Commander Adama is a fictional character in the 1978 movie and subsequent ABC television series Battlestar Galactica and its continuation series, Galactica 1980. Adama is the commander of the great military vessel Battlestar Galactica, commander of the refugee fleet, and military commander of the evacuees of the Twelve Colonies. He is also the spiritual leader of the surviving colonists, leading the quest for Earth. Adama was played by Canadian actor Lorne Greene of Bonanza fame. In the 2004 re-imagined series a similar character, named William Adama and nicknamed "Husker", commands the Galactica. William Adama is portrayed by actor Edward James Olmos. Adama's family and origins Adama is a native of the planet Caprica, which is where he graduated from the military academy of "The Colonial Service." In a novelization based on an episode of the series, an excerpt from an entry in his journals says that he served aboard the battlestar Cerberus in his younger years and that he named his son Apollo after a friend who died fighting the Cylons. Adama was married to Ila. The two had a sea-side house on a hill on the planet of Caprica. However, Adama spent most of his married life in space fighting the Cylons, leaving Ila behind on Caprica. They had three children: Their oldest son, Apollo (Richard Hatch), a Captain and fighter pilot stationed aboard the Galactica; Their only daughter, Athena (Maren Jensen), a Lieutenant who served in the "Core Command" bridge crew of the Galactica and was also a fighter pilot and a teacher; and Their youngest son, Zac (Rick Springfield), a fighter pilot, who was killed in the battle that left the Galactica the only surviving battlestar. Both Adama's wife Ila and, as mentioned above, his youngest son Lieutenant Zac were killed in the Cylon attack on the Twelve Colonies that caused the Colonies to lose the war. Soon after the destruction of the Twelve Colonies, Apollo married Serina (Jane Seymour) near the planet Kobol, thereby making Adama step-grandfather of Boxey (Noah Hathaway). Serina died on Kobol when a Cylon Centurion shot her to death. Adama considers Starbuck (Dirk Benedict), who is an orphan, a member of his family. Battlestar Galactica (1978 series) Adama is central to the story arc of the series, and in some ways the saga revolves around him. He flew alongside his Executive Officer, Colonel Tigh, in their younger days, and later served with