Showcase Announces Start of Production on New Canadian Original Series Travelers Starring Eric McCormack and Created and Written by Brad Wright

New Sci-Fi Drama Produced by Peacock Alley Entertainment Inc. in Association with Showcase and Netflix

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TORONTO, April 19, 2016 /CNW/ - Showcase announced today the start of production on the new Canadian original sci-fi series Travelers. Shooting on location in Vancouver, the time-traveling sci-fi drama is produced by Peacock Alley Entertainment Inc., in association with Showcase and Netflix. The series will air exclusively on Showcase in Canada and stream on Netflix internationally later this year. Broadcast and streaming details will be announced at a later date.

"Travelers joins Showcase's critically acclaimed roster of hit dramatic series and we're thrilled to work with such an esteemed group of Canadians to create this new, homegrown drama," said Daniel Eves, Senior Vice President, Kids and General Entertainment Content.

Hundreds of years from now, the last surviving humans discover the means of sending consciousness back through time, directly into people in the 21st century. These "travelers" assume the lives of seemingly random people, while secretly working as teams to perform missions in order to save humanity from a terrible future. The travelers are: FBI Special Agent Grant MacLaren (Eric McCormack), the team's leader; Marcy (Mackenzie Porter), a young, intellectually disabled woman in the care of her social worker, David (Patrick Gilmore); Trevor (Jared Paul Abrahamson), a high school quarterback; Carly (Nesta Marlee Cooper), a single mom in an abusive relationship; and Philip (Reilly Dolman), a heroin-addicted college student. Armed only with their knowledge of history and an archive of social media profiles, the travelers discover that 21st century lives and relationships are as much a challenge as their high-stakes missions. 

"My old friend Brad Wright has created a fantastic, complex story with some very rich and complicated characters, and I'm awfully happy to be one of them," said Eric McCormack.

"We're thrilled to be working with Showcase and Netflix and are so proud that Travelers was originally developed at the CFC Prime Time TV Program with Canadian writers," said Brad Wright, Series Writer and Creator. "We're excited to work with this amazing cast led by Eric McCormack. It's all a dream come true for a Scarborough boy like me."

The series is written, created and produced by WGC and Gemini Award winner Brad Wright, co-creator of the Emmy Award-nominated Stargate SG-1 and its related franchises Stargate: Atlantis and SGU, and features a heavily Canadian cast led by Emmy Award winner Eric McCormack (Will and Grace). Other confirmed cast members include: Jared Abrahamson, J. Alex Brinson, Nesta Cooper, Reilly Dolman, Patrick Gilmore, Arnold Pinnock, Dylan Playfair, MacKenzie Porter, and Ian Tracey.  The pilot is being directed by Nick Hurran (Sherlock), with Canadians Andy Mikita (Lost Girl), Helen Shaver (Vikings), Martin Wood (Killjoys), Will Waring (Continuum), and Amanda Tapping (Continuum) all tapped to direct episodes in the inaugural season.

Travelers is produced by Peacock Alley Entertainment Inc., in association with Showcase and Netflix, and is distributed by Sky Vision.

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Corus Entertainment Inc.
Corus Entertainment Inc. (TSX: CJR.B) is a leading media and content company that creates and delivers high quality brands and content across platforms for audiences around the world. The company's portfolio of multimedia offerings encompasses 45 specialty television services, 39 radio stations, 15 conventional television stations, a global content business, digital assets, live events, children's book publishing, animation software, technology and media services. Corus' roster of premium brands include Global Television, W Network, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network Canada, HGTV Canada, Food Network Canada, HISTORY®, Showcase, National Geographic Channel, Q107, CKNW, Fresh Radio, Disney Channel Canada, YTV and Nickelodeon Canada. Visit Corus at www.corusent.com.

About Netflix
Netflix is the world's leading Internet television network with over 75 million members in over 190 countries enjoying more than 125 million hours of TV shows and movies per day, including original series, documentaries and feature films. Members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on nearly any Internet-connected screen. Members can play, pause and resume watching, all without commercials or commitments.

Peacock Alley Entertainment Inc.
Peacock Alley Entertainment creates prime-time scripted and factual content for both domestic and international channels. Company President, Carrie Mudd and Chairman, Neil Court, launched Peacock Alley in 2012, bringing their development, production and distribution experience across multiple genres to the packaging of premium content. Peacock Alley's roster of successful, critically acclaimed programming includes series such as Unusually Thicke (HGTV & POP), Illusions of Grandeur (OLN), Brave New Girls (E!) and Money Moron (Slice Network). 

About Sky Vision
Sky Vision is the production and distribution arm of Sky. The distribution arm represents around 5,000 hours of quality primetime programming from Sky Originals and independent third party production, across all key primetime genres (drama, entertainment, factual entertainment and factual). 

The business also has equity investments in seven production businesses in the UK and US; Love Productions, Blast! Films, Sugar Films and Sky Vision Productions in the UK; and in the US, Jupiter Entertainment, Talos Films and Znak & Jones. 

In addition to its equity in vestments, Sky Vision works extensively with independent producers in the UK and US and has development deals with a number of production companies; including Asylum Entertainment and Peacock Alley in North America; and Avanti Media, back2back productions, Chalkboard, Hungry Bear Media, LittleRock Pictures, Merman Films, Spring Films, and Roughcut TV in the UK.

SOURCE Showcase

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