TVSA can reveal that SABC3 has purchased the exclusive rights to the fanboy superhero drama series The Cape, which aired in the USA earlier this year on NBC, and will begin airing it later this month.
Although the series was met with mixed reviews and cancelled after one season (the last episode didn't even air on television - it was only available on the official website), that shouldn't stop the fanboys from licking the sweat off their upper lips in anticipation of something a little different on public television.
Starring Aussie actor
David Lyons, who was a leading cast member on
ER for two seasons, the series is about Vince Faraday, an honest cop on a corrupt police force, who finds himself framed for a series of murders and presumed dead.
He is forced into hiding, leaving behind his wife Dana (
Jennifer Ferrin,
Life on Mars) and son, Trip (
Ryan Wynott,
FlashForward).
Fueled by a desire to reunite with his family and to battle the criminal forces that have overtaken Palm City, Vince Faraday becomes The Cape - his son's favourite comic book superhero - and takes the law into his own hands.
Also starring are:
James Frain (
The Tudors) as billionaire Peter Fleming, The Cape's nemesis who moonlights as the twisted killer Chess;
Keith David (
There's Something About Mary) as Max Milani, the ringleader of a circus gang of bank robbers who mentors Vince Faraday and trains him to be The Cape;
Summer Glau (
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) as Orwell, an investigative blogger who wages war on crime and corruption in Palm City;
Dorian Missick (
Six Degrees) as Marty Voyt, a former police detective and friend to Faraday;
Martin Klebba (
Pirates of the Caribbean) as Rollo, member and unassuming muscle of the circus gang of bank robbers; and
Vinnie Jones (
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) as Scales, resident thug and cohort of The Cape's nemesis Chess.
The music for the series was composed by Bear McCreary, arguably the pre-eminent science fiction and fantasy composer working in television today, having scored such series as the reimagined
Battlestar Galactica,
Caprica,
Eureka,
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,
Human Target and
The Walking Dead.
There are 10 episodes in the series, which premieres on SABC3 on Wednesday 20 April, at 19h30.