Defiance is an American science fiction television series. It was created by Rockne S. O'Bannon who is best known for his work on the Alien Nation film and television franchise and the sci-fi series Farscape. It was produced by Universal Cable Productions and premiered on Syfy on April 15th, 2013. The series stars Grant Bowler as Joshua Nolan, Julie Benz as Amanda Rosewater, Stephanie Leonidas as Irisa Nyira, Tony Curran as Datak Tarr, Jaime Murray as Stahma Tarr, Graham Greene as Rafe McCawley and Mia Kirshner as Kenya Rosewater. Season one of Defiance aired from April 15th to July 8th, 2013.
The program's back-story involves several alien races, collectively known as the Votans, who came to Earth in a fleet of ships several decades ago, hoping to find a new world to colonize after their old star system had become uninhabitable. Unaware that Earth alredy possessed an indiginous civilization, the Votans began terraforming the planet, making it more suitable to their needs. Ultimately, war broke out between the populace of Earth and the Votans, throughout the course of which, the planet suffered through many geological changes as varying breeds of plants and animals were destroyed, giving birth to new species and races. The main setting of the show is the city-state of Defiance, which serves as a neutral zone where humans and the various Votan races attempt to co-exist peacefully. The series follows the lives of human Joshua Nolan and his adopted Irathient daughter Irisa Nyira as they settle down in Defiance where Nolan accepts the position of Chief Lawkeeper.
Defiance was nominated for a Primetime Emmy in 2013 for the category of Outstanding Special Visual Effects for the series' two-part pilot episode. Recipients of the nomination include visual effects and computer graphics artists Gary Hutzel, Mike Gibson, Doug Drexler, David R. Morton, Neal Sopata, Kyle Toucher, Sean M. Jackson, Douglas E. Graves and Derek Ledbetter.
On October 16th, 2015, Syfy announced that it would not be renewing Defiance for a fourth season. The program's cancellation came just days after Syfy announced the discontinuation of another series, Dominion. [1]
