'Battlestar Galactica' movie snares Tricia Helfer, Grace Park and lots more Cylons

Source: The Watcher

First of all, Sci Fi batted down a rumor that emerged from a “Battlestar” panel at a convention over the weekend. The rumor was that the show’s last batch of episodes might not arrive until April 2009.

Not so. The target date for Season 4.5 is still January, the network told Sci Fi Wire. Pretty please -- let that date be set in stone. I am not sure I could wait four more months for the final batch of “Battlestar” goodness. It already feels as though January is an eternity away.

Secondly, the second “Battlestar Galactica” TV movie begins shooting on Monday in Vancouver. When the existence of the movie was finally confirmed by Sci Fi a few weeks back, the network noted that Edward James Olmos (Admiral Adama), Michael Trucco (Sam Anders), Aaron Douglas (Chief Tyrol) and Dean Stockwell (Brother Cavil) would appear in it. Olmos is also directing the film, which is Cylon-centric.

But I got to wondering -- who else is in it? A source close to the production said we can also count on seeing a host of actors who play Cylons on the show: Tricia Helfer (No. 6), Grace Park (Boomer/Athena), Rick Worthy (Simon), Matthew Bennett (Doral) and Callum Keith Rennie (Leoben).

Helfer certainly has a full dance card: She’s playing a mysterious spy handler on “Burn Notice,” which returns with its last two summer episodes Sept. 11, and she also landed a role in a mid-season Fox pilot, “Inseparable.” (At left, Katee Sackhoff, Mary McDonnell, "Battlestar" executive producer Ron Moore and Helfer).

It’s a bit of a bummer to learn that Saul Tigh (Michael Hogan), perhaps the show’s most compelling Cylon, doesn’t have a big role in the new film, which will air some time after the show's season finale. My source says that Tigh and a fellow Cylon, Tory Foster (Rekha Sharma), are in the film, but “not as much." In convention footage posted at Galactica Sitrep, Olmos indicates that Chief Tyrol has a good-sized role in the film.

Ah well, I’ll just nurture a (probably futile) hope that one day there will be a third “Battlestar” movie, and that it’s Saul Tigh's Tigh-lon adventure. A girl can dream, right?

Finally, in other outer space news, there’s been no decision yet on a pickup for “Caprica,” the prequel series set 51 years before the events of “Battlestar Galactica.”

The 2-hour “Caprica” film, written by “Battlestar” executive producer Ron Moore and “24’s” Remi Aubuchon, wrapped weeks ago and Sci Fi executives are contemplating now whether to make it a full series that would debut in 2009. A few weeks back, Sci Fi execs felt so good about the show that they ordered additional scripts, but there’s been no news since then. (A side note: "Battlestar" writer Mark Verheiden, who wrote one of those "Caprica" scripts, has begun work as a writer on NBC's "Heroes," where he'll be helping out with the second arc of Season 3).

Regarding a "Caprica" pickup, “no word yet, but all signs look good at this point,” Moore said Tuesday. He added that a decision on the fate of "Caprica," which he discussed more here, should be made in “the next few weeks.”

Finally, this piece examines the growing popularity of a certain made-up expletive popularized by “Battlestar Galactica.”