Dominion (TV series)

Dominion
Genre	Apocalypticism Supernatural Action
Created by	Vaun Wilmott
Based on	Legion by Peter Schink Scott Stewart
Starring	Christopher Egan Tom Wisdom Roxanne McKee Luke Allen-Gale Shivani Ghai Rosalind Halstead Anthony Head Alan Dale
Country of origin	Template:TVUS
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	8
Production
Executive producers	David Lancaster Michel Litvack Tom Lieber Todd Slavkin Darren Swimmer Scott Stewart Vaun Wilmott
Production locations	Cape Town, South Africa
Production companies	Universal Cable Productions FanFare Productions Film Afrika
Original release
Network	Syfy
Release	June 19, 2014 (2014-06-19) – present

Dominion is an American apocalyptic supernatural action television series created by Vaun Wilmott. It is loosely based on the 2010 film Legion, written by Peter Schink and Scott Stewart. In December 2013, Syfy ordered a pilot episode and the series premiered on the American cable television network Syfy on June 19, 2014. The show is filmed on location in Cape Town, South Africa. Stewart serves as series executive producer, as well as director of the pilot episode, written by Wilmott.

It was renewed for a 13 episode second season on September 25, 2014 to air in 2015.

Synopsis

God vanishes and in his absence the archangel Gabriel wages war against mankind, believing them unworthy of God's love. Although most higher angels remain neutral, Gabriel has convinced the lower angels, the "dogs of Heaven," called "eight-balls" by humans for their black eyes, to fight alongside him. 25 years later, mankind survives in a few fortified cities. The Archangel Michael has chosen to side with humanity against Gabriel, living among humans in the fortified city of Vega (once Las Vegas) until the time a prophesied savior appears to save mankind.

Cast

Main cast

• Christopher Egan as Sgt. Alex Lannon: A rebellious young sergeant in Vega's Archangel Corps. Alex is Claire's lover and is Charlie's son (from Legion). He discovers he is the unlikely savior of humanity, known as the "Chosen One," and the central figure of "Saviorism," Vega's unofficial but dominant religion.
• Tom Wisdom as Michael: The archangel who battles Gabriel's armies of Possessed and was instrumental in mankind's survival. He guards Vega, his new home, from angel threats. To aid him, Michael established the Archangel Corps, which he commands as Vega's first line of defense. Michael is a proven invaluable ally - he is Riesen's chief advisor, Alex's guide and protector, and Becca's lover.
• Roxanne McKee as Claire Riesen: a teacher to orphan children and believer in Saviorism. As Riesen's daughter, Claire is heir apparent to her father's seat as ruler of Vega. Claire deeply opposes the V-System, and her defense of the people's rights has made her beloved by the people. Claire is Alex's lover (a forbidden relationship that few know of) but is betrothed to William, as a political alliance to defend her from David, his power-hungry father.
• Luke Allen-Gale as Principate William Whele: David's son and apparent believer in the Chosen One. William is the religious leader of the Church of the Savior. He is betrothed to marry Claire, with whom he grew up and whom he loves very much. While he pretends to worship Alex, the Chosen One, he secretly worships Gabriel as a Black Acolyte.
• Shivani Ghai as Arika: A diplomat from Helena (formerly La Jolla, California), one of the other cities which have risen in the aftermath of the war, and the consort and wife of its Queen Evelyn. With Helena being a neutral power and the only real air power left in the area (the city controls MCAS Miramar and the aircraft from Hill AFB), Evelyn sends Arika as the head of a delegation visiting Vega to maintain peace. To aid her efforts, Arika begins a secret relationship with David.
• Rosalind Halstead as Consul Becca Thorn: The head of House Thorn, Becca is one of Vega's senators, who is in charge of the city's scientific and medical personnel and oversees all their efforts in Vega. Only Becca knows Riesen could die at any moment of congestive heart failure. She is David's rival in the Senate, Claire's close friend, and Michael's lover.
• Anthony Head as Consul David Whele: The head of House Whele and William's father, David is one of Vega's senators, who is the Secretary of Commerce - Vega's chief administrator and the bureaucrat who keeps every government department running. David is a ruthless and cunning political operator who maintains a dynamic and unpredictable relationship with Riesen - the only one who outranks him. He and his son plan to depose Riesen by making William the Lord Of The City through his marriage to Claire. A former televangelist, he hypocritically uses the psychology of faith to advance his and his son's positions. He is vehemently against Saviorism, and considers Alex to be his greatest threat to his plans to seize control of Vega, and that his being the Chosen One could bring ruin to their society.
• Alan Dale as General Edward Riesen: The head of House Riesen and Claire's father, Riesen is the Lord Of The City - Vega's selfless ruler and military leader. During the war, Riesen was a key figure who led humanity to victory - on the brink of extermination, he rallied humankind and organized able-bodied survivors under his leadership. After almost two decades of war, Riesen helped destroy the angel army and prevented Gabriel from continuing to wage war. Afterwards, Riesen and his closest advisors founded the fortified city of Vega. Inspired by his training at West Point, Riesen worked with the Senate to devise and create the V-System, a rigid occupation-based social ordering which ensures the vital work of building and running Vega is accomplished. However, Riesen intends for the V-system to be temporary and shares his daughter's opposition to the system. He wishes to step down and help Vega transition into a republic. Riesen is secretly suffering from congestive heart failure and could die at any moment, something only Becca Thorn knows about. Riesen secretly has married Clementine, an eight-ball angel.

Recurring cast

• Carl Beukes as Gabriel: An archangel and leader of the angel armies, Gabriel led the majority of his brethren in a war to end mankind - he is responsible for pushing humanity to the very brink of extinction. Gabriel, scornful and jealous towards humanity's favored position, is angry at their abuse of the world he believes belongs to the angels, which he suspects led to God's disappearance. Gabriel is Michael's brother and confided to Michael his belief that the eradication of humanity will bring about God's return.
• Katrine De Candole as Uriel, an archangel and sister of Michael and Gabriel.
• Langley Kirkwood as Jeep Hanson: Alex's adoptive father and Charlie's husband (from Legion), Jeep is a hero of Vega presumed dead in the war, known as Vega's "prophet" for the Chosen One. He returns to Vega after fourteen years, a forgotten warrior, having worked ever since to decode the tattoos on his body while Michael protected and watched over Alex. Roan, a higher angel disguised as a human child, kills him shortly after his return.
• Kim Engelbrecht as Sgt. Noma Banks: A sergeant in Vega's Archangel Corps, Noma is Alex's friend and fellow soldier. She knows about his forbidden relationship with Claire, since Alex trusts her. In "Ouroboros", Noma is revealed to be a higher angel Michael assigned to watch over Alex.
• Betsy Wilke as Bixby: A young orphan whom Alex cares for, and so was placed in the lowest level of the V-System: V-1. Alex wants to take her and Claire out of the city so they will no longer have to live by Vega's rules. Originally struggling to survive, Bixby witnesses the revelation of Alex as the Chosen One, and is now under the protection of House Riesen, greatly improving her standard of living. However, David Whele kills her.
• Luam Staples as Roan: A higher angel and member of the Powers, now joined with Gabriel.
• Anton David Jeftha as Furiad: A higher angel and member of the Powers, now joined with Gabriel.
• Jonathan Howard as Ethan Mack: Noma and Alex's friend and fellow soldier in Vega's Archangel Corps.

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	U.S. viewers (millions)
1	"Pilot"	Scott Stewart	Vaun Wilmott	June 19, 2014 (2014-06-19)	1.96
In the outskirts of Vega, Alex searches for "8-Balls," humans possessed by angels and led by the Archangel Gabriel. Alex finds three in an abandoned casino, kills one, and battles another; the third disappears. Back in Vega, Archangel Michael reprimands Alex for going on an unauthorized mission by whipping him. Alex visits General Riesen's daughter, Claire, a priestess, who explains to some children that angels can possess people, and that one day a Chosen One will return to save humanity. When the children leave, Alex and Claire, who are secret lovers, discuss fleeing Vega, but she insists that her father can be reasoned with and will let them be together. Arika, the leader of the Helena delegation from a California city-state, tells David Whele that while her leader is not ready to join a treaty, she will trade women for nuclear reactor technology. Grizzled warrior Jeep, who has been missing for over a decade, is unable to decipher his mystical tattoos but knows a war is coming. Michael shows Alex to him and it is revealed that Jeep is Alex's father. It is finally made known that Gabriel is alive, and he sends angels from his headquarters in Boulder to fight those in Vega, as David has brought an 8-Ball into the city. Jeep gets stabbed and dies in Alex's arms after telling him that he is the Chosen One. Jeep's tattoos fade and then reappear on Alex. Michael tells Alex that he is the savior of Vega and that he must decipher the tattoos and use them to choose which course to take at critical junctures to end the war. Alex sees that a section of the tattoos has temporarily changed to read "Beware of those closest to you." Finally, David's son, William, is shown to have aligned with Gabriel.
2	"Godspeed"	Rick Jacobson	Vaun Wilmott	June 26, 2014 (2014-06-26)	1.45
Alex mourns the loss of his father and wrestles with the idea of being the Chosen One. He tells Claire that they should leave the city, but she wishes to stay and help defend it. Gabriel and Michael meet and discuss why the angels attacked; angels were upset that God gave humans their form and the Earth to be theirs. Gabriel wants God to return and believes the attacks will encourage it. Alex's new assignment is to protect the House of Whele. He reveals to Michael that the tattoos told him to stay away. Alex learns that, before the war, David was a televangelist, and he asks Alex not to tell anyone about being the Chosen One. Alex agrees. Arika, a prisoner, blackmails David for her freedom or there will be war. General Riesen is shown to have congestive heart failure, and he wishes to hand control of the city over to Claire. After her maid, Felicia, sees Alex's tattoos, she attacks him, revealing that she is an angel. Claire gets injured, and Alex kicks Felicia out of a window. She flies away, injured. He decides that the best way to protect Claire is to leave the city. When he does, his arm tattoos change to dots. Felicia returns to Gabriel with the identity of the Chosen One.
3	"Broken Places"	Rick Jacobson	Dario Scardapane and Damien Ober	July 3, 2014 (2014-07-03)	1.69
William meets Gabriel to learn he must now help the angel army, to which William hesitantly agrees. Arika meets David to talk about their mutual needs. He wants an air force and she wants his nuclear reactor technology to take back to Helena. He sends her back to Evelyn to broker a deal. Out in the desert, Alex learns angels have been attacking out of nowhere from the sky. In the senate, Michael states he had no idea other angels could be living within the city walls. The Senate is reminded that, before Michael chose to help the humans, he was "one of them". Later, Ethan tells Michael that Alex is gone. Claire and her father argue that the system he created is actually enslaving people and creating a dangerous social order. He finally reveals that he has a failing heart. David Whele corners Becca to say he wants her to study Michael. He reminds her that sleeping with an angel makes her a pariah, and that Becca should start autopsies on higher angels or he will tell spread word that she's having sex with Michael. Alex is very resistant to being the Chosen One. Michael say he will leave him alone if he goes to one more location. They head to Alex's childhood home, where he sees visions of Jeep trying to learn about the tattoos. Alex remembers his mother's death, and Michael reveals he told Jeep to give Alex up. Michael then vows do anything to protect Alex. Meanwhile in Vega, Arika gets a package— the dead body of her sister. David enters to say she is no longer helpful to his cause. She tells him if he gives her amnesty she will penetrate Evelyn's inner circle. In the desert, Furiad and another 8-Ball attack Alex and Michael, who gets stabbed. William tells his followers that it is time they start worshiping Gabriel and not Michael. Arika leaves a beacon beeping on her windowsill. Alex drops Michael off at the hospital and is promptly arrested for desertion. Furiad tells Gabriel that he stabbed Michael, which angers Gabriel, who still hopes he can recruit his brother angel.
4	"The Flood"	Alex Holmes	Brusta Brown & John Mitchell Todd	July 10, 2014 (2014-07-10)	1.62
Alex is dragged to Vega's prison, where prisoners are generally strip-searched. He chooses to get thrown into solitary confinement rather than expose his tattoos. Michael is healed by a mysterious, unseen person. While he and Becca are sleeping, a woman sneaks in and tries to kill her with a sword. He stops her, and it is revealed she is Michael and Gabriel's sister, Uriel. At the hospital, Claire visits a heavily medicated Bixby, who says she saw the Chosen One. Senator Frost overhears this and immediately tells the Senate, but everyone thinks he is foolish. In prison, Alex dreams a section of his tattoos wash off and the ink reads "She died for you" on the prison floor. He wakes to find Claire has come to visit him. He tries to convince her that, since everyone he comes in contact with seems to get hurt, it's probably best he stay in prison. She tells him he's abandoning Bixby just like his father abandoned him and ultimately frees him from jail. Meanwhile, Noma must guard Arika, who flirts with her, telling her that Arika will someday be the leader of Helena and will then need a bodyguard. Noma considers the job. Alex visits Bixby, who tells him that her getting hurt is not his fault, but Alex still feels responsible. David and General Riesen are summoned to Vega's agriculture center, where Senator Frost reveals a device that can flood all the crops, killing the three of them in the process. He will use it if not given a meeting with the Chosen One. In the Senate, with David and General Riesen missing, Becca appoints Claire the Lady of the City. Now in charge, she needs to decide on raiding the agri-center. Meanwhile, Uriel tells Michael that if he teaches Alex how to decipher the tattoo markings, she will join him in the battle against Gabriel. David tries to appease Frost and take his phone, but the anxious senator shoots him in the leg. As the police move in, Noma and Ethan tell Alex that all Frost wants is to meet the Chosen One. When none of the police listen to Alex, Claire sends him in as a negotiator. He takes off his shirt, and the senator sees the tattoo but still does not believe. When he asks for real proof, Alex says: "She died for you". Frost says the message was indeed meant for him, and he believes Alex. He surrenders, but General Riesen shoots Frost, as the Chosen One's identity cannot be publicized. Uriel visits Gabriel and tells him that if he takes Alex from Michael and trains him to destroy the humans, then she will join him in his fight, although she had promised Michael the same thing. David visits Bixby in the hospital and turns up her intake of morphine, killing her.
5	"Something Borrowed"	Alex Holmes	Rebecca Kirsch	July 17, 2014 (2014-07-17)	1.58
Michael trains Alex in the desert to better fight angels. Michael mentions Bixby's death, forcing Alex to use his anger. Big things are coming. In a flashback, David defends against 8-Balls, but one of them kills his wife, Eleanor, and two teenage children. He nearly kills youngest child William with a hammer, as he blames his crying for betraying their hiding place, and therefore his mother and siblings' resultant deaths at the hands of the 8-Balls. In the present, he tells William to cherish their time together. Claire confirms to Alex that she's marrying William for the city's sake. Later, Noma visits Claire, and they reveal that the wedding is a façade to keep the lower parts of society happy. David gives Claire a pendant from his wife and tells her that Senator Romero is going forward with a vote of no confidence against her father. Clementine secretly goes into the city, where she buys a music box. She kills the store clerk when he realizes she's an 8-Ball. Alex later vows to find the killer, as he believes it's still within the city walls. David blackmails Becca for her support in his bid to unseat General Riesen. Claire asks William to stop his father, and he promises that he will ask David to back off. Riesen finds Clementine at Claire's house and threatens her; she threatens him back then jumps off the balcony. William visits his father, then remembers and tries to discard the scarf with eyes drawn on it, given to him earlier by one of Gabriel's followers. His attempts to destroy it prove futile as his father approaches, so he hides it in a nearby desk drawer. He tells David that he should not be trying to oust Riesen as he is dying anyway. Riesen asks Michael to find and kill Clementine, but to please give her a merciful death. Alex and Noma look for the murderous 8-Ball. At the engagement party, Claire gets Ethan to sneak her into David's office, where she finds the eye-painted scarf. She mistakenly confronts David for working for Gabriel and stuffs the scarf in his pocket, promising to oust him as such if he attempts to depose her father. At the party, she gives a speech about missing her mother, who is revealed by a photograph to be Clementine - (or the person/body before the 8-Ball possessed it!?)
6	"Black Eyes Blue"	Larry Shaw	Todd Harthan	July 24, 2014 (2014-07-24)	1.54
Alex and Michael go to the old casino vault where Clementine is being held. Alex reveals a plan to perform an "eviction" of the angel possessing her, since the Chosen One is capable of doing so. Michael warns that evictions never go well. Meanwhile, Claire shows Riesen the music box that Clementine left there, thinking it was his engagement gift. David reveals to William that the handkerchief was found in the house. He also mentions that the Black Acolytes, William's organization of Gabriel worshipers, have reached the upper levels of society. Michael visits Uriel and tries to exchange a small Vermeer painting for a book called the Apocrypha, which helps evict angels from 8-Balls, returning them to their human state. Uriel declines the offer, but hands the book over to him when he agrees to let her look at his tattoos. The tattoos then move down his arm and into the book, allowing him to read it. Michael visits Clementine, and the 8-Ball origins are discussed; the higher angels already had bodies, but when the war started, the lower angels were forced to side with Gabriel and take human bodies. One of these took Clementine. Alex takes Claire to the vault to meet with Clementine. Claire is furious when she realizes that Riesen has concealed Clementine for years. Alex tells Claire that her mother is still alive inside her possessed body, and he wants to attempt an eviction. Claire only agrees when Alex says his status as the Chosen One might make this possible. While William is absent, almost the entire Black Acolytes gang is killed. Arika talks about the war with Riesen, who knows Helena has been bluffing about the size of their air force; they really only have one old B52. But combined with Vega's nuclear material, that may be enough to drop a nuclear bomb on Gabriel's compound. Alex, Michael, and Claire attempt to evict the 8-Ball from Clementine. After a powerful incantation from the Apocrypha, the 8-Ball spirit leaves her body. As Clementine returns to life, her black eyes cloud over with a milky blue haze; she is left gasping and half-dead from the ordeal. In the Senate chamber, Riesen tells David he's made a deal to send Arika back to Helena, where she will kill Queen Evelyn and assume power, allowing Vega to govern Helena from behind the scenes. In icy fury, Claire later confronts her father for keeping Clementine a secret. She tells him that after the wedding, he will step down or she will expose him publicly for harboring an 8-Ball within the city. Finding the Black Acolytes murdered, William reveals to his father that he was their leader. David berates and humiliates William, threatening to expose him. William puts a gun to David's head, and pistol-whips him to the floor. After, William holds a ceremony with his few remaining followers, during which he tortures his father, crushing his ribs with a golden sash. Uriel has been making drawings of the tattoo markings. Michael asks her to stop or at least promise never to show them to Gabriel; she promises. Claire goes back to the vault and, in an act of mercy, suffocates her mother.
7	"Ouroboros"	Larry Shaw	Bryan Q. Miller	July 31, 2014 (2014-07-31)	1.49
In the Babylonian desert in 1900 BC, a child flees a massacre and is greeted by Michael, who tells him not to be afraid. In the present, Michael and Alex try to evict the angel from an 8-Ball, so Alex can master evictions. He ends up having to kill the 8-Ball. Meanwhile, Claire and William discuss moving up the wedding date. She lies, saying that despite her father's heart condition, he likely can continue running the city. William also lies, saying that his father has pneumonia; in fact he is held captive, still mentally & physically traumatized by the torture William inflicted on him. In the infirmary, Gabriel pretends to be Louis, a neutral higher angel, and tries to convert a few of the male nurses. Becca discovers several dead bodies hanging from the rafters. They were other higher angels living quietly in the city like Louis until Gabriel found them. She confronts Michael to see if he knew other angels were in the city. He tells her to keep her distance – the angels were simply refugees, and now Michael worries about the rest of them. He asks Alex to warn the others. David recovers, only to be apprehended by a guard. Michael talks with Uriel in the San Francisco library, where Gabriel has roughed her up to learn about the Chosen One. She refused, but revealed to Gabriel the identity of some of the neutral higher angels –the ones who died. In Vega, Alex visits the Gabriel-possessed Louis. Alex learns more about Michael's past. Meanwhile in David's private menagerie, William gives David the choice to shoot him and escape or shoot a lion which he deeply admires. He finally breaks down, telling William that his mother would be ashamed, and shoots the lion. Noma confronts Alex, who admits to having doubts about Michael. Gabriel summons Alex to Michael's lair and then pushes Noma out a window- she flies away. Alex is upset that Michael did not tell him Noma was an angel. Gabriel reveals himself, and they fight. Alex performs an eviction and pushes Gabriel out. However, Gabriel comes back to his lair to find Uriel. The meeting was a ruse to prove that Alex is the Chosen One. Meanwhile, Michael and Alex inspect the bodies of the dead angels that tried to flee the city. Although Noma is not among them, Alex tells Michael that he knows more about "the flood." In a flashback to the Babylonian desert, Michael slaughters humans until Gabriel and Uriel show up to stop him.
8	"Beware Those Closest to You"	Allan Kroeker	Part I: Todd Slavkin & Darren Swimmer Part II: Vaun Wilmott	August 7, 2014 (2014-08-07)	1.54
Michael and Alex prepare to unseat Gabriel and put an end to the war. Riesen and Arika are plotting something when a Helena delegation arrives – they have Evelyn's head in a box. It is revealed that Uriel and Arika are having an affair and that Arika is actually Evelyn. Later, Claire and William marry. Michael confesses to Alex that he murdered humans, only stopping when Gabriel and Uriel beat him. This could be his redemption. Back at the Riesen compound, Claire meets Uriel, who confirms that Claire is pregnant with The Chosen One's baby. Uriel's plan is to take Claire to Helena, translate the markings on Alex's body, use whatever knowledge she gains to defeat Michael and Gabriel, and end the fighting once and for all. Noma gets herself put in jail. Gabriel knows that it is a trap and shows up at the gates of Vega to surrender. The senate debates whether or not they should kill him or question him. Gabriel tells Claire that he is looking to end the war, that Michael was once violent, and he knows she's pregnant. Michael and Alex arrive, she forbids them from talking to Gabriel, but they do anyway. William tells his father to prevent Gabriel's execution, no matter what. Meanwhile, Alex learns he is going to be a father via Gabriel, who is weakened after being electrocuted. Michael arrives, and they talk about being twins and therefore able to hear each other's thoughts. Then, Gabriel convinces Michael to hate humans again. Some crooked guards help Gabriel escape. Claire tells Alex that he cannot be a father to the child, so she is going to raise the baby with William. Michael visits Becca's lab, where he finds angels have been dissected and Louis has been dissected while alive. Becca arrives at the lab, and Michael is furious with her for dissecting angels. He then kills her and Louis. Alex then fights Michael, who realizes what he has done and flies away. Gabriel tells Alex that the only way to end the war is by them working together. Alex says no, and Gabriel threatens to burn the city down and kill Noma. Meanwhile, Claire and William discuss the baby. William says he'll raise it as his own. Claire then realizes William is an acolyte for Gabriel. Gabriel meets with Uriel, who pledges her allegiance. David sets fire to the acolytes and drives William to the desert. He drops him off with a pack full of supplies and tells him that he can never return to Vega. Back in Vega, Claire reads a letter from Alex, written to the baby, as Alex climbs the rocks to Gabriel's temple.

Reception

Dominion has been met with mixed reviews. On Metacritic, the show holds a score of 48 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the show holds a rating of 38% based on 21 reviews.

External links

• Official website
• Dominion at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com show