The series centers on the conflict between a group of terrorists from the year 2077 who time travel to Vancouver, British Columbia, in 2012, and a police officer who unintentionally accompanies them. In spite of being many years early, the terrorist group decides to continue its violent campaign to stop corporations of the future from replacing governments, while the police officer endeavours to stop them without revealing to everyone that she and the terrorists are from the future. The show premiered on Showcase on May 27, 2012, with ten episodes, and concluded after four seasons and forty-two episodes on October 9, 2015.
Continuum kiera
Prelude
Episodes from the first season and the second begin with the plot of the show narrated via a voice-over from the point of view of Kiera Cameron.
2077. My time, my city, my family. When terrorists killed thousands of innocents, they were condemned to die. But they had other plans. A time travel device sent us all back sixty-five years. I want to get home, but I can't be sure what I will return to if history is changed. Their plan: to corrupt and control the present in order to win the future. What they didn't plan on was me.
Starting with the third season, the narration was replaced by a new sequence that contains a computer-animated version of the time travel device, scenes from previous seasons, and cast credits, before finishing with Kiera Cameron (Rachel Nichols) holding the device, followed by the title card.
Plot
City Protective Services (CPS) law enforcement officer Kiera Cameron (Rachel Nichols) lives a quiet, normal life with her husband and son in 2077-era Vancouver. Under the corporatocratic and oligarchic dystopia of the North American Union and its "Corporate Congress," life goes on in apparent freedom under a technologically advanced high-surveillancepolice state.
When a group of self-proclaimed freedom fighters known as Liber8 escape execution by fleeing to the year 2012, Kiera is involuntarily transported with them into the past. Joining with Detective Carlos Fonnegra (Victor Webster) and the Vancouver Police Department, and enlisting the help of teen computer genius Alec Sadler (Erik Knudsen), Kiera works to track down and thwart Edouard Kagame (Tony Amendola) and his followers in the present day while concealing her identity as a time-traveler from the future.
Kagame and the members of Liber8 plot to alter the past to avert the rise of a dictatorial and Orwellian corporate regime to be stopped at all costs. Meanwhile, Kiera knows that Alec Sadler will become the future corporate mogul and head of SadTech, one of the mega-corporations that dominate the world in 2077. Liber8 also attempts to alter the past by going after an agricultural chemical company Sonmanto, which through the use of genetically modified food plants created a situation in the future where independent small farms are illegal. Sonmanto, also makes a bio-weapon, in the future, for which they also sell the antidote. In season three, Liber8 steals a tanker truck full of a key chemical mixture of the precursor to the bio-weapon.
Fighting to return home to her family, Kiera finds that her presence in 2012, and that of the members of Liber8, may be no accident at all.
Time travel
Throughout the series, multiple theories are suggested as to the nature of time travel and its effect on the timeline of events leading from 2012 to 2077.
In discussion with Kiera, Alec posits that his future self recalled his interactions with Kiera in the past, potentially inspiring the creation of his own cybernetic technology from her futuristic implants and equipment and leading to a "time loop" whereby conditions in 2077 cannot be altered. Otherwise, Alec and Kiera consider that the presence of Kiera and of Liber8 in the past may have already altered the timeline and created a separate chain of events, and thus the state of the world in 2077 is no longer certain.
Evidence for each possibility is presented over the course of the series. Ultimately, the first season finale, "Endtimes," reveals that the elderly Alec Sadler orchestrated the time jump that sent Kiera and the members of Liber8 back in time and that he knew precisely what was to occur in 2012. At the start of the second season, the contents of a message sent from the 2077-era Alec to his younger self reveal that his apparent goal is to avert the corporate-dominated future that his actions and inventions created. It is, however, unclear whether this is possible and what implications it may have for the unfolding timeline; it is presently unclear if future Alec has any memory of the events of 2013 since Kiera went to the past, although the fact that he appears to have been aware that Kiera would be in a position to meet himself—implanting certain codes and messages in her suit and CMR—along with his knowledge of the freelance time travelers that Kiera learned about during her time in the past, suggests that at least some version of the time-travel happened before.
It is established in the third season premiere that changing history is possible; when Alec travels back in time to the previous week to try and save his deceased girlfriend, the timeline he left begins to collapse as it now no longer has an Alec Sadler to become the corporate head of 2077 to send Liber8 and Keira into the past, requiring Kiera to be sent back to mitigate Alec's changes. As a result, there were two Alecs and two Kieras in the new timeline, but the Kiera of the new timeline is soon killed by a man from a different future created by Alec's actions, and the new Alec was killed in a fight with his other self at the conclusion of the third season. During the third season, a new timeline is revealed to have been created, but since this world is now approaching collapse in 2032 due to the machinations of Kellog, the rest of Liber8 decide to work with Keira against their former colleague. At the conclusion of the series, with most of Liber8 dead, Kellog is defeated when he is tricked into using a time machine programmed to take him back to pre-Columbian America, and Keira is able to return to 2077, finding herself in a new world where the elderly Alec Sadler remembers his time with her in 2012 and used her memory to inspire him to create a better world, although Kiera must accept that she cannot be reunited with her son because this world has a version of her in it already.
Series creator and executive producer Simon Barry confirmed that the creative staff established a set of "rules" for the version of time travel depicted, which was further explored as the series progressed.
Technology
Kiera traverses the time portal with her standard City Protection Service equipment: an advanced suit, handgun, multitool, and cybernetic enhancements. The following features are from what is shown, and sometimes explained, throughout the series.
The suit appears metallic, quite akin to an ordinary jumpsuit (i.e., it features a combined shirt and pants), with the following capabilities:
It enables enhanced strength.
It is very highly bullet- and fire-resistant.
It can trigger complete invisibility; it also has camouflage capabilities.
It has electric charge generation that can work as a close-contact taser incapacitating a person
It is capable of emitting a highly repulsive gauss-field that can deflect bullets in a larger area
It has advanced computer processing capabilities with built-in screens for data and function access in the wrists and front thighs. The wrists have thumb slots so that they can act like a touchscreen smart phone. The wrists can act as tasers as well as hack outdated technology from the past, such as ATMs, security cameras, and such.
The bulletproofing and invisibility are extended to the exposed parts of the body (head, hands and feet), likely by the field mentioned above.
The handgun takes the form of only a gun handle when not activated, but projects a barrel, finger guard and a holographic function display when activated. It has several different kinds of selectable ammunition (e.g., normal bullets, explosive bullets, various tracking beacons or darts). It appears that the gun never needs reloading so the ammunition is probably somehow generated or manufactured by the gun itself and it also has user identification so that it will emit a lethal charge to the user if he/she is unauthorized.
The multitool is a handheld device about as big as the gun handle. It can emit a particle spray that can almost instantly make any organic material (including fingerprints and bodies) visible and analyzable to Kiera's cybernetic sensor enhancements (or those of the suit) at least in a volume as large as a mid-sized room. It can also emit frequencies that can open electronic locks, appears to be capable of opening mechanical locks (the method is not clearly shown, the device is just touched to the lock) and has a medical injector that can apply various drugs (e.g. truth serum, stimulants and tranquilizers).
Kiera is cybernetically enhanced with visual implants that give her data directly overlaid on her visual field, sensors with functions that include biometric detection of close-by people (which can, for example, assist in determining whether a person is lying), other environmental metrics (e.g., precise measurement of various things around Kiera), heat detection and telescopic vision (can clearly see fingerprints on surfaces), and a memory implant that constantly records Kiera's sensory information (at least vision, hearing and smell are mentioned) so that she can recall any recent events with perfect clarity. Her sight and hearing can be live streamed in HD to people who have the tech capability and access. Additionally, when Kiera's suit is in proximity, she gains additional functionality, including complete personnel information on targets, and forensic data processing and computing. However it is not always clear whether a particular function is due to her implants, the suit, or the multitool. It is important to note that none of the enhancements are readily visible, so that Kiera appears as a perfectly normal woman of the twenty-first century.
Main characters
Rachel Nichols as City Protective Services (CPS) Protector Kiera Cameron, a law enforcement agent from 2077-era Vancouver who was sent back into the past with the members of Liber8 during their escape attempt at their execution. Cut off from her time period, she joins the Vancouver Police Department to pursue Liber8 and thwart their plans to alter the timeline using her new position in the police department and the technology that she brought with her. At the beginning of Season Three, Kiera travels back in time from a week in the future when Alec attempts to change history, but the changes to history result in the death of her 'past' self- referred to as "Green Kiera" in future- while the version of her from the original timeline (Known as "Red Kiera") remains. In the series finale, "Red Kiera" finally returns to 2077, albeit a different timeline than the one she originally came from, and sees yet another version of herself (though only from afar). She realizes she can never be with her son, but through motivation from Alec, she realizes she can at least love and experience him growing up from a distance.
Victor Webster as Vancouver Police Department (VPD) Detective Carlos Fonnegra, Kiera's partner with the present-day police; he learns the truth about her time-traveler status in the second season episode "Second Truths". Throughout the course of the second season, Fonnegra becomes disillusioned with the VPD's changing police procedures and is seen shaking hands with and joining Julian (Theseus) at the conclusion of the episode "Second Time" with colleague Betty Robertson; however, the timeline where he defected was erased due to Alec and Kiera's time-travel allowing them to undo the events that led to him losing faith in the system. He had some trouble dealing with the discovery of two Kieras when he learned about the time-travel, although he was still willing to conceal the body of "Green Kiera" even if he kept the body on ice to talk to her about his complex feelings. He was promoted to Inspector when Dillon moved on to work with Kellog after a suicidal attack by Sonya left him disfigured and crippled, working with Kiera to deal with the threat posed by the new time-travellers and Kellog's schemes. When "Red Kiera" finally is returned to 2077, she found that a park was commissioned and named in his memory.
Erik Knudsen as the young Alec Sadler. As a teenager, before he went on to found SadTech, Alec is reclusive and prefers to spend time in his computer lab; there, he is able to communicate with Kiera through her cybernetic implants, which he discovers to be based on his own inventions. As of the third season, there are two Alecs in the timeline: "Green Alec," who was initially only aware of the one timeline, and "Red Alec," who traveled back in time from a week in the future to save his girlfriend's life, distinguished from his "Green" self due to a scar on his left temple from where he was shot while preparing to use the time machine. Green Alec was eventually killed in a fight with Red Alec (after attempting to strangle him) when he proved to be too dangerous, his actions creating a new alternate timeline. After Kiera returned to her time, Alec worked with his new friends and allies to create a better world for her, with Kiera being reunited with the elderly Alec of 2077 upon her return, Alec showing her the bright new world they have created.
Stephen Lobo as Matthew Kellog, a former member of Liber8. Kellog deserts from the group in the first season and hopes to build a new and wealthy life for himself in the past using his knowledge of the future. His corporate machinations include tricking Alec out of his own company as he seeks to create his own legacy, but his arrogance and self-centredness lead him to a point where he even plans to betray his future self when he receives a message from the future. In the series finale, he double-crosses Red Kiera and Alec in an attempt to return to 2012 so that he can kill Liber8 and Kiera when they first arrive in this time and influence Alec himself, but as they expect that, they feed him fake coordinates and he is sent back in time to when the first humans appeared in North America. He is presumed killed by them or die of old age.
Roger Cross as Travis Verta, a member of Liber8 and super-soldier, Kagame's right-hand man and lover of Sonya Valentine. After Kagame's death, he was opposed to Valentine, Kagame's designated successor, seeking more violent methods and recruiting criminals into his version of Liber8. The two eventually reconciled. Travis is killed in a fight with Kiera in "Second Time," but his death is undone after the timeline is later altered. After Kellog makes him realize that unlike the others in Liber8, he won't be remembered for something noble, but rather as a killer and as the source of bio-military technology derived from his body, he dies sacrificing himself to save Carlos and the remaining police officers in the VPD from an explosion caused by the 2039 time traveler's replacement leader, taking said leader with him.
Lexa Doig as Sonya Valentine, a member of Liber8 and lover of Travis Verta who is designated Kagame's official successor as leader after his death, and now seeking to reform the world through ideas rather than violence, and recruiting middle and working-class people into her version of Liber8. She commits suicide in "The Dying Minute" while attempting to kill Dillon. (Regular Season 1–3)
Tony Amendola as Edouard Kagame, the leader and spokesman of Liber8; he sacrificed himself in the first season finale as part of a larger plan, with Liber8 donating funds to support his mother, who gives birth to him on the day his future self dies. (Regular Season 1, recurring afterward) In the new timeline, he works with Alec and Julian to build a new world, and he is shown as a more comfortable, casual man than his more ruthless "original" self. In the season finale, Kiera discovers that Kagame worked with Alec Sadler to build a new world.
Omari Newton as Lucas Ingram, a member of Liber8 and former SadTech engineer who was forced to defect to Liber8's cause. He is not a soldier, but his technical skills remain crucial to his colleagues in Liber8. He sided with Sonya during the Liber8 civil war. His mental status is questionable in recent developments of the conflict, and he was briefly committed to a psychiatric ward, although he later escaped after his mental state stabilized. After killing the original leader of the 2039 time travelers to save Red Kiera and Garza, he is shot and killed by Brad.
Luvia Petersen as Jasmine Garza, a soldier and member of Liber8. Garza is physically strong, agile, and lethal; but she has been damaged mentally by corporate imprisonment. She sided with Travis during the Liber8 civil war and claimed to become Travis' current lover. Garza also has a connection with elderly Alec: apparently she intended to serve as his "insurance policy" if his younger self seems to deviate from his plans, although as with everyone else, she doesn't know whether the purpose is to change Alec's path or to ensure it. She is killed when Kiera tried to escape the time-travelers' base, but is released by Kiera when she traveled back to counter Alec's changes. In the series finale, Curtis asks her why she is still fighting when Liber8 has already won, then asks if it's because she believes Red Kiera is the hope for a better future, much like why he fights, to which she implies that she agrees before leaving. She and Curtis are the only members of Liber8 to remain in 2015 at the end of the series.
Jennifer Spence as Vancouver Police Department Detective Betty Robertson, a colleague of Detective Fonnegra, who generally handles the computer side of their cases; she began to sympathize with Liber8's motives to the point of providing them with information, for which she is arrested and placed in ankle monitor surveillance when her connection to Liber8 is revealed. She is later killed by a mercenary working for Greypoint Security when she is close to discovering their illegal operations. (Regular Season 1–3)
Brian Markinson as Vancouver Police Department Inspector Jack Dillon, Carlos and Betty's superior officer; he respects Kiera's insights despite the mysteries of her past. The red tape and politics of police work, that see him joining Piron board of directors, disillusion him and set him down a dark path that alienates Carlos and Betty and even surprises Kiera. He was critically injured in an attempted murder-suicide by Sonya in "The Dying Minute". He is killed in the series finale as he attempts to stop Kellog from entering the portal to the future.
Ryan Robbins as Brad Tonkin, a time traveler from an alternate timeline in 2039 in which the Corporate Congress does not exist. He fires the fatal shot which kills Green Kiera with the help of Curtis Chen, after which he is hit by a van and wakes up in the hospital only remembering the name "Kiera Cameron". He recovers his memories thanks to a pharmaceutical treatment for Alzheimer's based on the future narcotic "Flash". He is later captured with Kiera by Liber8 and reveals the (potentially worse) future that Liber8 has created. Red Kiera eventually forgives him for her counterpart's murder, and he assists them in thwarting the attempted invasion from his future. In the season finale, he decides to build with the others the future as Kiera dream.(Recurring Season 3, Regular Season 4)
Recurring cast
Richard Harmon as Julian Randol, Alec's stepbrother in 2012. Later in his life, he will be known as Theseus, the founder of Liber8 and mentor to Edouard Kagame. He is hired by Alec in "Revolutions per Minute" to act as an adviser for public affairs. In the season finale, he chooses to build with the others the future as Kiera dream.
Gerry Nairn portrays the elderly Theseus in 2077.
Terry Chen as Curtis Chen, a follower of the traveler and former member of Liber8. In the episode "Second Wave" it is revealed that Chen is a member of the Freelancer cell from 2077. He is killed by Kiera's handgun's safeguard system but is later revived by the Freelancers from the 2012 cell in the episode "The Dying Minutes". As Curtis is being introduced to the cell from the 2012 timeline, he immediately points out that his revival is a violation. After he finds out the traveler is being held prisoner by the cell from this timeline, he kills Catherine and frees the traveler. He was originally believed to be the shooter who killed Green Kiera in the episode "Minute by Minute" and was then imprisoned by the Freelancers in "Waning Minute" but later escapes in the same episode. In "3 Minutes to Midnight", it is revealed that he was not responsible for Green Kiera's death but was working alongside someone who was : Brad Tonkin. In the season finale, he helps the Traveler to return at their time and stays in 2015 with Garza to build with the others, the future as Kiera dream.
Magda Apanowicz as Emily/Maya Hartwell, Alec's girlfriend. It is revealed in the second season episode "Second Degree" that she is working for Escher. She is killed by the Freelancers in pursuit of the time travel device in "Second Last." In the episode "Second Time," Alec travels back to one week prior to her death and successfully prevents it. In the modified timeline first revealed in "Minute by Minute," she murders Escher and then found herself caught in the paradoxical situation of two Alec Sadlers being in existence.
Ian Tracey as Jason Sadler, an alleged former employee of the same prison where Liber8 escaped from, thrown back in time to 1992 rather than 2012. His sanity is not quite intact from his prolonged time alone; he has hinted that he has learned that there are other time travelers, capable of going back and forth through time that are present in their current era, known as "Freelancers", but considering his mental state this information is regarded with questionable accuracy. In the third episode of the second season, "Second Thoughts", it is hinted that he is Marc Sadler (Alec's father). It is revealed in "Second Time" that he is Alec's son in 2077 instead and that he played a major role in sending Liber8 back in time. Starting in "Revolutions per Minute," he becomes a beta tester for Alec's "Halo" project and he recovers lucidity, but his mental health begins to deteriorate and in "3 Minutes to Midnight," he is responsible for attacking a random jogger and later he tries to kill Julian because of what he knows he will become.
William B. Davis as the elderly Alec Sadler in 2077. In the future, Alec founded SadTech in the later twenty-first century. He has risen to head one of the largest and most powerful corporations in the world, as its owner and CEO, his influence and technology dominate the North American Union. He was also a founding father of the Global Corporate Congress, and is currently Chairman of Superior Council. Alec is responsible for the presence of both Kiera and Liber8 in 2012; in season 2 it is suggested that he regrets having founded the corporate future world, due to all that has been lost to create it, and has set a plan in motion, with Kiera at the center, to change it – or perhaps ensure it. After a brief meeting between his past self and his "original" self, Kiera meets the elderly Alec of the new timeline she created when she returns to 2077, this Alec assuring her that her friends built a better world in her memory, albeit at the cost of this world having its own version of Kiera that will prevent her from ever being with her son again.
Nicholas Lea as Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) Agent Gardiner. He believes that Kiera is feeding information to Liber8 due to her anomalous background, although Kiera and Carlos mistakenly speculates that he may be the mole himself. Later, he and Kiera find a middle road when she asks him to help investigate the Freelancers. Gardiner is killed by the Freelancers for his efforts.
Hugh Dillon as Mr. Escher/Marc Sadler, ex-freelancer, CEO and chairman of Piron, Alec's father, and a shadowy figure with powerful connections, who appears to know something about Liber8 and Kiera's true origin. He has protected Kiera and seeks to form an alliance with her, however his true motives are as yet unclear. In "Second Time," he reveals himself to be Alec's father. In the modified timeline first revealed in "Minute by Minute," he is murdered by Emily.
Mike Dopud as Stefan Jaworski, a member of Liber8. He is the first of the Liber8 members to die in 2012 during a confrontation with Kiera and Carlos.
Tahmoh Penikett as Jim Martin, politician and Carlos' friend. He is secretly working with Liber8 in his quest to become Mayor of Vancouver. He commits suicide in "Minute Men".
John Reardon as Greg Cameron, Kiera's husband. He is a SadTech project leader, and Alec Sadler is his boss. He is primarily seen in Kiera's flashbacks to her life in 2077.
Sean Michael Kyer as Sam Cameron, Kiera's young son. Kiera's abrupt separation from him causes her a degree of psychological anxiety. He is primarily seen in Kiera's flashbacks to her life in 2077, and he serves as her primary motivation for wanting to return home.
Michael Rogers as Roland Randol, Julian's father and Alec's stepfather. Like his son, he is firmly against corporate leadership, but does not advocate violence to achieve Liber8's goals. He is killed in a police raid, when a sniper mistakes him for a hostile and shoots him.
Janet Kidder as Ann Sadler, Alec's mother and Julian's stepmother.
Adrian Holmes as Warren, one of the Freelancers. He was sent back in time along with Jason from 2077. He was killed in "The Dying Minute".
Zak Santiago as Miller, one of the Freelancers. He is killed in "The Dying Minute."
Rachael Crawford as Catherine, the leader of the freelancers. She is killed by Curtis in "The Dying Minute."
Caitlin Cromwell as Elena, Kiera's Protector partner in 2077. She is revealed to have traveled back in time to the year 1975. She and Kiera briefly reunite in 2012 only to see Elena die shortly after from old age, leaving Kiera deeply distraught.
Episodes
The show premiered on Showcase on May 27, 2012. The first season has 10 episodes. On August 25, 2012, Showcase renewed Continuum for a second season of 13 episodes which premiered on April 21, 2013 (Showcase) in Canada, May 23, 2013 (Syfy) in the UK and on June 7, 2013 (Syfy) in the US. On June 5, 2013, Continuum was officially renewed for a third season which premiered on March 16, 2014 on Showcase in Canada and April 4, 2014 on Syfy in the US.
During an interview in May 2014, Simon Barry revealed that he had 7 to 10 seasons in mind for Continuum. Showcase announced on December 8, 2014 that Continuum had been renewed for a fourth and final season of six episodes, which began airing September 4, 2015 on Showcase in Canada, and on September 11, 2015 on Syfy in the US. The series concluded on October 9, 2015.
Development
Series creator Simon Barry explains how the show was picked up by Showcase:
I had developed the idea for US networks (where I had been selling for several years, but not getting picked up) and before I got a chance to take Continuum out and pitch it, I was hired by CBS to write a different pilot. In the middle of that job, my director friend Pat Williams took a meeting at Showcase Network in Canada and called me in a panic because he didn't have anything to pitch. I gave him the idea for Continuum to pass on to the executives there. They immediately saw the potential and hired me to write a pilot script. Because it was first set up with Showcase, there was much more of an appetite for Sci-Fi and genre bending concepts. Showcase really understood what the show could be from day one.
Broadcast
The series premiered in the UK on September 27, 2012 on Syfy (UK), with season 2 returning on May 23, 2013, and season 3 on January 28, 2015.
The series premiered in the U.S. on January 14, 2013 on Syfy, with season 2 returning June 7, 2013, and season 3 on April 4, 2014.
The series premiered in Australia on SF on February 21, 2013, and returned for season 2 on October 3, 2013. Season 3 premiered on Syfy (Australia) (the replacement to the now defunct SF) on May 5, 2014.
In Canada, the series debuted in Canadian French on addikTV on November 6, 2013.
Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 67% approval rating for the first season, with an average rating of 7.3/10 based on 6 reviews. Reviewer Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times described the series as "slick" and highlighted its attention to detail. Reviewer David Hinckley of the New York Daily News compared Continuum positively to Life on Mars, another series with a time travelling police officer, and gave the show three stars out of five. According to Hinckley, the series has potential to do well, and if it "doesn't aim to soar, it executes the basics well".
Awards
On January 15, 2013, the day after the U.S. launch, the Canadian Screen Awards nominated Continuum for 5 Screenies: Best Drama Series, Writing, Direction, Music and Visual Effects. It won in the latter category. The show received a record 16 Leo Award nominations.
Other media
Zeros 2 Heroes Media Inc. has created an alternate reality game website, Continuum the Game.
The game site also includes a Comics section, featuring Continuum: The War Files, which is an eight part graphic novel that tells of the war going on in 2065, between the Corporations and Liber8. The comic was available only in Canada.
Rittenhouse released a trading card set based on the show in June 2014.
