The SCI FI Channel mini-series Riverworld, based upon the Hugo Award-winning books of author Philip José Farmer, will begin shooting in Vancouver April 2.

Stuart Gillard (Charmed) will direct for veteran producer Robert Halmi.

Located millennia in the future, the 'Riverworld' is an Earth-like planet whose surface has been terraformed to consist of one long river-valley, with an average depth of 1.5 miles, shallow near the shore then plunging to enormous depths towards the channel. The banks expand into wide plains then climb into jagged hills before a sheerly impenetrable mountain ridge, taller than the Himalayas. While the valley averages 9 miles in width, the river is 20 million miles long.

The story begins when the whole of humanity, from the first homo sapiens to people of the 21st century are simultaneously 'resurrected' along the banks of the river. Everyone awakens in a body equivalent to that of their twenty-five year old selves, except in perfect health and free of any previous genetic or acquired defects.

Robert Halmi, who celebrated his 85th birthday on January 22, is busy ramping up a slate of miniseries. In addition to Riverworld, he has two other projects for SCI FI Channel that have been greenlighted for production: The Phantom, and Alice, a contemporary retelling of "Alice in Wonderland." Halmi also has a couple of minis in development at ABC, including Planet Earth Conspiracy, a globe-spanning drama tackling climate change, and a possible adaptation of "The Grapes of Wrath."