# Trancers (film series)

Trancers is an American action-science fiction film series started in 1984 by Empire Pictures, and continued by Full Moon Features. All but the most recent film star Tim Thomerson as Jack Deth, with the latest using stock footage from previous films.
The series consists of six feature films, one short film and two comic book miniseries.

## Plot

Jack Deth is a cop in the 23rd century who travels back in time to 1985 to attempt to stop the creation of Trancers, an army of zombie-like humans for the first three movies. In films 4 and 5, an accident in the time machine causes Deth to be transported to a parallel world, the Land of Orpheus, to continue the fight against Trancers.

## Films

| Film | Director | Writer(s) | Producer(s) |
| Trancers (1984) | Charles Band | Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo | Charles Band |
| Trancers: City of Lost Angels (segment of Pulse Pounders) (1988) | Charles Band | Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo | Charles Band |
| Trancers II: The Return of Jack Deth (1991) | Charles Band | Charles Band (story) and Jackson Barr | Charles Band |
| Trancers III: Deth Lives (1992) | C. Courtney Joyner | C. Courtney Joyner | Albert Band |
| Trancers 4: Jack of Swords (1994) | David Nutter | Peter David | Oana Paunescu and Vlad Paunescu |
| Trancers 5: Sudden Deth (1994) | David Nutter | Peter David | Oana Paunescu and Vlad Paunescu |
| Trancers 6 (2002) | Jay Woelfel | C. Courtney Joyner | Johnnie J. Young |

## Cast and characters

   * This table shows the principal characters and the actors who have portrayed them throughout the franchise.
   * A dark grey cell indicates the character was not in the film, or that the character's presence in the film has not yet been announced.
   * A $^C$ indicates a cameo appearance.
   * A $^P$ indicates an appearance in onscreen photographs only.
   * A $^A$ indicates an appearance in archival footage only.
   * A $^U$ indicates an uncredited role.
   * A $^V$ indicates a voice-only role.
   * A $^Y$ indicates a younger version of the role.
| Character | Trancers | Pulse Pounders Trancers: City of Lost Angels | Trancers II: The Return of Jack Deth | Trancers III: Deth Lives | Trancers 4: Jack of Swords | Trancers 5: Sudden Deth | Trancers 6 |
| Character | 1984 | 1988, 2013 | 1991 | 1992 | 1994 | 1994 | 2002 |
| Jack Deth | Tim Thomerson | Tim Thomerson | Tim Thomerson | Tim Thomerson | Tim Thomerson | Tim Thomerson | Tim ThomersonZette Sullivan (as Jo Deth) |
| Leena Deth | Helen Hunt | Helen Hunt | Helen Hunt | Helen Hunt | | | Helen Hunt |
| Cmdr. Ruth "Ruthie" Raines | Telma Hopkins | Telma Hopkins | Telma Hopkins | Telma Hopkins | Mentioned | | |
| Police Commissioner "Little" "Baby" McNulty I | Alyson Croft | Alyson Croft | Alyson Croft | | | | |
| Police Commissioner McNulty II | Art LaFleur | Art LaFleur | Art LaFleur | Mentioned | | | |
| Hap Ashby | Biff Manard | | Biff Manard | Mentioned | | | |
| Detective "Whistler" Weisling | Michael Stefani | | | | | | |
| Santa Claus | Pete Schrum | | | | | | |
| The Warden | | Grace Zabriskie | | | | | |
| Edlin Shock | | Velvet Rhodes | | | | | |
| E.D. Wardo | | | Richard Lynch | | | | |
| Alice Stillwell-Deth | Mentioned | | Megan Ward | Megan Ward | Mentioned | Mentioned | |
| Harris | | | | Stephen Macht | Stephen Macht | Stephen Macht | |
| Shark | | | | R. A. Mihailoff | Mentioned | | |
| Colonel Daddy Muthuh | | | | Andrew Robinson | | | |
| R.J. | | | | Melanie Smith | | | |
| Josephine "Jo Deth" Forrest | | | | Samantha Jordan | | | Zette Sullivan |
| Lyra | | | | | Stacie Randall | Stacie Randall | |
| Prospero | | | | | Ty Miller | Ty Miller | |
| Shaleen | | | | | Terri Ivens | Terri Ivens | |
| Lucius | | | | | Mark Arnold | Mark Arnold | |
| Lord Caliban | | | | | Clabe Hartley | Clabe Hartley | |
| Farr | | | | | Alan Oppenheimer | Alan Oppenheimer | |
| Harson | | | | | Jeff Moldovan | Jeff Moldovan | |
| Tessa | | | | | Rona Hartner | Rona Hartner | |
| Angelo | | | | | Ion Haiduc | Ion Haiduc | |
| Shauna Wilder | | | | | | | Jennifer Capo |
| Dr. Paul Malvern | | | | | | | Robert Donavan |
| Mr. Castle | | | | | | | Ben Bar |

## Comic books

* In 1991, Eternity Comics released Trancers: The Adventures of Jack Deth, a two-issue miniseries which featured the tagline "All new adventures based on two hit films!"
* In 2015, Action Lab Comics released Full Moon Presents: Trancers, a three-issue miniseries.

## Future

Despite the ending of Trancers 6 teasing additional sequels, plans were seemingly abandoned after the critical failure of the film. In 2009, Tim Thomerson revealed he was in early talks to return for one final Trancers film. This project never materialized.
In 2023, Charles Band stated in an interview with JoBlo.com that Full Moon had several ideas for reboots and remakes for their franchises, including Trancers, which he hoped to bring back with a TV show on a streaming service.