Brian J. Smith cast in Red Faction TV movie

Stargate Universe actor Brian J. Smith will play the lead role in a new Syfy Channel original movie, Show Patrol reports and Syfy has confirmed in a press release today.  Smith has been cast as Jake Mason in Red Faction: Origins, which begins production this week in Bulgaria.

The movie is based on the THQ video game franchise Red Faction, which first debuted in 2001.  The story is set in the 22nd century, where Smith’s character fights to save the Martian colonies from a threat that wants to take control of the planet.  Here’s how the network describes the story:

Twenty five years have passed since Alec Mason led the Martian Colonies to freedom … and ten years since vengeful enemies killed his wife, kidnapped his daughter Lyra, and left a broken hero in their wake.

Jake Mason, Alec’s last surviving son and a ranger in the Red Faction Militia, had never abandoned hope that somewhere in the raw outlands of Mars, his sister was still alive. Now, just as a powerful new enemy swarms across the planet, he’s found her, only to learn that his long lost sister is one of them … a cold blooded soldier sworn to destroy the Red Faction and conquer the planet in the name of a madman.

Jake must now battle the relentless regime and somehow reunite a family torn apart by war.

The movie is set between the events of the Red Faction Guerilla video game and the upcoming Red Faction Armageddon, the latter of which is set for a March release on the PS3, Xbox 360, and Windows PC.

Smith plays Lt. Matthew Scott on Syfy’s Stargate Universe, which wraps up its second season this spring.

Robert Patrick (The X-Files, and Stargate Atlantis‘s Colonel Marshall Sumner) co-stars as Jake’s father, Alec.  And Tamzin Merchant (The Tudors) will play Jake’s sister.  Kate Verson (Battlestar Galactica), Gareth David-Lloyd (Torchwood), Danielle Nicolet (The Starter Wife), and Devon Graye (Dexter) will also star.

Red Faction: Origins is directed by Michael Nankin (Battlestar Galactica, Caprica), and scripted by Andrew Kreisber (Warehouse 13, Fringe).  Syfy will air the movie this May, alongside the release of Armageddon.