What would you do if given the opportunity to go back in time and save the lives of others? It’s a well-worn trope that’s been discussed in literature, film and television. And it’s covered in Monday’s new episode of Travelers too. That’s not unexpected. Sure, this team has missions to complete, but they’re not robots. These people have feelings, and in the case of one, they buckle under the guilt of not being able to prevent the deaths of others and tries to protect one. That, of course, puts their team in danger.
Here are some other non-spoilery plot point we can tell you about Episode 3, “Aleksander,” written by Tara Armstrong (Mary Kills People) and Mika Collins.
We can’t help but love David
He’s a bit of a greek and super-awkward around pretty girls, so we’re naturally cheering for David and Marcy to become a couple. That aside, scenes are fun as heck when he’s in them, alternately trying to get information from Marcy or recoiling at her nakedness.
Philip is feeling guilty
In all the excitement from last week’s first mission, I had totally forgotten about Steven, the drug addict who overdosed next to Philip in Episode 1. Future Philip has no clue how close he and his friend were, but Steven’s grieving mother certainly lets him know. If the travellers were hoping to interact with these present people and not be affected by them, they were sorely mistaken. For Philip this is doubly true: he inherited the need for heroin when his consciousness entered this body.
Grant shakes things up
Going tie-less to work? Choosing vegan for dinner? If Kat doesn’t suspect something weird is up with her husband then she’s just not that observant.
Is someone on to the travellers?
There is security footage of Marcy’s arrival and a character we’ve already met is linking it to someone he knows.
Jennifer Spence alert!
Although it hurt a bit to reminded of Continuum, we were thrilled to see Jennifer Spence in “Aleksander,” and involved in a pretty great storyline to boot.
Who is Aleksander?
Let’s just say he’s very important to one team member, but not for the reason you’d expect.
Time travel sci-fi series are my jam, and Travelers has been one heck of a pleasant surprise. Readers of this site know I was heartbroken when Continuum ended; thankfully, Travelers has sufficiently filled that hole.
Part of that is because Travelers‘ creator, Brad Wright, has built a world we can relate to. Our own. Rather than set the series in another galaxy or future time it’s set today and has brought people from another era back to us by transferring their consciousness into bodies of folks who are about to die. That makes everyone immediately relatable. And while the travellers’ task is to change things in the present to ensure a future, there is room for humour through these folks encountering 2016 technology, food and social mores.
After setting up the show’s premise in last week’s debut, Grant (Eric McCormack), Marcy (MacKenzie Porter), Carly (Nesta Cooper), Trevor (Jared Paul Abrahamson) and Philip (Reilly Dolman) are off on their first task. But Monday’s first mission, “Protocol 6,” isn’t without its flaws, and the team learns not succeeding can have deadly consequences.
Here are some non-spoilery hints to get you ready for tonight:
A veteran sci-fi actress checks in We’ve been fans of Kyra Zagorsky since Season 1 of Helix—and she was great in the last season of Continuum—so it’s fantastic to see her on Travelers, and it appears she may have more than a guest-starring role. She plays Dr. Delaney, a scientist who has created an object Grant and his team need to get. Problem is, another group wants the same item and both battle to get it.
Trevor is quickly becoming a favourite
Maybe it’s because we know something about his character McCormack swore us to secrecy about—it’ll be revealed in a few more weeks—but Trevor’s wide-eyed innocence about walks in the park, clean air and sunshine have got us appreciating our lives just a little bit more. He also provides some humour when things get dark and dangerous.
Not everything in 2016 is great
Just ask Grant, who has a very funny reaction to a certain beverage.
Grant and Carly are an item
At least their future selves are. Aside from a glib comment about age, we’re not given any insight into their relationship other than they seem to be keeping it a secret from everyone else. That makes sense; this is a military team and not high schoolers on a field trip. The fact Grant has a wife in this time period certainly complicates things. He’s there on a mission, but he’s also human and has emotions. And those are piqued by Kathryn (Leah Cairns).
Travelers airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on Showcase.
Link: Travelers: MacKenzie Porter on the mindset of a Traveler
“I’ve done some sci-fi stuff but this is definitely the best quality I’ve ever done. It’s a genre that I actually didn’t grow up watching, but I have since working on the part. I think  it’s cool because it’s sci-fi based but it’s also drama based and the relationships between characters is really strong.” Continue reading.Â
Travelers debuts tonight on Showcase with one of the most memorable opening scenes I’ve seen on television. Viewers are going to be blown away, and the storytelling continues at an intense pace after that initial hook.
Created by Brad Wright (Stargate), Travelers stars Eric McCormack as Grant MacLaren, an FBI agent who isn’t what he seems. Despite walking around in our timeline, he is actually the consciousness of a man from the future who inhabits Grant’s body. That’s the case for Marcy Warton (MacKenzie Porter), Trevor Holden (Jared Abrahamson), Carly Shannon (Nesta Cooper) and Philip Pearson (Reilly Dolman) as well. All are “Travelers” from hundreds of years in the future, sent back to perform missions. This group, along with thousands of other travellers around the globe, are trying to change history and save humanity from a horrible future.
We spoke to MacKenzie Porter and Eric McCormack about the 12-episode Season 1Â and what fans can expect starting tonight.
MacKenzie Porter
I’ve never seen a show begin the way Brad Wright did with the first episode of Travelers. People are going to be saying, ‘What the heck is going on?’ It must have been exciting to read that first script.
Eric McCormack: On paper, it was great. MacKenzie went off and learned incredible martial arts stuff. And to have the least fortunate girl get her revenge right at the beginning of the show, was a pretty kick-ass beginning.
MacKenzie Porter: It was pretty nerve-wracking for me because it’s the first time anyone sees my character and it’s a pretty big scene to open up a show.
I also like the fact Travelers is rooted in the present, with the consciousnesses going back in time rather than have folks wearing outrageous outfits or carrying otherworldly technology. And the show also plays on the fact we rely on social media so much for facts and can backfire when it comes to Marcy.
MP: It’s a bit of a misfire with my character. Her social media profile was made up.
EM: They don’t get all of the information. I think that premise, that in the future they’ll be able to rely on everything people write on Twitter or this Facebook page … you can’t. We’re all communicating with each other all the time, but relying on them only part of the time. There is nothing reliable about the permanent record they’re relying on.
The whole concept of what a fact is is gone. There used to be a set of facts and you could argue both sides of it. Now there are just two sets of facts, period. Good luck trying to convince someone who is voting for Trump in your facts.
Let’s talk about the future the travellers are coming from. Do you know what it’s like? Will viewers? Will we see the future at any point via flashback?
MP: There are no flashbacks.
EM: We know. We asked lots of questions. On Day 1, it was sort of question time and we said, ‘Brad, tell us what we need to know.’ But he made it clear that the audience would only know this little by little and not visually.
MP: I like that we don’t see the future. That might get a little cheesy, creating that world. We’re always in present day and I think that’s what makes our show a drama, and very realistic.
EM: The audience is going to be hungry for that and we will give it to them in little pieces. There is a mystery to be solved there and that is ‘Why are we here and how bad could it be that this was worth doing?’
Eric McCormack
Are the missions this team goes on integral to changing our fate?
EM: I think it’s in Episode 4 when reference is made that there are travellers all over the world and some of their missions will involve elections, some will involve assassinations. In this case, we start off pretty big with an anti-matter device and we don’t even know until Episode 6 what we need it for. I kind of like that sort of Second World War idea where you only know the code for the thing you have; anything else would endanger your life because you’re not allowed to know. We’re kind of operating in the dark.
The music and lighting are atmospheric and dark, as is the overall storyline, but there are crucial moments of levity like Grant spitting out coffee because it has cow’s milk in it, or Trevor having a morning erection. You need those breaks.
MP: I think it’s important because that’s how you fall in love with the characters. I love that scene with Jared when he wakes up.
EM: You also find out that Jared’s character is in fact the oldest one of all of us, so for him to land in the body of a 17-year-old with a constant erection is even better. A lot of the funny of the show are your scenes with David because Patrick Gilmore is hysterical and because Marcy is such a serious character. He brings out a romance and a smile.
The press materials talk about how the travellers are there for a mission and they have unexpected relationships with people in our time. But, I see this show as about people getting a second chance and living a new life. Is that part of it?
EM: I think so.
MP: The future people have been training for years and I don’t know if they would fall in love the way we do today. For them it was all about survival in that time. Coming back and living in an easier time, they loosen up a bit more, especially Marcy.
EM: So often in time travel, someone from now goes into a time of the Black Plague or something and it’s not a lot of fun. These people are from a horrible time and, suddenly, there is so much delicious stuff. There is fresh air and sunshine, so they’re very much seduced in a way they didn’t count on.
Travelers airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on Showcase. It will be broadcast on Netflix internationally later this year.
Link: The future of Canadian TV: On homegrown series Travelers, developed through CFC’s primetime TV program Travelers, debuting on Canada’s Showcase on October 17, is what showrunner Brad Wright (Stargate series) calls a “10 out of 10 Canadian show.†This sci-fi series follows a set of individuals from the future sent back to the present to “save humanity from a terrible future.†It features an all-Canadian main cast, led by Eric McCormack, formerly of Will & Grace and Perception, and crew (the sole series writer/director who was not Canadian was pilot director Nick Hurran). It’s as all-Canadian as they come, and it began its development during the Canadian Film Centre (CFC)’s 2014 Prime Time TV Program. Continue reading.
From Victoria Ahearn of The Canadian Press:
Mysteries and dualities infiltrate new series Travelers
“We never quite know the details of our mission, we just have our piece, your little mission and it’s a piece of a greater thing. But the fun thing is that we also get to, we have to, live the lives of the people whose bodies we basically infiltrate. So we are like spies but we’re also fish out of water, all of us.†Continue reading.
