Reelz to Broadcast Canadian Thriller Series XIII

This is apparently old news, first reported in the press months ago, but is new to us.

Reelz — a cable station we confess having never heard of before — has acquired the Canadian original thriller series XIII to air later this year here in the US.

Based on the graphic novels written by Jean Van Hamme and illustrated by William Vance, the series features a character known only a XIII — from a tattoo on his chest — an amnesiac, who seeks to discover his concealed past.

The first season of the series originally aired on the Canadian cable channel Showcase in Spring 2011; you can see a promotional trailer from last year below. A second season is currently in production.

XIII stars Stuart Townsend as the titular character, a skilled and lethal secret agent who escapes from an Eastern European Rendition Camp with a surgically altered face and an identity handed to him by a mysterious stranger.

Recruited to a secret organization committed to bringing down the United States Government, XIII has no memory of his past, how he was trained or why. Hunted by a dark anti-government organization, he quickly realizes that the closer he gets to uncovering the riddle, the more complex and deadly the mission becomes.

While living through an ever-evolving government conspiracy, XIII's quest is to discover his true identity at any cost.