Halle Berry To Star in CBS’s Extant

CBS looks to be getting into the genre business, and it has landed a very big name to headline its new series, Extant.

Actress Halle Berry has been cast in the lead role for the series, which follows a female astronaut “who returns home from a year-long solo mission in space and tries to reconnect with her husband and son in their everyday life,” according to the network. “Her experiences in space and home lead to events that ultimately will change the course of human history.”

The premise sounds juuust fantastical enough to play well to the CBS audience, which generally doesn’t go in for hard science fiction but which has turned out by the millions for shows like Under the Dome and Person of Interest.

Berry, of course, is the star of such films as Monster’s Ball, for which she won the Academy Award in 2002. She was a Bond babe in Die Another Day, and co-starred alongside Tom Hanks in 2012’s Cloud Atlas. Berry also played Storm in the X-Men trilogy.

On the small screen, she won an Emmy, a Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award for her starring role in the HBO movie Introducing Dorothy Dandridge.

The spec script for Extant — by newcomer Mickey Fisher — is said to be very good and was the subject of a fever-pitched bidding war. CBS won out by making a 13-episode straight to series commitment, and showing what it could do with a summer series in this year’s highly-rated Under the Dome, from a story by Stephen King.

The serialized drama will be produced by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television and CBS Television Studios.

“There’s only one Halle Berry and we are incredibly honored that she has chosen Extant to expand her illustrious career,” said Steven Spielberg. “As she does with everything she touches, she will bring a deep authenticity to her role and I very much look forward to working with her.”

“I’m always on the lookout for amazing roles and when you see material that contains this strong of auspices, nuance and complexity it compels me to run toward it no matter the medium,” Berry said. “For five months a year I’ll get to live with and play this incredibly intelligent and vulnerable woman, and for the remainder of the year I’ll continue to look for other roles that move me as deeply as this one. I’ve found amazing partners in CBS’s Nina Tassler and Les Moonves, and the incredible Steven Spielberg, along with his Amblin production team, whose vision and creativity in storytelling is unparalleled.”

Berry’s deal includes a 2-year, first-look production deal with CBS Television Studios.

Stay with SciFi Stream for more on the new show in the months to come!