Production is set to begin this spring in Vancouver on CBC and Sundance TV’s eight-part miniseries Unspeakable.

Chronicling the tainted blood scandal in Canada in the 1980s, the drama has added Sarah Wayne Callies (Colony, The Walking Dead, pictured), Shawn Doyle (Bellevue, Big Love), Michael Shanks (Stargate SG-1, Saving Hope) and Camille Sullivan (The Disappearance, The Man in the High Castle) to lead the series.

The project, created by Stargate SG-1 writer and exec producer Robert C. Cooper, is based on first-person experience as well as two non-fiction books: Vic Parsons’ Bad Blood and Andre Picard’s The Gift of Death.

Unspeakable is produced by Mezo Entertainment, with Cooper and Meridian Artists’ Glenn Cockburn serving as executive producers. Cooper and Callies will direct the series, which is penned by Cooper, Carl Binder, Adriana Capozzi and Lynn Coady.

The miniseries will premiere on CBC in Canada and Sundance TV in the U.S. No air date has yet been announced.

AMC Studios is handling worldwide distribution outside of Canada.