Exclusive: Pandora Casts Manu Bennett and Charisma Carpenter in Key Roles

Manu Bennett (Arrow, Spartacus, The Hobbit Trilogy) and Charisma Carpenter (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Veronica Mars) have been cast on The CW's sci-fi series, Pandora. In the series, both Bennett and Carpenter play characters who sound like they're, if not villains, at least villain-adjacent. That, of course, i snot a terrible idea, since casting familiar faces and beloved character actors in villainous roles gives the audience a built-in sense of empathy for the bad guy that can make them feel more complex and sympathetic with relatively little screen time given to their actual abckstories. You can check out the series trailer above and their official character descriptions below.

According to The CW, Manu Bennett will play Leone Vokk, an intergalactic bounty hunter sent by the malevolent Parallax Corporation to capture Jax (Priscilla Quintana) and gain the secret of portal technology. But Vokk will need to face off against Jax's allies, who will sacrifice anything to protect their friend.

Meanwhile, Charisma Carpenter will play a mysterious woman named Laura, who might have all the answers to Jax's questions about her origins, but who also might be Jax's most dangerous enemy yet.

Set in the year 2199, Pandora is a sci-fi action series about a resourceful young woman who has lost everything but finds a new life at Earth's Space Training Academy where she and her friends learn to defend the galaxy from threats, both alien and human. When secrets about the nature of her own identity begin to surface, she must uncover the truth, and whether she will be humanity's savior or the instrument of its destruction. The series is executive produced by Mark A. Altman ("Castle," "The Librarians"), Steve Kriozere ("NCIS," "Necessary Roughness"), Thomas P. Vitale, Karine Martin, and Chris Philip and produced by Radioactive Fishtank, Vital Signs Entertainment and Starlings Television.

airs on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW, and viewers can catch up any time on the free CW App.