Successfully establishing a potent Thursday night original scripted program
ming block, the premieres of Syfy’s new epic supernatural drama series Dominion and the second season return of the popular series Defiance each delivered two million total viewers during their June 19 premieres.
In its 9-10:24PM (ET/PT) time period, Dominion averaged 805K Adults 18-49 and 935K Adults 25-54. Compared to all ad supported cable scripted drama series premieres year to date, Dominion ranks #4 in L+SD rating among both Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54, and #2 among Men 18-49 and Men 25-54.
Dominion saw more tweets than recent scripted series premieres of AMC’s Halt and Catch Fire, A&E’s Those Who Kill First and TNT’s Murder in the First.
Kicking off the night at 8PM (ET/PT) with its Season 2 premiere, Defiance delivered 776K Adults 18-49 and 948K Adults 25-54.
Season two of Defiance stars Grant Bowler stars as Nolan, along with Julie Benz as Amanda Rosewater, Stephanie Leonidas as Irisa, Tony Curran as Datak Tarr, Jaime Murray as Stahma Tarr, Graham Greene as Rafe McCawley and Jesse Rath as Alak Tarr. The cast also features Dewshane Williams as Tommy, Trenna Keating as Doc Yewll, Justin Rain as Quentin McCawley and Nicole Munoz as Christie McCawley. New this season are, James Murray as Mayor Pottinger, William Atherton as high-ranking Earth Republic official Viceroy Mercado and Anna Hopkins as Earth Republic soldier and documentarian Jessica “Berlin” Rainier. Linda Hamilton will play the key recurring role of Pilar McCawley, the wife of Rafe McCawley (Greene) and mother to their three children. Kevin Murphy (Desperate Housewives, Caprica) resumes his role as executive producer and showrunner. Smallville’s Darren Swimmer and Todd Slavkin return as executive producers for Season 2 and Michael Taylor serves as consulting producer. Michael Nankin (co-executive producer) directed the Season 2 opener.
Based on characters from the theatrical film Legion (2010), Dominion is set in the year 25 A.E. In this transformed post–apocalyptic future, an army of lower angels, assembled by the archangel Gabriel, has waged a war of possession against mankind. The archangel Michael, turning against his own kind, has chosen to side with humanity against Gabriel. Rising out of the ashes of the 25 year-long battle are newly fortified cities which protect the human survivors. Dominion stars Christopher Egan (Kings), Tom Wisdom (300), Roxanne McKee (Game of Thrones), Alan Dale (Lost), Anthony Stewart Head (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Luke Allen-Gale (The Borgias). Dominion is produced by Universal Cable Productions and Bold Films. The series is executive produced by Vaun Wilmott, Todd Slavkin & Darren Swimmer, along with executive producers Scott Stewart, who co-wrote and directed the feature film Legion, Michael Litvak and David Lancaster of Bold Films who produced the original film. Film Afrika serves as the local production entity in South Africa.
