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For “Battlestar Galactica” fans, this is going to be a very bittersweet year. The series has successfully entered into its fourth season, and now six episodes in, it appears to be at the height of its popularity. The sad part? This will be the final season of “Battlestar Galactica”. The mini-series reboot of the classic 1978 series from Glen A. Larson that has developed a cult-like following since reappearing on the small screen back in 2003. And while the dedicated fans of “Galactica” will be excited to finally find out who the last Cylon is by the end of season 4, they will no doubt be very sad to see the series stop.

But alas, it appears that Universal Media Studios isn’t going to let the “Galactica” name (or the advertising revenue) just fade away, as they have recently announced production on the long rumored pilot “Caprica”. “Caprica” is going to be a two hour prequel to “Battlestar Galactica”, set 50 years prior to the Cylon attack on humanity, that follows a feud between to prominent families, the Adamas and the Graystones.

Esai Morales (“Jericho”) has signed on to play Joseph Adama, one of the main characters. Fans of the current series will recognize Joseph Adama as the father of William Adama, the current commander of the Galactica. As well, Paula Malcomson (“Deadwood”) has signed on to play Amanda Graystone, a brilliant surgeon whose husband creates a robotic version of their dead daughter, aka the first Cylon model. Here are a few more details on the plot:

The Graystones include father Daniel, a computer genius; mother Amanda, a brilliant surgeon and unfaithful wife; and their daughter, Zoe, who is martyred to her boyfriend’s religious fanaticism—but not before she installs the rudimentary elements of her personality and DNA into a machine, creating a digital twin of herself, Zoe-A. After the human Zoe’s death, Daniel uses these raw materials, some stolen technology and his own grief to cobble together ‘a robotic version of his dead daughter.’ This robot version, known as Zoe-R, is a Cylonic Eve, the first of her kind.

As a fan of “Galactica” I must say that I am excited for the upcoming “Caprica” pilot, which is being developed by “Galactica” executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick along with “24″ writer Remi Aubuchon, who is set to become the show runner should the pilot get picked up. Based on what I know about the pilot, I am most interested in seeing the birth of the Cylon race and the events that lead to the first Cylon war.

As for the casting choices, I can’t say much about Paula Malcomson, as I do not watch “Deadwood”. I will, however, admit to being a fan of Esai Morales. He is not only a good actor, but I believe he has the right look. I can believe that characters played by Edward James Olmos and Jamie Bamber (who plays Lee “Apollo” Adama) would be in his family tree, thus giving “Caprica” a certain sense of continuity with “Galactica”.

“Caprica” is currently scheduled to make its debut sometime in December with a 2 hour pilot.

Sound Off: What do you think of these casting choices for “Caprica”?