Sci Fi Greenlights Caprica Series

The Sci Fi Channel has finally given word about the Battlestar Galactica prequel series, Caprica - Variety reports that the series has been greenlit for an early 2010 debut on the network.

Set 50 years prior to the Cyclon attack which kicked off the current BSG series, Caprica will focus on the earthlike Caprica, one of the 12 colonies of the world of BSG, telling the story of two rival families as their world rushes headlong into the artificial intelligence program.

Caprica is executive produced by BSG’s Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, and will star Eric Stolz, Polly Walker, Esai Morales, and Paula Malcomson. Production is due to start in mid 2009. A two-hour backdoor pilot for Caprica has already been produced.

“Battlestar Galactica was absolutely our flagship show. It put us on the map and helped transform the perception of the network," Sci Fi president Dave Howe told Variety. Howe added that he hopes Caprica will draw a broader audience than BSG did.

"We want people to come to this who have never heard of Battlestar Galactica, " Howe continued. "I think, because (Galactica’s) backdrop was space and spaceships, there was a barrier to entry for some viewers. Caprica has none of that. It's an intense family drama set on an Earthlike planet, in the near future, speaking to a lot of the ethical dilemmas that we as a human race are going to have to face very shortly."

The final ten episodes of Battlestar Galactica are slated to begin their run on Sci Fi on January 16th, while the two-hour Battlestar Galactica: The Plan movie (set prior to the events of the final season and directed by Edward James Olmos) is slated to air on the network in early summer, 2009.

Sci Fi’s Mark Stern told Variety that waiting until 2010 for Caprica’s debut will allow the production to pull the core of Galactica’s writing staff back together, as they have moved on to other shows.