The third season of the reimagined science fiction television series '' Battlestar Galactica'' premiered on the

Sci-Fi Channel Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. ...

in the United States on October 6, 2006, and concluded on March 25, 2007. Unlike the previous season, it was not split into two parts and did not have an extended hiatus during the middle of the season. The third season contained 20 episodes.

Cast and characters

Main cast

Edward James Olmos Edward James Olmos (born February 24, 1947) is an American actor, director, producer, and activist. He is best known for his roles as Lieutenant Martin "Marty" Castillo in ''Miami Vice'' (1984–1989), ''American Me'' (1992) (which he also dir ...

William Adama William "Bill" Adama ( callsign "Husker") is a fictional character in the re-imagined '' Battlestar Galactica'' television series produced and aired by the SyFy cable network. He is one of the main characters in the series, and is portrayed by ...

Mary McDonnell Mary Eileen McDonnell (born April 28, 1952) is an American film, stage, and television actress. She received Academy Award nominations for her roles as Stands With A Fist in '' Dances with Wolves'' and May-Alice Culhane in ''Passion Fish''. Mc ...

Laura Roslin Laura Roslin is a fictional character in the re-imagined '' Battlestar Galactica'' series, portrayed by Mary McDonnell. She is the President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol and is one of the primary characters in the show. Character biography ...

Katee Sackhoff Katee Sackhoff (born April 8, 1980) is an American actress known for playing Lieutenant Kara "Starbuck" Thrace on the Sci Fi Channel's television program ''Battlestar Galactica'' (2004–2009), Niko Breckenridge on the Netflix series '' Another ...

as Kara "Starbuck" Thrace *

Jamie Bamber Jamie Saint John Bamber Griffith (born 3 April 1973), known professionally as Jamie Bamber, is a British actor, known for his roles as Lee Adama in ''Battlestar Galactica'' and Detective Sergeant Matt Devlin in the ITV series '' Law & Order: ...

as Lee "Apollo" Adama *

James Callis James Nicholas Callis (born 4 June 1971) is a British actor. He is known for playing Dr. Gaius Baltar in the re-imagined '' Battlestar Galactica'' miniseries and television series, and Bridget Jones's best friend Tom in '' Bridget Jones's Di ...

Gaius Baltar Dr. Gaius Baltar is a fictional character in the TV series '' Battlestar Galactica'' played by James Callis, a reimagining of Count Baltar from the 1978 '' Battlestar Galactica'' series. He is one of the show's primary characters. Personality G ...

Tricia Helfer Tricia Janine Helfer (born April 11, 1974) is a Canadian-American actress and former model. She played the enigmatic Cylon model Number Six in the re-imagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' series (2004–2009). She also voiced Sarah Kerrigan in ''S ...

as Number Six * Grace Park as Sharon "Boomer" Valerii/Sharon "Athena" Agathon (Number Eight) * Michael Hogan as

Saul Tigh Saul Tigh is a fictional character on '' Battlestar Galactica'' played by Michael Hogan. He is one of the main characters of the show. Biography Overview and personality Saul Tigh is a line officer assigned as executive officer on the Galac ...

* Aaron Douglas as

Galen Tyrol Galen Tyrol (commonly referred to as The Chief) is a character on the television series '' Battlestar Galactica''. Tyrol is responsible for the maintenance of the Vipers and Raptors aboard. Battlestar ''Galactica''. After the events of the ...

Tahmoh Penikett Tahmoh Penikett (; ; born May 20, 1975) is a Canadian actor. He is known for playing Karl "Helo" Agathon on SyFy's 2004 television series ''Battlestar Galactica''. He has appeared in TV series ''Supernatural'', '' Dollhouse'', the Showcase time ...

as Karl "Helo" Agathon *

Nicki Clyne Nicki Clyne is a Canadian actress, known for her role as Cally Henderson on the SyFy television series ''Battlestar Galactica''. Clyne is a member of NXIVM, a multi-level marketing company founded by Keith Raniere. Former members, the media, an ...

as Cally Henderson Tyrol *

Kandyse McClure Candice McClure (born 22 March 1980), known professionally as Kandyse McClure, is a Canadian actress. She is known for her roles as Anastasia Dualla in the SyFy series ''Battlestar Galactica'' and as Dr. Clementine Chasseur in the Netflix series ...

Anastasia Dualla Anastasia "Dee" Dualla, portrayed by Kandyse McClure, is a fictional character in the reimagined ''Battlestar Galactica.'' Character history A native of Sagittaron, Anastasia Dualla joined the Colonial Fleet against the wishes of her father; ...

Alessandro Juliani Alessandro Juliani (born July 6) is a Canadian actor and singer. He is notable for playing the roles of Tactical Officer Lieutenant Felix Gaeta on the Sci-Fi Channel television program ''Battlestar Galactica'', Emil Hamilton in ''Smallville'', Jac ...

as Felix Gaeta

Recurring cast

Donnelly Rhodes Henry Donnelly Rhodes (December 4, 1937 – January 8, 2018) was a Canadian actor, known professionally as Donnelly Rhodes. He had many American television and film credits, probably best known to American audiences as the hapless escaped convic ...

as Sherman Cottle *

Rekha Sharma Rekha Shanti Sharma is a Canadian actress of Indo-Fijian descent, best known for her role as Tory Foster on ''Battlestar Galactica,'' and Ellen Landry on '' Star Trek: Discovery''. Career Sharma began acting career in her 20s. She has stage ex ...

as Tory Foster *

Callum Keith Rennie Callum Keith Rennie (born 14 September 1960) is a British-born Canadian actor who started his career in Canadian film and television projects, where his portrayal of Stanley Raymond Kowalski on the television series '' Due South'' was his firs ...

as Leoben Conoy (Number Two) *

Lucy Lawless Lucille Frances Lawless (; born 29 March 1968) is a New Zealand actress and singer. She is best known for her roles as Xena in the television series '' Xena: Warrior Princess'', as D'Anna Biers on the re-imagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' seri ...

D'Anna Biers D'Anna Biers (Number Three) is a fictional character from the re-imagined '' Battlestar Galactica'' television series, played by Lucy Lawless. Within the fictional universe of Battlestar Galactica, Number Three is a Humanoid Cylon Model. Char ...

(Number Three) *

Dean Stockwell Robert Dean Stockwell (March 5, 1936 – November 7, 2021) was an American actor with a career spanning seven decades. As a child actor under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he first came to the public's attention in films including ''Anchors A ...

John Cavil John Cavil (Number One) is a fictional character and the main antagonist from the re-imagined '' Battlestar Galactica'' television series. He is portrayed by Dean Stockwell. In the fourth-season episode " Six of One", Cavil's model number was re ...

(Number One) *

Matthew Bennett Matthew Ray Bennett (born April 9, 1968) is a Canadian actor, writer and director. He is best known for portraying Detective Len Harper on ''Cold Squad'' and his recurring roles as Aaron Doral cylon model number five in the reimagined '' Battle ...

Aaron Doral The Cylons are the main antagonists of the human race in the ''Battlestar Galactica'' science fiction franchise, making appearances in the original 1978 series, the 1980 series, the 2004 re-imagining, and the spin-off prequel series ''Cap ...

(Number Five) * Rick Worthy as

Simon Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

(Number Four) * Richard Hatch as

Tom Zarek These are lists of characters from the various '' Battlestar Galactica'' incarnations. Original 1978 movie and series People from the ''Galactica'': * Commander Adama - played by Lorne Greene * Commander Cain - played by Lloyd Bridges * Capta ...

Kate Vernon Katherine Elizabeth Vernon (born April 21, 1961) is a Canadian-born American actress. She is known for her roles as Lorraine Prescott on the CBS primetime soap opera '' Falcon Crest'' (from 1984–1985), the stuck-up and popular Benny Hanson in ...

as Ellen Tigh *

Michael Trucco Edward Michael Trucco (born June 22, 1970) is an American actor known for his role as Samuel Anders on the reimagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' and his recurring role as Nick Petteruti in ''How I Met Your Mother''. He also appeared on the 2017– ...

Samuel Anders These are lists of characters from the various ''Battlestar Galactica'' incarnations. Original 1978 movie and series People from the ''Galactica'': * Commander Adama - played by Lorne Greene * Commander Cain - played by Lloyd Bridges * Captain ...

Mark Sheppard Mark Andreas Sheppard (born 30 May 1964) is an English actor and musician. He is often credited as Mark A. Sheppard. Sheppard is known for playing the demon/King of Hell Crowley on ''Supernatural'' and for his recurring roles as lawyer Romo La ...

as Romo Lampkin *

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 Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson * Bodie Olmos as Brendan "Hot Dog" Costanza *

Luciana Carro Luciana Carro (born March 23, 1981) is a Canadian actress best known for her appearances on the television series ''Battlestar Galactica'', ''Caprica'', and ''Falling Skies'' and in movies such as '' Two for the Money'' and ''Dr. Dolittle 3''.S ...

as Louanne "Kat" Katraine * Jennifer Halley as Diana "Hardball" Seelix

Episodes

Production

The Sci-Fi Channel ordered a 20-episode third season on November 16, 2005, with production beginning in April 2006 in

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The ...

. The season premiered in the United States on October 6, 2006, in Canada the following day, and in the UK on January 9, 2007; with the first two episodes being shown together. The broadcast schedule for season three did not include a long hiatus in the middle of the season, as with season two. The Sci-Fi Channel moved the series to Sundays on January 21, 2007, the first time the show had changed nights since it began airing.

Reception

Critical response

The season received universal acclaim from critics, scoring 94 out of 100 based on 14 reviews from

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

. 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 ...

, the season has an approval rating of 100% with an average score of 9 out of 10 based on 20 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Dark, charming and unusually thoughtful, ''Battlestar Galactica''s third season continues to improve on the show's most addictive elements." The series also placed on numerous critics top ten lists of both 2006 and 2007 by publications such as the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'', ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

'', '' Newsday'', ''

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 d ...

'' and ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corpora ...

''.

Accolades

The third season received four Emmy Award nominations: Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series ( Ronald D. Moore for "Occupation / Precipice"), Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (

Félix Enríquez Alcalá Félix Enríquez Alcalá (sometimes credited as Felix Alcala) (born March 7, 1951 in Bakersfield, California) is an Argentinean-American film and television director. Career Alcalá's first major breakthrough came in 1991 when he was hired by ...

for "Exodus, Part 2"), Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series ("Exodus, Part 2"), and won for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series for "Exodus, Part 2", the series' first Emmy win. Ronald D. Moore was also nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for Episodic Drama for "Occupation / Precipice".

Home video releases

The third season was released on DVD in region 1 on March 18, 2008, in region 2 on September 3, 2007 and in region 4 on November 20, 2007. It was also released on Blu-ray Disc in region 1 on July 27, 2010. The sets include all 20 episodes from the third season, plus an extended 25-minute longer version of "Unfinished Business". Special features include creator Ronald D. Moore's podcast commentaries for all 20 episodes. Actors Grace Park and

join Moore for his podcast commentary on "Unfinished Business", and Moore's wife Terry Dresbach appears frequently throughout the podcasts as well. Moore also provides a new commentary track for the extended version of "Unfinished Business". Executive producer and writer

David Eick David Eick () (born 1968) is an American writer and producer, best known as the executive producer of ''Battlestar Galactica'', for which he also wrote several episodes. Eick executive produced ''Caprica'' and '' Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Ch ...

provides commentary for "Hero". Bonus podcasts for the final three episodes are also included—writer

Michael Angeli Michael Angeli (born 1970/1971) is an American writer and television producer, best known for his award-nominated work on television series including ''Monk'' and the remake of '' Battlestar Galactica'', a show for which he was also a co-executi ...

and actor

on "The Son Also Rises" and Sheppard himself on both parts of "Crossroads". Also included is the ten-part webisode series '' Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance'', deleted scenes for various episodes, and 22 of David Eick's videoblogs.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Battlestar Galactica (season 3) *2 2006 American television seasons 2007 American television seasons