Hearing about Syfy’s upcoming 12 Monkeys series makes me wonder what Brad Pitt’s paranoiac character would think about the world today, with instant communication and government awareness of it all. There’s a decent chance my pondering may get addressed on the series, as Rookie Blue actress Emily Hampshire has signed on to the show as a female Jeffrey Goines. She’s joined in new casting by Hell on Wheels star Tom Noonan, who is being introduced in an entirely new role. Expect to find a few new names added to this cast soon, as the series will officially begin production in Toronto on August 6.
In this version of 12 Monkeys, Cole (Aaron Stanford) comes back to our present time from the year 2043 in order to find the source of a deadly plague that completely destroys the world’s population. And once he finds that source, he’s meant to take it out. Of course, this isn’t a form of time travel that has been perfected or anything, considering it was developed underground.
Somewhere along the way, presumably in a mental hospital, Cole will run into Hampshire’s Jennifer Goines, a mental patient whose unpredictability makes her extremely dangerous, but also a good asset when need be. She may very well have the key – “Mon…Key! Mon…Key!” – to the entire mystery. Or maybe she’ll just be a redheaded herring. Hampshire, who starred in 2012’s Cosmopolis and last year’s The Returned, is also set to star opposite a stellar cast in the Canadian sitcom Schitt’s Creek, so here’s hoping she can turn on some of that comedic side when yelling at people to get out of her chair.
Noonan, whose Tooth Fairy killer in Manhunter is one of cinema’s more unsettling villains, plays a mysterious antagonist who serves as the public face of the Army of the 12 Monkeys. “Imposing and intelligent,” the press release says, “Noonan’s character will be at the center of the conspiracy.” So I guess by telling us this, they’ve completely removed all of the mysteries surrounding Terry Gilliam’s film. Sure, they’ll fill the plot with new mysteries, so I guess it’s okay, but it’s just another reminder that this should have been its own time-travel series instead of an adaptation. In any case, Noonan is a right proper choice for a genre baddie.
Check out the full trailer for the series pilot below, where you’ll also see Amanda Schull as Cassandra Railly and Kirk Acevedo as Ramse.
Syfy will debut 12 Monkeys to audiences in January 2015. And if it doesn’t do well, someone from 2043 (at SiiFii Network) will send someone back in time to make sure the show is good. Either way, it’s logically impossible for it to suck, right?
