SyFy Channel’s Riverworld Mini-Series Trailer

RHI Entertainment recently put a full trailer for their “Riverworld” mini-series that is set to be released as a backdoor pilot on the SyFy Channel sometime in 2010 on YouTube. This is actually they second time the cable channel has tried to adapt Philip José Farmer’s story on the screen.

Matt, an American journalist, and his fiancée, Jessie, are killed in an explosion, but reawaken in a very unusual afterlife—a mysterious planet with an endless river terrain. Everyone who has ever lived on Earth has been resurrected simultaneously in this strange new world. Determined to find Jessie, Matt joins forces with an intrepid crew including a 13th century female warrior and Riverboat captain Mark Twain. Embarking upriver, their adventure begins, all the while tracked by the watchful eye of a mysterious alien force.

The mini-series stars Tahmoh Penikett (Battlestar Galactica), Laura Vandervoort (Smallville), Mark Deklin (Life on Mars), Peter Wingfield (Highlander), and Alan Cumming (“X-Men: The Last Stand”). Stuart Gillard directs.

The mini-series will act as a backdoor pilot, which means if ratings are good, the SyFy Channel might spin it off into an ongoing series.