Check out the poster for Syfy's '12 Monkeys'

Syfy’s 12 Monkeys adaptation may sound similar to the original 1995 film starring Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt, but the new series aims to shake things up.

The drama stars Nikita’s Aaron Stanford as a time traveler from a decimated future, who journeys back to present day in a bid to locate and eradicate the source of a deadly plague that will pretty much annihilate the human race.

“We were all very, very big fans of the original film and had a deep love and respect for that material, so we didn’t want to just redo what the movie does,” executive producer Natalie Chaidez says. “So, while the series shares a lot of the same overall themes of the movie, it is in fact a reimagining and we changed the rules.”

12 Monkeys will debut Friday, Jan. 16 at 9 p.m. ET.