We've got Bionic Woman casting updates and some words from star Michelle Ryan and producer David Eick. First off, great news for Katee Sackhoff fans: she's signed on for an additional five episodes, says the Hollywood Reporter. Her character Sarah was the prototype on which the protag Jamie Sommers is based after her own accident.  The question went down to the wire, but contract negotiations came through at last.

Over at IGN, actress Michelle Ryan waxed happily over her new role and how she came to wear the bionic shoes.  "I was filming a horror film with Faye Dunaway, a very low-budget British film, and I got the call saying would you like to audition? So I drove down, wrapped at 2:00 in the morning, drove down back to London, and put myself on tape. I didn't think anything of it, and then I got a call saying they'd love to fly you out to screen test. And I thought, oh, OK, great. I can go to L.A., hopefully sign with a good agent, and, you know, it would be good experience to go in a few meetings. And then, I went in and met David Eick and all the producers. And I got so excited because they were so enthusiastic about the project, and I just thought, 'Actually, I really want this now!' When you see, like, Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider and you see her sort of kicking ass, you're like, yeah, I want to be like that. I want to be strong, and I want to be confident and empowered. And I think that's a really great message that Bionic Woman will hopefully bring out there. ... I am a real tomboy, so I love the fact that I get to jump off things and throw myself around and be one of the guys. I think it's so fantastic that it's such a young, strong female lead."

Exec producer David Eick said the series "is not about cashing in on the history of the title. I think what's interesting about the old show is that that came about at a time when there was a great deal of discussion in the popular culture about equal rights for women; equal pay for equal work, women's lib. These were kind of in the zeitgeist and The Bionic Woman was the first television show where the female in the superhero show or in the action show was not the wife of or the girlfriend of or the mother of the guy. And the statement was very simple: 'See, women can do what men do.' And I don't think we're talking about that anymore, certainly not as much. I don't think there's much question about that. A lot of us are going to vote for a woman to be president. Certainly, as we sit in the rooms trying to get permission to do the stories we want, the people we're asking are women."