Kevin Murphy, the former showrunner of the short-lived genre series Reaper, has landed a role as an executive producer with the Battlestar Galactica spin-off Caprica.

“As a rabid Battlestar Galactica fan, it’s hard not to go in that writers room and not just grin ridiculously,” Murphy told Variety. “These are the people who made the best TV show ever. To be able to be a part of the legacy of that show, I’d be willing to pay them for that.”

Caprica is set over 50 years before the events of Battlestar Galactica, and chronicles the birth of the Cylon race through the eyes of two families – the Adamas and the Graystones – after they both suffer at the hands of a terrorist attack. Murphy joins Ron Moore, David Eick, Jane Espenson and Remi Aubuchon on the executive producer slate for the show, which is set to begin airing its first season after a successful direct-to-DVD pilot sale earlier in the year, in January 2010.