The Sci-Fi Channel has renewed, to no great surprise, Battlestar Galactica for a fourth season, ordering a minimum of 13 hour-long eps of the Vancouver-shot hit series, with plans to shoot this summer.

The fourth go-round will air on the U.S. cable channel in January 2008 and, if recent history is any indication, not long after on Space.

Sci-Fi moved the series to Sunday nights during its third season, scoring an across-the-board boost in ratings.

‘We’re thrilled to bring Battlestar back for another season,’ said Sci-Fi exec Mark Stern, in a release, noting that the series has ‘delivered on every level — from the writing to the acting to the production values.’

The series shoots at Vancouver Film Studios, following space-faring humans on the run from the evil, robotic Cylons. It won a Peabody Award in 2006 and has been nominated for five Emmys. It is exec produced by Ronald D. Moore and David Eick.