Netflix has come on board Travelers, an original time-traveling sci-fi series starring Eric McCormack (Will & Grace, Perception). Netflix is teaming on the project with Canadian TV channel Showcase, which will air the series in Canada, with Netflix carrying it exclusively everywhere the service is available outside of Canada.

Also cast in the series, which starts production today in Vancouver, are MacKenzie Porter, Jared Abrahamson, J. Alex Brinson, Nesta Cooper, Reilly Dolman, Patrick Gilmore, Arnold Pinnock, Dylan Playfair and Ian Tracey.

Created and written by Brad Wright, co-creator of Stargate SG-1 and creator of related franchises Stargate: Atlantis and SGU, Travelers is set hundreds of years from now when the last surviving humans discover the means of sending consciousness back through time, directly into people in the 21st century. These “travelers” assume the lives of seemingly random people, while secretly working as teams to perform mi ssions in order to save humanity from a terrible future. These travelers are: FBI Special Agent Grant MacLaren (McCormack), the team’s leader; Marcy (Porter), a young, intellectually disabled woman in the care of her social worker, David (Gilmore); Trevor (Abrahamson), a high school quarterback; Carly (Cooper), a single mom in an abusive relationship; and Philip (Dolman), a heroin-addicted college student. Armed only with their knowledge of history and an archive of social media profiles, the travelers discover that 21st century lives and relationships are as much a challenge as their high-stakes missions.

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Travelers extends the hot trend of time travel series. There are 3 time-traveling pilots in contention at the US broadcast networks, dramas Time at NBC and Time After Time at ABC and comedy Making History at Fox, as well as the new CW series Legends of Tomorrow and Comedy Central limited series Time Traveling Bong.

McCormack and Wright, who are similar age and both were born are raised in Toronto, have known each other for a long time. “My old friend Brad Wright has created a fantastic, complex story with some very rich and complicated characters, and I’m awfully happy to be one of them,”said Eric McCormack.

Travelers, which features a predominantly Canadian cast, was originally developed at the CFC Prime Time TV Program with Canadian writers. “We’re excited to work with this amazing cast led by Eric McCormack. It’s all a dream come true for a Scarborough boy like me,” Wright said.

The pilot episode is being directed by Nick Hurran (Sherlock), with Canadians Andy Mikita (Lost Girl), Helen Shaver (Vikings), Martin Wood (Killjoys), Will Waring (Continuum), and Amanda Tapping (Continuum) tapped to direct subsequent episodes.

Travelers is produced by Peacock Alley Entertainment Inc., in association with Showcase and Netflix.

McCormack just signed with Gersh. He is managed by the Cornell Group and also repped by attorney Harris Hartman. Mackenzie is repped by Link Entertainment and Red Management for acting.