NEW YORK – December 2, 2008 - SCI FI Channel has greenlit production on the new original series Caprica, ordering 20 hours of the drama including the two-hour pilot, it was announced today by Dave Howe, President, SCI FI. Caprica is the prequel to SCI FI's hit original series Battlestar Galactica and stars Eric Stoltz (Milk, Chicago Hope), Esai Morales (Jericho, NYPD Blue), Paula Malcomson (Deadwood, ER) and Golden Globe nominee Polly Walker (Cane, Rome).
Set 50 years before Battlestar Galactica, Caprica follows two rival families – the Graystones and the Adamas – as they grow, compete, and thrive in the vibrant world of the 12 Colonies, a society recognizably close to our own. Enmeshed in the burgeoning technology of artificial intelligence and robotics that will eventually lead to the creation of the Cylons, the two houses go toe-to-toe blending action with corporate conspiracy and sexual politics. Caprica will deliver all of the passion, intrigue, political backbiting and family conflict in television's first science fiction family saga. Production on the series is slated to begin summer '09 in Vancouver for a 2010 premiere. Jeffrey Reiner (Friday Night Lights) directed the pilot.
....
<snip>
....
As the series begins, a startling development is about to occur - the creation of the first cybernetic life-form node or "Cylon" – the ability to marry artificial intelligence with mechanical bodies. Joseph Adama (Esai Morales) – father of future Battlestar commander William Adama (Sina Najafi) – a renowned civil liberties lawyer, becomes an opponent of the experiments undertaken by the Graystones (Eric Stoltz), owners of a large computer corporation that is spearheading the development of these living robots: the Cylons.