From Chicago Tribune

First of all, Sci Fi batted down a rumor that emerged from a “Battlestar” panel at a convention over the weekend. The rumor was that the show’s last batch of episodes might not arrive until April 2009.

Not so. The target date for Season 4.5 is still January, the network told Sci Fi Wire. Pretty please — let that date be set in stone. I am not sure I could wait four more months for the final batch of “Battlestar” goodness. It already feels as though January is an eternity away.

Spoilers below!

Also, the second “Battlestar Galactica” TV movie begins shooting on Monday in Vancouver. When the existence of the movie was finally confirmed by Sci Fi a few weeks back, the network noted that Edward James Olmos (Admiral Adama), Michael Trucco (Sam Anders), Aaron Douglas (Chief Tyrol) and Dean Stockwell (Brother Cavil) would appear in it. Olmos is also directing the film, which is Cylon-centric.

But I got to wondering — who else is in it? A source close to the production said we can also count on seeing a host of actors who play Cylons on the show: Tricia Helfer (No. 6), Grace Park (Boomer/Athena), Rick Worthy (Simon), Matthew Bennett (Doral) and Callum Keith Rennie (Leoben).
Helfer (for more on her click here) certainly has a full dance card: She’s playing a mysterious spy handler on “Burn Notice,” which returns with its last two summer episodes Sept. 11, and she also landed a role in a mid-season Fox pilot, “Inseparable.” (At left, Katee Sackhoff, Mary McDonnell, “Battlestar” executive producer Ron Moore and Helfer).

It’s a bit of a bummer to learn that Saul Tigh (Michael Hogan), perhaps the show’s most compelling Cylon, doesn’t have a big role in the new film, which will air some time after the show’s season finale. My source says that Tigh and a fellow Cylon, Tory Foster (Rekha Sharma), are in the film, but “not as much.” In convention footage posted at Galactica Sitrep, Olmos indicates that Chief Tyrol has a good-sized role in the film.