Helix arrived on Syfy on January 10, 2014, with a premise built for dread: a team of scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention flies to a research facility in the Arctic to investigate a possible disease outbreak. What they find is a life-or-death struggle that could decide the future of mankind. The show ran two seasons and 26 episodes, ending on April 10, 2015.
Trailer, via Showcase Network.
Dr. Alan Farragut Leads the CDC Team
Billy Campbell leads as Dr. Alan Farragut, the CDC scientist at the center of the mission. He is joined by Jordan Hayes as Dr. Sarah Jordan and Mark Ghanimé as Major Sergio Balleseros. Neil Napier plays Dr. Peter Farragut, Alan’s brother, and the family tie gives the outbreak a personal edge. Hiroyuki Sanada’s Dr. Hiroshi Hataki runs the facility, and the show treats him as a man with more answers than he offers.
The Full Cast Roster
The cast spreads wide from there:
- Kyra Zagorsky as Dr. Julia Walker
- Steven Weber as Brother Michael
- Matt Long as Dr. Kyle Sommer
- Meegwun Fairbrother as Daniel Aerov
- Cristina Rosato as Leila Weisner
- Severn Thompson as Sister Anne
- Alison Louder as Sister Amy
That roster tells you what Helix wants to be: a closed-door thriller where the staff outnumber the outsiders and nobody is quite clean.
Ronald D. Moore and the Showrunner Handoff
Ronald D. Moore and Cameron Porsandeh created Helix. The executive producers were Moore, Lynda Obst, Steven Maeda and Porsandeh, with Maeda running the show day to day. A credited name is not a story, though. The Arctic setting and the CDC framing are strong, but the series keeps trading one conspiracy for another instead of letting the disease do the work.
Brother Michael and the Cult Thread
The first season knows how to hold a room. A remote facility, a pathogen, and a cast that includes a cult led by Brother Michael — that is enough. Steven Weber is the show’s best asset, and the Sister Anne and Sister Amy thread gives the back half a genuine chill. Helix is at its strongest when the threat is biological and the characters are too far from help.
Where the Second Season Loses the Thread
Two seasons is the right length, and that is a compliment with a knife in it. Helix burns through its best idea early and spends the rest of the run escalating instead of deepening. Syfy canceled the show on April 29, 2015, after two seasons.
Rotten Tomatoes scores Helix at 67%, a 6.7 out of 10. That is a fair read on a good-looking, well-cast thriller with a strong opening and a scattered finish — worth the first season, hard to defend past it.
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