''Travelers'' is a science fiction television series created by
Brad Wright
Brad Wright (born May 2, 1961) is a Canadian television producer and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-creator of the television series ''Stargate SG-1'' (with Jonathan Glassner), ''Stargate Atlantis'' (with Robert C. Cooper) and ''Stargat ...
, starring
Eric McCormack
Eric James McCormack (born April 18, 1963) is a Canadian-American actor and singer, known for his roles as Will Truman in the NBC sitcom ''Will & Grace'', Grant MacLaren in Netflix's ''Travelers'' and Dr. Daniel Pierce in the TNT crime drama ...
,
Mackenzie Porter
MacKenzie Lea Porter (born January 29, 1990) is a Canadian country music, country singer, songwriter, and actress. She has released one self-titled album and achieved four Canada Country number ones with "About You (MacKenzie Porter song), About ...
,
Jared Abrahamson
Jared Abrahamson is a Canadian actor. He is known for his performance in the 2016 film '' Hello Destroyer'', for which he was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Actor and won the award for Best Actor in a Canadian Film at the Vancouve ...
,
Nesta Cooper,
Reilly Dolman
Reilly Dolman (born February 29, 1988) is a Canadian actor best known for his main role as Philip Pearson in the Netflix series '' Travelers''. , he lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Career
Dolman's interest in acting was sparked during a dig ...
, and
Patrick Gilmore
Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore (December 25, 1829 – September 24, 1892) was an Irish-born American composer and bandmaster who lived and worked in the United States after 1848. While serving in the Union Army during the U.S. Civil War, Gilmore ...
. The first two seasons were
co-produced by
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
and Canadian
specialty channel
A specialty channel (also known in the United States as a cable channel or cable network) can be a commercial broadcasting or non-commercial television channel which consists of television programming focused on a single genre, subject or targeted ...
Showcase
Showcase or vitrine may refer to:
*Cabinet (furniture)
*Display case
Music
* ''Showcase'' (Bill Anderson album), 1964
* ''Showcase'' (Patsy Cline album), 1961
* ''Showcase'' (Buddy Holly album), 1964
* ''Showcase'' (Philly Joe Jones album), 1959 ...
. After the second season, Netflix became the sole commissioning broadcaster and worldwide distributor. The show premiered in Canada on October 17, 2016, and worldwide on December 23, 2016. A second season followed in 2017, and a third season was released on December 14, 2018.
In February 2019, McCormack said that the series had been cancelled.
Premise
In a
post-apocalyptic
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astro ...
future, thousands of special operatives are tasked with preventing the collapse of society. These operatives, known as "travelers", have their consciousnesses
sent back in time and transferred into the "host" body of present-day individuals who are about to die, minimizing unexpected impact on the future. The transfer requires the exact location of the target, made possible by 21st-century smartphones and
GPS
The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...
, providing time, elevation, latitude, and longitude (TELL) coordinates that are archived for use in the future. No transfer can be safely made to a time prior to one already performed.
Using social media and public records, travelers learn about their hosts, each maintaining the host's pre-existing life as
cover
Cover or covers may refer to:
Packaging
* Another name for a lid
* Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package
* Album cover, the front of the packaging
* Book cover or magazine cover
** Book design
** Back cover copy, part of co ...
for the rest of their lives. In teams of five, they carry out missions dictated by the Director, an artificial intelligence monitoring the timeline from the future. The goal of the missions is to save the world from a series of catastrophic events. The Director can communicate with travelers through prepubescent children, who, unlike adults, can safely be animated by the Director for a short time without risking death.
Protocols
Travelers have several protocols to protect the timeline:
* Protocol 1: The mission comes first.
* Protocol 2: Leave the future in the past.
* Protocol 3: Don't take a life, don't save a life, unless otherwise directed. Do not interfere.
* Protocol 4: Do not reproduce.
* Protocol 5: In the absence of direction, maintain your host's life.
* Protocol 6: Do not communicate with other known travelers outside of your team unless sanctioned by the Director.
The team historians have an additional secret protocol involving the periodic updates they receive concerning "historic information relative to
heir
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officiall ...
team's role in the Grand Plan". It is a sub-protocol of Protocol 2:
* Protocol 2H: This forbids the revelation about the existence of the updates "with anyone, ever".
The Director can invoke three other protocols in special situations:
* Protocol Alpha: temporarily suspends all other protocols when a critical mission must be completed at all costs
* Protocol Epsilon: can be invoked when traveler archives are threatened
* Protocol Omega: permanently suspends all other protocols when the Director abandons the travelers because the future has either been fixed or deemed impossible to fix
Cast
Main
*
Eric McCormack
Eric James McCormack (born April 18, 1963) is a Canadian-American actor and singer, known for his roles as Will Truman in the NBC sitcom ''Will & Grace'', Grant MacLaren in Netflix's ''Travelers'' and Dr. Daniel Pierce in the TNT crime drama ...
as Grant MacLaren (Traveler 3468), the team's leader, who assumes the life of a married
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
special agent
*
MacKenzie Porter
MacKenzie Lea Porter (born January 29, 1990) is a Canadian country music, country singer, songwriter, and actress. She has released one self-titled album and achieved four Canada Country number ones with "About You (MacKenzie Porter song), About ...
as Marcy Warton (Traveler 3569), the team's medic, who assumes the life of an
intellectually disabled
Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability in the United Kingdom and formerly mental retardation,Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010). is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by signific ...
woman
*
Nesta Cooper as Carly Shannon (Traveler 3465), the team's
tactician
A tactic is a conceptual action or short series of actions with the aim of achieving a short-term goal. This action can be implemented as one or more specific tasks. The term is commonly used in business, protest and military contexts, as well a ...
, who assumes the life of a stay-at-home single mother
*
Jared Abrahamson
Jared Abrahamson is a Canadian actor. He is known for his performance in the 2016 film '' Hello Destroyer'', for which he was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Actor and won the award for Best Actor in a Canadian Film at the Vancouve ...
as Trevor Holden (Traveler 0115), the team's engineer and one of the oldest humans ever, who assumes the life of a high school athlete
*
Reilly Dolman
Reilly Dolman (born February 29, 1988) is a Canadian actor best known for his main role as Philip Pearson in the Netflix series '' Travelers''. , he lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Career
Dolman's interest in acting was sparked during a dig ...
as Philip Pearson (Traveler 3326), the team's historian, who assumes the life of a college-aged
heroin addict
Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a substance use disorder characterized by cravings for opioids, continued use despite physical and/or psychological deterioration, increased tolerance with use, and withdrawal symptoms after discontinuing opioids. O ...
*
Patrick Gilmore
Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore (December 25, 1829 – September 24, 1892) was an Irish-born American composer and bandmaster who lived and worked in the United States after 1848. While serving in the Union Army during the U.S. Civil War, Gilmore ...
as David Mailer, Marcy's
social work
Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...
er and later romantic interest
Recurring
* J. Alex Brinson as Jeff Conniker, Carly's abusive police officer ex-boyfriend and the father of her son
*
Leah Cairns
Leah Cairns (born June 2, 1974) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her roles as Lieutenant Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson in ''Battlestar Galactica'' and as Kathryn McLaren in the TV series "Travelers."
Early life
Cairns was born in ...
as Kathryn "Kat" MacLaren, Grant's wife who works as an interior designer
*
Enrico Colantoni
Enrico Colantoni (born February 14, 1963) is a Canadian actor and director, best known for portraying Elliot DiMauro in the sitcom ''Just Shoot Me!'', Keith Mars on the television series ''Veronica Mars'', Louis Lutz on the short-lived sitcom ''H ...
as Vincent Ingram, the first traveler (Traveler 001) whose host was supposed to die on
September 11, 2001
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...
* Chad Krowchuk as Simon, Traveler 004, a specialist who set up the travelers' communications system in the 21st, then was deceived into building consciousness transfer technology for Vincent
*
Arnold Pinnock
Arnold Pinnock (born 1967) is a Canadian actor who is perhaps best known for his appearance as Paul Greebie, Casey's guidance counselor, in ''Life with Derek''.
Pinnock was born in Birmingham, England. His career began with sketch comedy at Toro ...
as Walt Forbes, MacLaren's partner at the FBI, later a member of the Faction posing as Traveler 4112 and, subsequently, Traveler 4991
*
Jennifer Spence
Jennifer Spence (born January 22, 1977) is a Canadian actress. Her acting credits include playing Dr. Lisa Park on the ''Stargate Universe'' television series and Betty Robertson on the series ''Continuum''.
Career
Spence has had principal roles ...
as Grace Day, Trevor's high school counselor and later Traveler 0027, a programmer who helped create the Director
*
Ian Tracey
Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponding to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. It is a popular name in Sc ...
as Ray Green, Philip's lawyer and later friend, a compulsive gambler
* Kimberley Sustad as Joanne Yates, MacLaren's new FBI partner who is later assigned by the FBI director to act as the liaison between the FBI and the Traveler program
Guest
Introduced in season 1
*
David Lewis as Major Gleason, a hotheaded military officer
*
Kyra Zagorsky as Dr. Delaney, a brilliant scientist who developed a method for collecting and storing
antimatter
In modern physics, antimatter is defined as matter composed of the antiparticles (or "partners") of the corresponding particles in "ordinary" matter. Antimatter occurs in natural processes like cosmic ray collisions and some types of radioac ...
* Kristine Cofsky as Victoria Boyd, Traveler 3185, who assumes the life of a police officer
* Giacomo Baessato as Private Wilson, a soldier who works for Gleason
* Alyssa Lynch as Rene Bellamy, a high school student and Trevor's girlfriend
*
Tom McBeath
Tom McBeath is a Canadian actor. He is the winner of three Jessie Awards best known for playing Col. Harold Maybourne on ''Stargate SG-1''. In 2017, he started playing Smithers on '' Riverdale''.
Biography
He appeared in an episode of ''Street ...
as Ellis, Traveler 0014, a programmer who assumes the life of a farmer
*
Eileen Pedde
Eileen Pedde is an American actress.
Pedde made her debut in the TV series '' The Little Kidnappers'' in 1990. She has appeared in numerous major American television series including ''The X-Files'' and ''Smallville'' (2003) but is perhaps best ...
as Mom, a traveler who assumes the role of a mother in a family of four
* Yasmeene Ball as Charlotte, a misfire traveler historian; later a traveler assassin
* Glynis Davies as Jacqueline, a representative of
Child Protective Services
*
Melanie Papalia
Melanie Rose Papalia (born July 11, 1984) is a Canadian actress. She has appeared in films such as '' Postal'' (2007), '' American Pie Presents: The Book of Love'' (2009), '' Frankie and Alice'' (2010), ''Smiley'' (2012), ''The Den'' (2013), and ...
as Beth, an FBI analyst working for MacLaren
*
Karin Konoval
Karin Konoval (; born June 4, 1961) is Canadian-American actress who has appeared in theatre, numerous TV series and supporting lead roles in many feature films. Her screen credits include Maurice the Orangutan in '' Rise of the Planet of the Ap ...
as Bloom, Traveler 0117, a high ranking traveler engineer
*
Louis Ferreira
Louis Ferreira (born Luís Ferreira; born 20 February 1966) is a Canadian actor. Ferreira is known for his roles in ''Stargate Universe'' as Colonel Everett Young, serial killer Ray Prager in the first season of '' Durham County'', FBI Assistant ...
as Rick Hall, a jaded traveler team leader
*
Douglas Chapman as Luca Shun, Traveler 2587, a member of Hall's team
*
Jason Gray-Stanford
Jason Gray-Stanford (born May 19, 1970) is a Canadian film, television and voice actor. He is best known for playing Lieutenant Randy Disher in the Emmy, SAG and Golden Globe-winning TV program ''Monk'' and for voicing the role of Raditz in ''Dra ...
as Aaron Donner, Traveler 4022 (and later Traveler 4024), a bomber
* William MacDonald as Gary Holden, Trevor's father
*
Teryl Rothery
Teryl Rothery is a Canadian actress of stage, television, and film. She is best known for portraying Janet Fraiser in the TV series ''Stargate SG-1''. She co-starred as Grace Sherman in ''Cedar Cove (TV series), Cedar Cove'', and has had major ...
as Patricia Holden, Trevor's mother
* Dylan Playfair as Kyle, a friend of Trevor, later historian Traveler 5532
* Gerard Plunkett as Ted Bishop, a
congressman
A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...
* Matthew Kevin Anderson as Derek, Traveler D13, a traveler doctor assigned to save MacLaren
* David Raynolds, introduced as foster child Aleksander (episode of the same name), returns as a guest in Season 3's "Protocol 3"
Introduced in season 2
*
Stephen Lobo
Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...
as Agent Wakefield, a faction member posing as a traveler who is later overwritten by the Director
*
Paloma Kwiatkowski
Paloma Kwiatkowski (born May 29, 1994) is a Canadian film and television actress. She is best known for her roles as Thalia Grace in Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (film), ''Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters'' (2013) and Cody in Bates Motel (TV seri ...
as Abigail Paris, a young woman that Trevor befriends
*
Lee Majdoub
Lee Majdoub ( ar, لي مجدوب; born May 31, 1982) is a Lebanese-born Canadian actor. He is known for his role as Agent Stone in ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' (2020) and its 2022 sequel. Majdoub has also appeared in the television programs, ''The ...
as Dr. Barker, a doctor with a romantic interest in Marcy
*
Sunita Prasad
Sunita Prasad is a Canadian actress. She has appeared in television series such as ''iZombie (TV series), iZombie'', ''Bates Motel (TV series), Bates Motel'' and ''Unreal (TV series), UnREAL'' and also voiced Alicia Masters in ''Fantastic Four: W ...
as Blair, David's girlfriend
*
Melissa Roxburgh as Carrie, Travelers 5001–5007, a skydiver assigned to prevent the assassination of MacLaren's team
*
Amanda Tapping
Amanda Tapping (born 28 August 1965) is a British-Canadian actress and director. She is best known for portraying Samantha Carter in the Canadian–American military science fiction television series ''Stargate SG-1,'' ''Stargate Atlantis,'' and ...
as Katrina Perrow, Traveler 001's psychologist, who is later taken over by 001 before the Director can overwrite him
*
Stephanie Bennett as Jenny, Traveler 4514, a traveler assigned to help Philip with his heroin addiction
* Josh Blacker as Agent Callahan, a Traveler who assumes the life of an FBI agent
Introduced in season 3
*
Benjamin Ratner
Benjamin Immanuel (also credited as Ben Ratner or Benjamin Ratner) is a Canadian actor and filmmaker. He is most noted for his performances in the films '' Last Wedding'' and ''Looking for Leonard''.
Career
Immanuel has appeared in the films ''M ...
as Ivon Teslia, a computer engineer responsible for the creation of the
artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...
(AI) Ilsa
*
Rebecca Soichet as the voice of Ilsa, the AI hosting the Director in the 21st century
*
Magda Apanowicz
Magda Apanowicz ( ; Polish: ; born November 8, 1985) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her roles as Andy Jensen on the ABC Family series ''Kyle XY'', as Lacy Rand in the Syfy science fiction drama series ''Caprica'' and as Emily (born ...
as Dawn, a Faction traveler loyal to Traveler 001
*
Christopher Heyerdahl
Christopher Heyerdahl (born September 18, 1963) is a Canadian actor who portrayed Alastair in '' Supernatural,'' the Wraith Todd in ''Stargate Atlantis'', Sam in ''Van Helsing,'' "Swede" in ''Hell on Wheels,'' and Marcus in '' The Twilight Saga ...
as Andrew Graeme (Traveler 7189), a mathematician whose host is discovered to be a serial killer
* Veronika Hadrava as Katrina (Traveler A18), an Archivist
* Karen Holness as Samantha Burns, a physicist responsible for designing the singularity engine
Episodes
Season 1 (2016–17)
The first season premiered on Netflix on December 23, 2016, before its final two episodes aired on Showcase.
Season 2 (2017)
Season 3 (2018)
Critical reception
The first season of ''Travelers'' received a score of 100% on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
based on nine reviews with an average rating of 8.0/10.
Neil Genzlinger
Neil Genzlinger is an American playwright, editor, book reviewer, and theatre and television critic who frequently writes for ''The New York Times''.
Family
Genzlinger is a grandson of the late ''The Philadelphia Bulletin'' columnist Don Rose. ...
, writing for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', described the first season as "tasty", and "enjoyable science fiction", with "some attention-grabbing flourishes and fine acting". Hanh Nguyen, writing for
IndieWire
IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...
, described the series as "fun and freaky", finding the series' appeal "in how the core group of five travelers adjust to life in our present", noting the "human nature in the travelers". Lawrence Devoe, of TheaterByte.com, called the series "tautly paced and suspenseful" with "well-developed characters", declaring that "Brad Wright has a real knack for creating futuristic series". Evan Narcisse, reviewing the first five episodes of the first season for
io9
''io9'' is part of Gizmodo media since 2015, and it began as blog launched in 2008 by Gawker Media. The site initially focused on the subjects of science fiction, fantasy, futurism, science, technology and related areas but over the years has ...
, appreciated the moral dilemmas offered by the series premise and the awkwardness presented by the characters' interactions with their hosts' friends, colleagues, lovers, or caretakers: "This is a superhero show in double disguise, offering up clever explorations of the secret identity concept that touch on the guilt and contortions that come with living a double life." Netflix announced that the series was one of its "most devoured" series in 2017.
Writing in ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'', Merrill Barr said of the second season: "There's a lot to love about what ''Travelers'' brings to the table this season. The show has truly come into its own." In reviewing the first two episodes of the second season, Nguyen of Indiewire called ''Travelers'' "an exploration of the human condition in all of its messy glory,
ith
The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometres, is the longest line of crags in North Germany.
Geography
Location
The Ith is immediatel ...
depictions of the most ingenious, yet disturbing means of time travel on screen".
Barr of ''Forbes'' said the third season brought "a mixed approach as the show returns to its mission-of-the-week roots of season one, but this time while remixing the format with episodes of different substance from chapter to chapter.
..hat we get this year from the show is the best example of what a television series should be."
Netflix was criticized for using real footage from the
Lac-Megantic rail disaster in the third season. The use of such footage was considered by many to be inappropriate for fictional content, and many sought to have the footage removed. Carrie Mudd, president of Peacock Alley, said they were not aware of the origin of the footage and the affected episode would be re-edited. The stock film company that provided the clip also apologized, pledging to review how images can be repurposed by Hollywood clients.
References
External links
*
*
{{Netflix original ended series (2012–2018)
2010s American science fiction television series
2010s American time travel television series
2016 American television series debuts
2018 American television series endings
2010s Canadian science fiction television series
2010s Canadian time travel television series
2016 Canadian television series debuts
2018 Canadian television series endings
American time travel television series
Canadian time travel television series
Showcase (Canadian TV channel) original programming
English-language Netflix original programming
Television series by Corus Entertainment
Television shows filmed in Vancouver
Temporal war fiction