From the land of cable television news comes an order for a new pilot and two action/drama series renewals.  Here they are in brief:

• TNT has officially ordered a pilot for Lumen, a fantasy drama about a family trapped in a fictional world replete with magic, mystery, and mayhem.  Joe Johnston (Captain America: The First Avenger) will direct from a Chris Black script.  Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television is among the production companies involved.
• Syfy has renewed the popular freshman series Dominion, as well as a third-season order for the fan-favorite sci-fi series Defiance.  Both seasons will enjoy a 13-episode run, and will premiere all-new hours starting in 2015.

Hit the jump for more on each series.

Here's the skinny on Lumen, which is expected to join TNT's adventurous Sunday night lineup (via Deadline):

Lumen centers on the famous author of a best-selling series of fantasy books who suddenly disappears, and a family of four finds themselves transported to the mystical alternate world that inspired her work. Once there, they are plunged into the middle of a war raging between rival magical forces, of light and darkness. Facing peril at every turn, the family must unravel a complicated mystery and uncover some astonishing secrets as they struggle to find their way home.

The following press release tells you all you need to know about Syfy's Defiance and Dominion renewals:

SYFY RENEWS DEFIANCE AND DOMINION FROM UNIVERSAL CABLE PRODUCTIONS

BOTH ORIGINAL DRAMAS SLATED TO RETURN IN 2015

NEW YORK – September 25, 2014 – Syfy today announced a third season for its original series Defiance, giving a 13-episode order to the action packed drama, and a second season for the epic supernatural thriller Dominion, which will also consist of 13 episodes.   Both series are produced by Universal Cable Productions and are slated to return with all-new episodes in 2015.

Kevin Murphy (Desperate Housewives, Caprica, Hellcats) will resume his role as executive producer and showrunner of Defiance while Vaun Wilmott (Sons of Anarchy) will continue to fill the same posts for Dominion.

Season to date, Dominion and Defiance are the top two cable programs in the Thursday 8-10pm time period among P25-54s.  With most current Live+7 data, both series are averaging 2.7 million total viewers, 1.2 million viewers 18-49 and 1.4 million viewers 25-54. Drawing an especially engaged social audience, Dominion was the most social drama on Thursdays across all of TV in tweets (15.4K) and tweets per unique (8.0).

Set in the near future, Defiance features an exotically transformed planet Earth, its landscapes permanently altered following the sudden – and tumultuous – arrival of seven unique alien races.  In this somewhat unknown and unpredictable landscape, the richly diverse, newly-formed civilization of humans and aliens must learn to co-exist peacefully.  Redefining the transmedia experience, Defiance has distinguished itself with an unprecedented partnership between Syfy and Trion Worlds, by creating the first-ever true convergence of television and online gaming.

Based on characters from the hit theatrical film Legion (2010), Dominion is an epic supernatural drama set in a transformed post–apocalyptic future, 25 years after an army of lower angels, assembled by the archangel Gabriel, waged a war of possession against mankind.  The archangel Michael, turning against his own kind, chose to side with humanity. Rising out of the ashes, are newly fortified cities which protect the human survivors. In Vega (formerly Las Vegas), the largest of these cities, two houses vie for control over the people and the stage is set for political upheaval and a dangerous power shift. Meanwhile, a rebellious young soldier begins a perilous journey as the war escalates between the human race and the angels that are hell-bent on destroying humanity.  Dominion is produced by Universal Cable Productions and Bold Films.