Rachel Nichols gets caught in the 'Continuum'

"Continuum," the story of a time-travelling cop from the future who comes back to 2012, is already a hit in Canada. Now Syfy is giving U.S. audiences a chance to check out the action, airing the series Monday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

"I've had such a response from people all over the world from the show coming out, and especially people in the States saying for so long, 'When is it going to be in the States? We don’t want to steal it, or burn it, or take it off the Internet. We really want to see it," says Rachel Nichols, who stars as Kiera Cameron. "Now everybody's getting their wish, including my parents who didn't have cable until a couple days ago when they realized they were going to have to buy it in order to see me."

In "Continuum," Kiera, a dedicated City Protective Services officer from 2077, is time traveled back to 2012 when a group of fanatical terrorists escapes their planned execution in the future by vaulting back. Just before the jump, Kiera notices something is up and gets swept back along with them.

"I like to carry guns and kick butt, and I get to do a lot of that when I'm a law enforcement officer, whether from the present or the future," says Nichols, whose previous action roles include "G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra," "Alias" and "The Inside." "I think there’s something really strong and sexy about those female roles and there aren't necessarily a lot of those around."

Once Kiera realizes she is in 2012, she gets some unexpected assistance from teen tech genius Alec Sadler ( Erik Knudsen) -- who she also knows in the future. With Alec's help, Kiera infiltrates the local police department and forms an uneasy alliance with her new partner, detective Carlos Fonnegra (Victor Webster). Though desperate to get back to her husband and son, Kiera concentrates on bringing down the terrorists before they change the course of history.

"I do love the scenes where I get the opportunity to be a huge dork, like the Bluetooth scene where I think I'm wearing the coolest thing ever and Carlos basically tells me that I'm a nerd," Nichols says. "There's an episode where it becomes obvious that I've never seen a horse in real life before. For those things, I need [Executive Producer] Simon [Barry] to tell me, 'Remember, you've never seen this before.' I definitely rely on Simon for everyday stuff, for everything that's in 2012 that I have never experienced before in 2077."

Check out "Continuum" when it airs Monday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Syfy.