The official trailer for the upcoming ABC series “V”, a remake of the lauded original 1983 sci-fi miniseries, has hit the web. You can see the trailer below. The show’s synopsis reads: “Today, the world woke up to find spaceships over every major city. The Visitors claim to have come in peace, bringing gifts of medical miracles and technological breakthroughs. They promise to do no harm. They’re lying. Most people believe the aliens have arrived just when we needed them most. We’re eager to embrace their generous offers of help, but while tracking a terrorist cell, Homeland Security agent Erica Evans stumbles upon something far more sinister. Erica discovers that…

Warner Bros. has acquired the rights to produce a big-screen adaptation of the hit British TV series “Primeval”, just as the 3rd season of the show begins this weekend on BBC America, and the series is rolling along on the Sci-Fi channel. “Primevil” follows a team of scientists and adventurers from the British government who are dealing with portals to the prehistoric past called “anomalies” that allow various creatures to venture into the present. The film will be produced by Akiva Goldsman and Kerry Foster for Weed Road, Goldsman’s production company. Emily Cummins will also produce. No other information about the film has been released yet in terms of a…

David R. Ellis (“Snakes On A Plane”) has been tapped by Mark Ordesky to direct the 3-D “Humpy Dumpty,” Variety.com is reporting. The sci-fi horror project is about a half-human, half-alien creature who embarks on a bloodthirsty rampage after his alien mother is abused by two Southern rednecks. Ordesky, a former New Line exec, is producing through his recently launched shingle Amber Entertainment alongside Suzanne de Passe and Madison Jones of the iDream Company and Darry Welch from Instinctive Film, from a script from Billy Majestic. Fabienne Villette is co-producing. The film is set to start production this September. No casting news has been announced yet. Stay tuned to Shockya.com…

Sci Fi Channel is teaming with Will Smith for “Unfinished Business”, a new crime procedural/drama about an ex-cop who starts seeing flashes of memories from the recently deceased, and then, compelled by them, begins helping lost and wronged souls take care of unfinished business. Sci Fi/Syfy plans to initially air “Business” as a 2-hour movie, that also will serve as a series pilot. It isbeing produced through Overbrook Entertainment, with Smith, James Lassiter and Ken Stovitz executive producing. Sally Robinson (“Iron Jawed Angels”) is writing the pilot, and Mikael Salomon (“Band of Brothers”) is attached to direct. Both Robinson and Salomon are also attached as executive producers. No release date…

Sci Fi Wire has some exclusive concept art for the Sci Fi/Syfy Channel’s “The Phantom” mini-series scheduled for 2010, which you can check out below. Ryan Carnes has been cast as the Phantom in the TV original, written by father-son team Daniel and Charles Knauf and intended to be a backdoor pilot for launching a new live-action Phantom TV series. “The Phantom” is a comic strip created by Lee Falk, it stars a costumed crimefighter operating out of the African jungle, the latest in a line of avengers stemming back hundreds of years. The series began with a daily newspaper strip on February 17, 1936 and the character, credited with…

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Ryan Carnes (“Desperate Housewives”) has been cast in “The Phantom”, the cable channel’s adaptation of the classic comic news strip about the purple-clad ghostlike avenger. Isabella Rossellini will guest star in the mini-series as the villainous Lithia, bent on succeeding with her mind-control power experiments. Cameron Goodman and Sandrine Holt are also starring. “The Phantom” begins production on Monday, and will air next year on Syfyas a four-hour movie/mini-series. The character was created by Lee Faulk in 1936, and is the latest in a line of vigilante avengers dating back to the first Phantom ages ago, who battled pirates. The character is generally acknowledged…

Sci Fi has announced it is changing it’s programming and its name to Syfy staring July 7th: Building upon sixteen years of water cooler programming and soaring ratings growth following its most-watched year ever, SCI FI Channel is evolving into Syfy on air and on-line beginning July 7th, it was announced today by Dave Howe, President, SCI FI. By changing the name to Syfy, which remains phonetically identical, the new brand broadens perceptions and embraces a wider and more diverse range of imagination-based entertainment including fantasy, paranormal, reality, mystery, action and adventure, as well as science fiction. It also positions the brand for future growth by creating an ownable trademark…

Entertainment Weekly has the rounded-out cast of the upcoming “Stargate” series coming to the Sci-Fi Channel, titled “Stargate Universe”, which started production last week in Vancouver. The latest installment in the science fiction franchise, “Stargate Universe” follows a group of survivors stranded on an ship called the Destiny, created by the alien race called the Ancients that accidentally ends up stranded in the farthest reaches of space and must find their way back to Earth. Ming-Na (“ER”) and Elyse Levesque (“Smallville”) have come aboard for “Stargate Universe”, joining the previously announced recruits Robert Carlyle, Alaina Huffman, Lou Diamond Phillips, Justin Louis, David Blue, Jamil Walker Smith and Brian J. Smith….

Neil McDonough, who is slated to appear in the upcoming film “Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun-Li”, recently talked to Yahoo about his role in 2008′s Sci-Fi channel miniseries “Tin Man”, the channel’s retelling of the classic tale of the Wizard of Oz. McDonough said on his character, the eponymous title character; “Last year, I had the great fortune to play Wyatt Cain in ‘Tin Man’, that could have been my favorite performance of anything I’ve done. That was a character that was really close to me… I do enjoy playing villains, and I had a great run the last year or so doing it. I certainly would love to…

You can check out the brand-new official poster for the critically-acclaimed sci-fi sleeper film “Sleep Dealer” thanks to Io9.com. “Sleep Dealer” is a futuristic science-fiction film dealing with immigration issues in a future where the US is physically fenced off from other parts of the world like Mexico, and manual labor jobs can be outsourced thanks to “node” technology, allowing people to control robotic drones anywhere in the world through telepresence, doing jobs that range from building whole skyscrapers to working on farms to sweeping streets. Follow the main character, Memo, played by Luis Fernando Peña, as he moves to the big city looking for telecommuting “node” work and through…