Defiance Premieres Monday 4~15~2013 9PM on the Syfy Channel

[Syfy Channel Press Release] NEW YORK – March 6, 2013 – Syfy will kick off the spring season with a powerhouse lineup of scripted and unscripted programming led by the groundbreaking transmedia event Defiance (April 15).

DEFIANCE (NEW ORIGINAL SERIES)

Premieres Monday, April 15 at 9PM – Syfy’s highly-anticipated transmedia event Defiance is the first-ever convergence of television and online gaming, featuring an interconnected world between the two mediums as they evolve together into one overall story. The series’ luminous cast includes Grant Bowler, Julie Benz, Stephanie Leonidas, Tony Curran, Jaime Murray, Graham Greene and Mia Kirshner.

Set in the near future, Defiance introduces an exotically transformed planet Earth, its landscapes permanently altered following the sudden – and tumultuous – arrival of seven unique alien races. In this somewhat unknown and unpredictable landscape, the richly diverse, newly-formed civilization of humans and aliens must learn to co-exist peacefully.

	Each week, viewers will follow an immersive character drama set in the boom-town of Defiance, which sits atop the ruins of St. Louis, MO, while in the game, players will experience the new frontier of the San Francisco Bay area.

The series is executive produced by Kevin Murphy (“Desperate Housewives,” “Caprica,” “Hellcats”), who also serves as showrunner, Michael Taylor (“Battlestar Galactica”) and Rockne O’Bannon (“Farscape”). Scott Stewart (“Legion,” “Priest”) directed the pilot; Michael Nankin will serve as supervising producer/director on the series. Defiance is produced by Universal Cable Productions.

About Defiance [The TV Show]: In the year 2046, it’s a new Earth – with new rules. Over thirty years after various alien races arrived on Earth, the landscape is completely altered, terraformed nearly beyond recognition. To the town of Defiance, on what used to be St. Louis, comes the mysterious Nolan (Grant Bowler) and his charge, Irisa (Stephanie Leonidas).

As they settle into town – overseen by the mayor, Amanda Rosewater (Julie Benz) and filled with residents like the powerful Rafe McCawley (Graham Greene), enterprising lounge owner Kenya (Mia Kirshner) and the ambitious, alien Tarrs (Tony Curran and Jaime Murray) - events begin to unfold that threaten the fragile peace this border town has fought for.

About Defiance [The Game]: As the events of Defiance unfold weekly on your TV screen, you can see how the residents’ struggles impact the game of Defiance, a high-octane, multi-platform experience from Trion Worlds! For the first time in history, a TV show and a game will exist concurrently in a shared universe, influencing and impacting the other!

In the game of Defiance, players take on the role of Ark Hunters, specialists in survival, combat and tracking who brave dangerous frontiers to retrieve lost relics of advanced or alien origin in return for great financial rewards (The Arks are the ships that brought the aliens to Earth).

Players can search for Arks on their own, simultaneously join tens of thousands of other players for missions or just explore the fully realized, future world of Defiance (it's really, really big). Custom character creation allows players to adopt a human or alien appearance for their Ark Hunter. With weapons, armor and special abilities that evolve with experience, Defiance is a gaming experience that must be played to be believed.