"Terra Nova" is picking up a big name, at least for those familiar with premium cable shows.

Rod Hallett is joining the Fox series as Dr. Malcolm Wallace, a man Deadline.com says will become a nemesis of sorts to Jason O'Mara's Jim Shannon.

It's not that Wallace is a bad guy. Just that both he and Shannon are after the same woman, Elisabeth, played by Shelley Conn (despite the fact that Shannon already is married to her).

Hallett will take on a regular role in the series when it premieres on Mondays next fall on Fox. Hallett has quickly worked his way up the acting ladder beginning with "Home and Away" in 1998 and moving on to other shows such as "Doctors" and "EastEnders."

He really broke through in 2008 for the Showtime series "The Tudors" playing Richard Rich over nearly 20 episodes until the show ended production last year. Hallett most recently played Mac in the British crime drama mystery "The Silence," which has nothing to do with those forgettable aliens from "Doctor Who."

"Terra Nova" is a high-budget, huge gamble by Fox, hoping to capture some of the genre magic it's barely holding onto with fading shows such as "Fringe." It's executive produced by Steven Spielberg and Peter Chernin, and will be run by "Star Trek: Voyager" alum Brannon Braga.

The show was said to be experiencing some cost overruns early on, and had to give up on a spring preview premiere on Fox after much of the special effects were not completed in time.

"Terra Nova" takes teams of humans back to prehistoric times where they are trying to start anew, despite the presence of dinosaurs and the like. It will air ahead of "House," which moves to 9 p.m. ET in the fall.