Jaime Sommers (Bionic Woman) - Character Origin

Character Origin

In 1972 the speculative fiction novel Cyborg was published by Martin Caidin. The book was later adapted into a television movie in 1973, and later into a television series from 1974–1978, with the title The Six Million Dollar Man. A multi-episode arc of the show introduced the character of Jaime Sommers (played by Lindsay Wagner), a woman who received bionic implants after a near-fatal accident much like Steve Austin in The Six Million Dollar Man (Sommers was a new character created for television; she did not originate in Caidin's novels and thus was considered the creation of writer Kenneth Johnson). The episode arc received very high ratings which led the producers to create a spin-off series produced by Johnson, with Lindsay Wagner reprising the role of Jaime Sommers as the star of the show. Although Caidin was not involved in the creation of the character, the fact the spin-off series used his concept of bionics as well as featured several characters that Caidin did create, he received a credit on the series.

The re-imagined series Bionic Woman, conceived and produced by David Eick, alters the character of the bionic woman, starring Michelle Ryan as a re-imagined and more contemporary Jaime Sommers. Neither Johnson, nor Caidin receive screen credit in this version.