Travis Fimmel is starring in the Ridley Scott-directed TNT sci-fi series, Raised By Wolves. Scott, of course, is a filmmaking icon for his work in the sci-fi genre, which includes the classics Alien and Blade Runner. The director stepped away from sci-fi for several years until, in 2012, he returned with an Alien prequel/spinoff titled Prometheus that was arguably celebrated and derided in equal measure. Scott's next sci-fi movie after that, The Martian, was far more universally beloved and earned the filmmaker his first Golden Globe for directing, in addition to his first Best Picture Oscar nod since Black Hawk Down, fourteen years earlier.

After that, Scott moved on to direct Alien: Covenant, a sequel to Prometheus (and prequel to the original Alien) that was perhaps even more divisive than its predecessor. The movie was far from a box office bomb (with a $241 million worldwide gross on a $97 million budget), but it wasn't successful enough to get Scott's planned followup - a project he's referred to as Alien: Awakening - a green-light... not yet, anyway. With the Alien movies on ice for the time being, Scott has elected to scratch his sci-fi itch by turning to television instead. He has since commenced casting for Raised By Wolves, which will mark his first time directing for TV, well, ever (his early commercial work aside).

Related: Fox Confirms No New Alien Movie in the Works

According to Deadline, Fimmel has been cast as one of the leads in Raised By Wolves. The series - from writer/showrunner Aaron Guzikowski (Prisoners, The Red Road) - revolves around two androids tasked with raising human children on a mysterious planet that humanity only recently colonized. This will mark Fimmel's first TV role since he finished his run playing Ragnar Lothbrok on History's Vikings, back in the show's fourth season. Fimmel also recently played the human warrior Anduin Lothar in Duncan Jones' fantasy video game adaptation, Warcraft.

Alien Covenant Ridley Scott

It's not entirely clear if Fimmel will be a human or android in Scott's new series just yet. Deadline's report says he's playing Marcus, who could either be a member of the show's human colony - one that threatens to be torn apart by their religious differences - or an alternate name for the android otherwise known as "Father" (with the role of "Mother" yet to be announced). The latter would make more sense since, by the sound of it, Fimmel is playing one of the series' protagonists (as he did on Vikings) and Raised By Wolves itself will seemingly be told from the perspectives of its android characters, rather than its humans. Covenant was also told largely from the perspectives of its androids (Michael Fassbender's David and Walter), so that further explains what drew Scott's interest to this project in the first place.

Scott will specifically direct the first two episodes of Raised By Wolves, in turn establishing a template for the rest of the series. By the sound of it, this may serve as TNT's prestigious TV event in 2020, following last year's The Alienist and this month's limited series I Am the Night (from Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins and costar Chris Pine). If so, that's a smart way for the network to continue making waves in the area of must-see cable television, as it strives to compete with heavy-hitters in that arena like HBO and AMC (which houses the Scott-produced historical horror series The Terror).

MORE: Winter 2019 TV Premiere Dates

Raised By Wolves doesn't have an official premiere date yet.

Source: Deadline