The Syfy network is reportedly finalizing a deal to acquire Canadian sci-fi drama Continuum, which has already been picked up by Syfy UK – 10 episodes.

Continuum debuted on Canada's Showcase network in May to strong ratings (it's first episode was the channel’s highest-rated episodic telecast ever with 900,000 total viewers).

So obviously, that was enough to generate Stateside interest frm SyFy.

What's Continuum about? The series centers on the conflict between a police officer and a group of rebels from the year 2077 who time-travel to Vancouver, BC in the year 2012.

Further…

When a group of rebels convicted as terrorists escapes execution by fleeing from the year 2077 to 2012, Kiera Cameron, a future Vancouver law enforcement officer (called Protector), is involuntarily transported with them. In order to track them down and keep them from changing the past (and presumably future), Kiera joins the Vancouver Police Department and uses the skills of a young tech expert, Alec Sadler. The future of 2077 is a dystopian one in which world governments have collapsed and corporations now dominate the planet, instituting a high-surveillance police state and removing many basic social freedoms. The moral dilemma this presents is that the group of eight from 2077 (who call themselves "Liber8"), while self-admittedly having killed tens of thousands of people as collateral, consider themselves to be freedom fighters against the Orwellian corporate regime that dominates their time.

Of course, the only reason I mention this acquisition is that there are black people in the series' starring cast – 2 of them actually: Roger Cross and Omari Newton.

Cross stars as Travis Verta. Here's his character's bio:

Travis is a warrior specifically trained and enhanced through futuristic science to be a lethal killing machine. He began as a conventional soldier: tough, agile and just smart enough to be resourceful. He was handpicked to be part of a special military experiment to create an elite group of super soldiers — genetically enhanced specimens whose sole function was to follow orders without question and to destroy the enemy without remorse.Travis is also driven by a need for revenge. He is enraged by the way the corporate military that trained him was so willing and able to cast his life aside and realizes that he wasn’t the only one. He saw how the corporations took the freedom of choice away from all individuals, treating them as possessions, not humans. It will become clear as time goes on that there is an intellect buried within this beast of a man. He is very swayed by Kagame and his calm philosophical drive. He needs to believe in something and Kagame is as much a machine of agenda as Travis is a machine of war. Kagame knows how to influence Travis and somehow Travis likes this. There's something calming, even to a pit-bull, about the feeling of the collar and leash and a handler who knows when to rein them in and when to set them loose.

Newton stars as Lucas Ingram. Here's his character's bio:

Smart, scientific and resourceful, Lucas is a conventional looking man, fit but not a warrior. But he's also not a stereotypical techie either. He uses his intelligence and skill to make himself too indispensable to kill. It's a tenuous balance… one mistake and Travis could easily dispense with him.Lucas worked in the early 2070's for Alec Sadler's SadTech. He was head of the temporal disruption division, chiefly responsible for aiding in the development of weapons that could bend time for military purposes. However, when he realized that his work was being used for evil, he confronted Alec. Soon after, he was falsely accused of being a rebel and a traitor, a charge he could not refute. He was never told who had made the accusation and what evidence there was against him.In fear for his life, Lucas fled to the other side and joined the rebels. After siding with the rebels he developed a kinship with their ambitions and realized he had a greater chance to stop his work from being used misused with their help. Having been a loner most of his life, the rebels gave Lucas a chance to feel like he belonged. He is loyal to Kagame, but has developed a bit of a man-crush on Kellog.

Cross is no stranger to USA TV, appearing in series that have aired on Stateside television like The X-Files, Stargate SG-1, Highlander: The Series, Star Trek: Enterprise and others.

Omari Newton is no stranger to Stateside TV either, appearing in episodes of Fringe and V, as well as co-starring in Blue Mountain State, and more.

Here's a 3-minute trailer for a look at what's coming: