I want to believe: History debuts new UFO series ‘Project Blue Book’

Fans of “The X-files,” rejoice! History Channel has produced a new fictional miniseries that delves into the world of extraterrestrial investigations. “Project Blue Book” comes with many of the typical hallmarks of its genre — a lead UFO investigator struggling to get to the bottom of unexplained phenomena, an internal culture of government secrecy — but it has one major feature that sets it apart: the series stays remarkably true to the specific historical events that it follows. One of the network’s first scripted series, “Project Blue Book” premieres Tuesday, Jan. 8, on History.

The real Project Blue Book, after which the new series is named, was a classified research project conducted by the United States Air Force. The secretive study, designed to investigate unidentified flying objects, was initiated in 1952 and continued through the 1960s. Perhaps the most alluring aspect of this reallife study is the fascinating central figure of the Blue Book investigations: J. Allen Hynek, portrayed in the show by Aidan Gillen (“Game of Thrones”), was a respected astrophysicist recruited by the air force to spearhead UFO research.

He started out as a skeptic, but Hynek did his best to keep an open mind throughout the project, and he ultimately came to accept the possibility of alien life as a cause for certain unexplained events on Earth. By the time Project Blue Book was shut down in 1969, there were whispers of government coverups initiated to prevent mass panic. Hynek came out of the project an unwavering champion of truth and evidence-based conclusions.

Backing up Gillen’s Hynek is Laura Mennell (“The Man in the High Castle”), who plays his wife, Mimi Hynek. There is also air force pilot Capt. Michael Quinn (Michael Malarkey, “The Vampire Diaries”) and a mysterious town newcomer named Susie (Ksenia Solo, “Lost Girl”). And you can keep your eyes peeled for Michael Imperioli of “The Sopranos,” who makes an appearance in a few episodes. Neal Mcdonough (“Minority Report,” 2002) and Michael Harney (“Orange Is the New Black”) round out the main cast.