Syfy Scores; Casts David Strathairn

NBCU announced today that Academy Award nominee David Strathairn (Goodnight and Good Luck) has been cast in Syfy’s latest series Alphas.  Alphas is executive produced by Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun for BermanBraun Television and will be directed by Jack Bender (director and executive producer of Lost).  The series starts  production next month in Toronto.

Per the Syfy press release: “Alphas follows a team of ordinary citizens who possess extraordinary and unusual mental skills.  Using physical feats and uniquely advanced mental abilities, this unlikely team takes the law into their own hands and uncovers what the CIA, FBI and Pentagon have not been able or willing to solve.  These gifted individuals must balance their quirky personalities and disparate backgrounds with their not always visible powers as they work to solve crimes, stop the ticking time bomb and catch the enemy.”

Strathairn plays the eccentric and cunning Alphas team leader Dr. Leigh Rosen, a “sometimes manipulative power-player willing to bend the rules in pursuit of his objectives and in support of his Team.”

Syfy veered off-brand with a cooking show and, while Alphas doesn’t break any new ground conceptually, it’s definitely on brand target.  But  Strathairn is a GET.