According to TVWise.co.uk we are finding out that Syfy is aiming to have the show “has no firm launch date has been set for the series, but Syfy is looking at either late 2012 or summer 2013.”

Defiance has been given a thirteen episode order and I’m being told that production is due to start within the next few months (probably April) in Toronto, Canada. Writers Tim Walsh and Craig Gore have also signed up to the project along with director Scott Stewart.

Along with this news we get some insight on how the show will start off:

Defiance opens up with a flashback scene, set in the present day, which is narrated by main character Jeb Nolan. Through the on-screen scenes and the narration the audience will learn exactly what happened to Earth. In the present (presumably 2012 or 2013), alien ships enter Earth’s atmosphere, these aliens (who prefer to be called Votans rather than aliens) are fleeing their own solar system which has been destroyed and have come to earth seeking a new home. Shortly after their arrival negotiations begin between the aliens and the government(s) of Earth. After six years of negotiation, no agreement has been reached and a war begins between the two sides. By this time, Jeb Nolan (now sixteen years old) has enlisted in the military to fight for his people against these invading aliens.

We also get some interesting news regarding some of the cast:

Jeb Nolan

Much of this role is already known, given that Grant Bowler has already been cast. A former Marine who lost his family in the war, Nolan is the self appointed lawman of Defiance. He was 10 years old when the Votans first arrived. Upon returning to St Louis after the war to find Defiance, he becomes the local lawman of the town as he feels it is his town and he has a duty to protect it.

Amanda

The Mayor of Defiance, the character has been described as being in her 40′s, Human and very sexy. A source likened her to the character of President Roslin from Battlestar Galactica

Datak

The right hand to Amanda, Datak’s role could be likened to that of White House Chief of Staff. He is married to Stahma

Stahma

Datak’s faithful wife, this role was described as being very Lady Macbeth. Stahma is not satisfied with Datak’s station in Defiance and feels he (and by extension, She) should have more power. She comes from old money and is very cunning and arrogant, with a sense of entitlement.

Check out the rest of the article and find out more on the plot of Defiance.

According to Deadline, Syfy has found it’s lead for the DEFIANCE TV show, Grant Bowler! It’s great to hear that things are moving along nicely with the TV show.

I’ve learned that Ugly Betty and True Blood alum Grant Bowler has been tapped as the lead in Syfy’s new original series Defiance. The project is a live-action drama, written/executive produced by Farscape creator Rockne S. O’Bannon, which was developed concurrently with an online video game by Trion. “Grant’s charismatic charm and his depth as an actor make him the perfect anchor as we build the ensemble for this sweeping adventure series,” said Syfy’s president of original content Mark Stern.

Trion Press Release after the break.

From a story in Variety, we find out that the TV show, DEFIANCE, has finally gotten a director, Scott Stewart. Scott Stewart’s two major directing jobs include Priest and Legion, which are bost steeped in the fantasy/scifi category.

Beyond Directing, Scott Stewart’s roots come from Visual Effects where he worked on films like Jurassic Park and Sin City. He also has Producer and Writer credit for his movie Legion.

Does the picking of a director finally show that we might see more information flowing out of both Trion’s and Syfy’s camp about Defiance?

We were at New York Comic Con this year and we got a chance to listen to Rob Hill talk about Trion’s other game, Defiance. Defiance, if you didn’t know already, is a game Trion is producing along side a new TV Show with the Syfy channel. It’s a 3rd person MMOG shooter that has a fully persistent world that is playable across three platforms: PC, Xbox and PS3. Rob discusses how their technology allows them to push builds across all three platforms seamlessly.

We found out, happily, that the user interface will be developed for each platform. More often than not, most cross platform games do a poor job optimizing the UI when changing platforms, specifically for console to PC.

Rob Hill also discussed what would happen if SyFy tanked the show. As you would expect, he mentions that all they are concerned about is making a good game first and that they are developing the game to stand alone if need be.

JUNKIE NATION is heading to New York Comic Con this weekend to get the latest scoop and interviews with the guys at Bioware’s Star Wars: The Old Republic and TRION’s Rift, Defiance and End of Nations. Stay tuned to all of our network sites for the latest coverage on all of these games.

Greetings Junkie Nation!

Ryan and I are off to PAX for the weekend. We’ve been promoting our personal twitter feeds (Jdodge80 and RyanRaplee) and we’ll be updating you all weekend long on RIFT, End of Nations, SWTOR, Defiance and many other games like Guild Wars 2, Wildstar, TERA and more. So everyone needs to keep their eyes glued to Junkie Nation to find out the latest information on the MMOGs we love! We’re also here for you, so we’ll have our eyes glued to our twitter feeds so get your tweets to us with questions and ideas!

This weekend we’ll have live blog updates on panels, video from the parties, conventions and booths. Stay tuned to Junkie Nation’s youtube feed for videos. We’ll have it all! Your ultimate fansite coverage.

If you’re going to PAX shoot us a tweet and say hello! We’d love to meet all the Junkies out there.

Official Junkie Nation Websites:

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Some new screenshots for Gamescom 2011. Stay tuned to what we find at PAX!

In one of the opening sessions at GDC, Gamasutra reports the comments of David Reid:

Finally, Reid mentioned Defiance, Trion’s other upcoming project in collaboration with the Syfy channel. He discussed how the game will launch at the same time as a TV series with the same name, and players will be able to affect the TV series via their actions in the game.

The TV series and game will “literally evolve together,” he explained, changing depending on how the other changes. “You can have an impact on the war [in the TV show].”

Nothing new has been reported yet, but stay tuned, we might see something new in GDC or PAX.

MMORPG.com reported caught up with Adam Gershowitz, David Luehmann and Rob Hill to talk about what we might see at Gamescom this year.

Rob Hill: We are really digging into the interconnections between the game and the show, which is one of the most interesting elements of this project. Just prior to Gamescom, we hosted a group of show writers, who came to our offices to get a demo of the game and to mingle with the game writers and share ideas! No word on when the next big announcement will be, but www.defiance.com would be the place to watch for such things.

MMORPG.com: Lastly, if there’s one thing you want us inpatient fans to know, a tidbit of info you can offer, what is it?

Rob Hill: We recently completed another overhaul of our in-game weapons to make them more interesting both in terms of visuals and stats. We’d like players to see a gun and quickly tell what kind of ammo it takes and what kind of damage it can do.

Stay tuned as we find out more!

Hollywood Reporter recently interviewed SyFy president Dave Howe on the subject of technology, video games, and media content. He briefly discussed the place of DEFIANCE in today’s market.

THR: How has Defiance been designed for today’s multitasking game audience which often watches TV and surfs online simultaneously?

Howe: Our audience is at the forefront of all things digital. They’re multitaskers. They’re using DVRs, they’re texting, they’re streaming content in a way that no other consumer of any other network is. Basically, that means we cannot take for granted the notion that people are going to come to a live linear TV experience with an expectation that they want to experience entertainment simultaneously across different screens and different platforms. Everything that we do has to have that digital component.

Hopefully we might get some more details on this project at PAX later this month.