TGIF Feature: Meet the cast of 'Almost Paradise' filmed in the Philippines

From left: Christian Kane, Arthur Acuna and Samantha Richelle star in 'Almost Paradise.'

The Philippines and Filipino actors are going to be introduced to US audiences in the new adventure series Almost Paradise, which will debut Monday, March 30.

Starring Christian Kane (The Librarians), who plays Alex Walker, a former US DEA agent who has been forced into early retirement.

He chooses to retire in Cebu, the Philippines, a tropical paradise with the requisite palm trees, blue waters and palm trees. (Picture Hawaii before it became a tourist mecca.) The show also introduces Filipino actors Samantha Richelle and Arthur Acuña as costars.

Richelle plays Kai Mendoza, the youngest person ever to make detective in the Cebu police force. She’s a woman to be reckoned with who has worked tirelessly to get where she is and must constantly fight to prove herself. When Alex enters the picture, Kai views him as an entitled know-it-all, but as they grow closer, they realize their commonalities. Acuña stars as Ernesto Almares, Kai’s partner and the soul of the law-enforcement team. Buencamino plays Ike Ocampo, chief of the Cebu Police Department, and Quesada is Cory, the manager of the hotel where Alex is staying.

The synopsis: Wagner was once the DEA’s most resourceful undercover operative. The combination of his partner’s betrayal and a life-threatening battle with hypertension has sent him as far from the madness as he can go… a small tropical island in the Philippine Archipelago. He now runs the gift shop at the island’s luxury resort hotel, gets his disability payments at the nearby US Air Force base, and generally manages his transition from Jason Bourne to Jimmy Buffett. BUT, the island’s luxury resorts attract rich, powerful, and sometimes criminal elite from around the world, often on a collision course with Alex. Despite his best efforts to begin a tranquil new life, he’s pulled back into a world of dangerous people and deadly situations, either through his friends in the local police department or running into people from his old life. And the problem is: he likes it.

The beautiful tropical setting of the island of Cebu will play an important role, according to Filipino American executive producer Dean Devlin, who is better known for his big-budget spectaculars filled with special effects (Godzilla, Independence Day and the Stargate franchise). 

“We’re trying to show the Philippines to people from the United States and around the world in a way that they’ve never seen before,” said Devlin.

Almost Paradise airs on WGN America, Mondays at 10 p.m. EST/PST. Check here for local channels.