Tonight sees Syfy launch the third series of their television adaptation of 12 Monkeys, which is loosely based on the 1995 Bruce Willis film of the same name.
The series is set approximately 300 years in the future in a time where most of the world’s population has been wiped out by a man-made virus.
Much of the action in earlier episodes focused on James Cole as he set about using time travel to go back in time to kill the man that created the virus.
But over the course of the last two seasons, a much bigger plot has unravelled.
The first season introduced fans to the basics and by the end of it James, Cassandra and Jones managed to uncover a conspiracy dating back hundreds of years.
This involved a cult known as the 12 Monkeys who are set on destroying time or manipulating it to their own ends.
The second season introduced the Witness, which is universally worshiped by the Guardians of the 12 Monkeys as some sort of all-seeing all-knowing prophet.
We also learned that the Army of the 12 Monkeys were looking to take out primaries — people who are the cogs that time revolves around.
These primaries are easy to spot because they usually stand out in a crowd and are emotionally and psychologically unstable.
Some also have the gift of being able to see the changes in time, and can follow multiple timelines at once.
One such primary is Jennifer Goines who is played brilliantly by Emily Hampshire.
Over the last two seasons her role has become more and more important to the series and, from what we have seen of the third season, she has a very big role and some genuinely funny moments that fans can look forward to — several of which we’ll see in tonight’s first few episodes.
Season two left things very much in the air.
Jennifer Goines, James Cole and the team managed to rescue Jones’s daughter from imminent death, but in doing so made some rather drastic changes to the timeline. We also saw Cole end his relationship with Cassandra.
The ramifications of Cole and Cassandra getting jiggy in the Red Forest very much comes into play in the opening episode.
In fact the four episodes that fans will see tonight have a fair few big reveals and some pretty deep questions.
Tonight’s episode will also provide a genuine moment of heartbreak as we lose one of our series regulars.
Fans of Jennifer Goines will have a lot of good stuff to watch tonight. Especially in Episode 2.
Tonight’s four episodes will begin airing at 8/7c on Syfy.
So set your time machines.
12 Monkeys Season 3 starts tonight at 8/7c on Syfy with all episodes airing over the coming weekend.