Glaudini as Kat.  They join previously announced cast memberes Alan Ruck, Chadwick Boseman, Gerald Kyd and Kate Lang Johnson.  The show's mystery revolves around a group of strangers who wake up in the middle of nowhere and try to figure out how they got there.  (This sounds a lot like the television series Lost to me.)

AlienAlmanac.com 2008