Nomadic Pictures to produce paranormal series Ghost Wars
Calgary’s Nomadic Pictures, producers of Van Helsing and Hell On Wheels, and Canadian producers for Fargo, on Wednesday announced the start of production of a paranormal action series titled Ghost Wars for Syfy and Netflix.
The show’s cast includes Vincent D’Onofrio (Jurassic World, Daredevil), Kim Coates (Sons of Anarchy), Avan Jogia (Tut, Victorious, Twisted), Kristin Lehman (Motive) and Meatloaf (Fight Club). David Von Ancken (Tut, Code Black, Salem, Californication), who previously worked with Nomadic Pictures on the pilot and multiple episodes for the five season AMC series Hell On Wheels, will direct.
The 13-episode, hour-long drama will premiere in the U.S. on Syfy and elsewhere globally on Netflix in 2017.
Ghost Wars series creator, Simon Barry (Continuum, Van Helsing) will also serve as the showrunner. Production began May 1 in Vancouver and will run until the end of August.
The series is set in a remote Alaskan town that has been overrun by paranormal forces. Local outcast Roman Mercer (Avan Jogia) must overcome the town’s prejudices and his own personal demons if he’s to harness his repressed psychic powers and save everyone from the mass haunting that’s threatening to destroy them all.
“We are very fortunate to be working again with Chris Regina and his creative Syfy team on Ghost Wars,” said Chad Oakes, co-Chairman of Nomadic Pictures, in a statement. “Adding Simon Barry’s writing and leadership skills with the directing talent of our dear friend David Von Ancken ... with our amazing cast ... we could not be happier.”
Asked why the series isn’t being shot in Calgary, where the company produced Hell on Wheels and is the Canadian producer for Fargo, Oakes pointed to the ongoing dispute over the Alberta Media Fund that the provincial government has capped, to the detriment of multi-year series.
“We would have loved to shoot Ghost Wars in our hometown of Calgary,” Oakes said, “but the existing cap on film rebates puts Alberta at a huge disadvantage for bigger budget TV series to land in Alberta.”
Nomadic Pictures will distribute the series within Canada, the U.S. and the rest of the world.
Nomadic is also presently shooting Season 2 of Van Helsing, which also airs in the U.S. on Syfy and globally outside the U.S. on Netflix.