NBC announced today that Oscar winner Mira Sorvino (Mighty Aphrodite) will star in the network's upcoming miniseries The Last Templar. Sorvino will star as Tess Chaykin, a Manhattan archaeologist who is drawn into a fast-paced, romantic adventure concerning the lost secrets of the medieval Knights Templar. The miniseries will also feature Victor Garber (Alias) as Monsignor De Angelis, who steps in to help with the investigation to retrieve the lost artifact.

The start of production for The Last Templar based on Raymond Khoury's best-selling novel, will begin in April. The four-hour miniseries will be shot on location in both Montreal and Morocco.

Muse Entertainment Enterprises is producing the miniseries. Paolo Barzman (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Emotional Arithmetic) will direct the script written by Khoury and revised by Suzette Couture. Emmy Award-winning television impresario Robert Halmi Sr. (Tin Man, The Lion in Winter, Gulliver's Travels), Robert Halmi, Jr. (The Poseidon Adventure, The Christmas Card), and Michael Prupas (Human Trafficking, Durham County) will executive-produce the miniseries.

Irene Litinsky (Human Trafficking, The Wool Cap) will serve as producer. Global TV will broadcast in Canada, and RHI Entertainment and Powercorp will distribute the project worldwide.

The Last Templar opens with the fall of the Latin Kingdom's reign in the Holy Land in Acre in 1291. As the burning city falls to the Sultan's forces, a lone galley escapes out to sea, carrying a young knight from the historic order of the Knights Templar, Martin of Carmaux, his mentor Aimard of Villiers, and a mysterious chest entrusted to them by the Order's dying Grand Master.
But the ship never reaches its destination.

Later, in present-day New York, Chaykin (Sorvino) witnesses four masked horsemen, dressed as Templar Knights, who storm into the Metropolitan Museum, scattering Manhattan society gathered for the gala opening night of an exhibition of Vatican treasures. She watches in silent terror as the leader of the horsemen hones in on one piece in particular -- a strange-geared device that he grabs as he disappears into Central Park.

As the horsemen's dead bodies start turning up -- and the importance of the stolen device becomes more apparent -- Tess and FBI Agent Sean Reilly are drawn into the dark, hidden history of the crusading Knights, and of the last surviving Templars' fateful journey from Acre. The pair is soon propelled into a dangerous adventure that takes them through the cemeteries and sewers of Manhattan, across continents to desolate Turkish highlands, to a violent storm on the Mediterranean that shipwrecks them onto a remote Greek island -- and into the very heart of an incredible Vatican secret.

Sorvino, who won the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her performance in Mighty Aphrodite in 1995, first attracted attention for her early work in such feature films as Barcelona, Quiz Show and Beautiful Girls. Most recently, Sorvino starred in Terry George's Reservation Road. Her television movies include her Golden Globe-nominated role in Human Trafficking (which was also produced by Muse and RHI Entertainment-formerly Hallmark Entertainment) and starring roles in Norma Jean & Marilyn and The Great Gatsby.

The six-time Emmy Award-nominated Garber is best known for the role of Jack Bristow in the series Alias. His other credits have included Ugly Betty and Will & Grace. His film credits include Titanic, Legally Blonde and Tuck Everlasting.