Syfy’s Summer block of Defiance and Dominion is staying intact.
The network has renewed both series with 13 episode orders. Defiance will return in 2015 with its third season, while Dominion will be back for its second, TVWise has confirmed.
Developed for television by Rockne S. O’Bannon, Kevin Murphy & Michael Taylor, Defiance is set in the near future and introduces a world where humans and aliens must learn to live together on an exotic new Earth that has been transformed by alien terra-forming machines. The series follows the residents of town called Defiance as they go about their daily lives in this new world. The drama series is produced by Universal Cable Productions and stars Grant Bowler, Tony Curran, Julie Benz, Jaime Murray, Mia Kirshner and Graham Greene.
Based on the 2010 feature film Legion, Dominion is set 25 years after the events of the movie and picks up in the aftermath of a catastrophic war between an army of angels and mankind that has transformed the world. The series follows the perilous journey of a rebellious young soldier, set against a backdrop of the ultimate celestial battle as it touches down on earth. The drama series is produced by Universal Cable Productions & Bold Films and stars Christopher Egan, Tom Wisdom, Roxanne McKee, Alan Dale, Anthony Stewart Head and Luke Allen-Gale.
Across their respective runs this past Summer, both Defiance and Dominion ranked as the top two cable programs in the Thursday 8-10pm time period among P25-54s. Both series averaged an L7 audience of 2.7 million total viewers, 1.2 million viewers 18-49 and 1.4 million viewers 25-54. Syfy also said that Dominion was the “most social drama on Thursdays” in tweets (15.4K) and tweets per unique (8.0).
The renewals are understood to be part of Syfy’s strategy under new EVP of Original Content Bill McGoldrick to boost the level of scripted dramas they have on air. The network has been particularly aggressive in this area in recent months and, while Dominion was the first such new drama to emerge out of said strategy, other scripted projects on tap include Z Nation (which is currently airing on Friday nights), The Expanse, Killjoys, 12 Monkeys, Hunters; and mini-series Ascension and Childhood’s End.
