Michelle Ryan, who is best known for her role as Zoe Slater on the popular British series EastEnders, will be portraying Jaime Sommers, aka the Bionic Woman, on the new series which begins production this March in Vancouver.
As we previously announced, Battlestar Galactica executive producer David Eick will be co-producing the series, which he has said will be “a complete reconceptualization.” Since it’s shooting in Vancouver, presumably it won’t interfere with Eick’s duties on Battlestar Galactica.
Lindsay Wagner, now mostly seen on contact lens and mattress commercials, starred in the original series in the late seventies as well as a few TV movies later. In the original, the character of Jaime Sommers was a former tennis pro who nearly died in a skydiving accident and was turned into the cyborg-like Bionic Woman, who gained super-hearing and strength, and fought crime for the government along with agent Oscar Goldman (Richard Anderson.)
The original was a spinoff of The Six-Million-Dollar Man; in the 2007 series, the Bionic Woman will reportedly cost $50 million to create. That’s inflation for you!
This time around, Sommers will be the victim of a car accident, Oscar Goldman has morphed into Jonas Bledsoe (no word yet on casting for this part) who, after spending that $50 million, puts Sommers to work tracking down other bionic people, including Sarah Corvis, more or less an evil version of Sommers. Casting has also not yet been announced for the parts of Jae Kim, Bledsoes’s assistant, or the “head of intelligence” Ruth Treadwell.
Will this series really go ahead? Five years ago The Bionic Woman was announced as a USA Network series with Jennifer Aniston, but nothing ever happened. However, with the power of Battlestar Galactica’s production success behind it, it certainly seems likely this time.
-Mel, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Staff Columnist, BuddyTV
