Syfy greenlights new Ron Moore series, ‘Helix’

Syfy and Ron Moore are teaming up again, as was announced by the network on Thursday. Moore’s drama series Helix has been given a 13-episode straight-to-series order – and some are calling the concept Syfy’s version of The Walking Dead.

The series is described as a thriller about a group of scientists working at the Center for Disease Control who must travel to the remote Arctic to get to a high-tech research facility where they will investigate a possible disease outbreak. They find that they are battling something that is much more severe than they originally thought, and their success or failure will determine the fate of mankind.

I can see how in the current zombie-drenched media that many of us will immediately link ‘outbreak’ and ‘disease’ with some sort of zombie-related plague, but Helix could very well be about something completely different. Besides the obvious CDC connection, I do not see much of a link between Moore’s series and AMC’s The Walking Dead.

Syfy president of original content Mark Stern says that the network is thrilled to be able to bring Moore’s series to it viewers. “With its well-drawn characters, taut drama and incredible production team, we couldn’t be more excited to see this intense thrill ride of a series come to life.”

Helix will be executive produced by Moore (Battlestar Galactica) alongside Lynda Obst (Contact), Steven Maeda (Lost, The X-Files) and Cameron Porsandeh. With an all-star team such as this on board, I have some fairly high hopes for this series. Casting and production will begin soon, and the series will debut later this year.