It is logical that the popularity of Battlestar Galactica exploded in the mid-2000s, in the wake of the acclaimed SYFY original series directed by Ronald D. Moore. Moore’s show – an update of Glen Larson’s original 1978 concept that focused heavily on thematic weight, character development and realistic military science fiction – quickly became one of the most acclaimed series not just of his time, but of all time, which meant keeping up – the ups were inevitable.
In the years immediately following battle starThe 2003 premiere on SYFY, we have the prequel series Capricaspin-off web series Blood & Chrome, and even a few TV movies that expanded on various elements of the show’s mythology. We also talked a lot about a feature film adaptation of the franchise, and we’ve been talking about it ever since. While speaking about it, but not seeing this.
Yes, if you feel like you’ve heard of a Battlestar Galactica movie forever is because it’s been over 20 years since talk of a movie seriously started to surface. Now with x-men powerhouse Simon Kinberg has settled in as writer and producer on the project, the film feels closer than ever, but it didn’t always feel that way. So, with the movie on track at this point, let’s look back at the long development story of a Battlestar Galactica feature film.
Our story begins even before Moore’s battle star series took off, in 1999. This is the year that Larson and producer Todd Moyer (Wing Commander) announced plans for a new feature film adaptation of the franchise, which unfortunately never saw the light of day. Two years later, filmmaker Bryan Singer, fresh off the success of x-men, was set to direct a new television series based on the franchise that would serve as a continuation of Larson’s original show, a childhood favorite of the director. Singer was set to direct a pilot episode for the Fox Network and was just weeks away from filming when the 9/11 terrorist attacks happened. The network, fearing certain elements of the OSG plot would strike too close to home, decided to delay the project. The singer continued to do X2and the sequel series lay fallow until Moore’s own take on the material emerged two years later.
Flash forward eight years. The SYFY series was about to end its run as a major cable hit, and Universal Pictures was eager to deliver new battle star the material advances. So they contacted Larson and began negotiating a feature film deal for the first-ever big screen. Battlestar Galactica film. A few months later, Singer’s dream of making a OSG project seemed to come true when he signed on to lead the project.
If you followed entertainment news in the early 2010s, you know that in some fan circles, “Bryan Singer’s Battlestar Galacticawas a highly anticipated article on the web, and it remained so for quite a while, although Singer spent the next two years working on other projects like the ill-fated Jack the Giant Slayer. In 2011, the project advanced further when John Orloff (Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, A strong heart) signed on to script the project as another childhood fan of OSG who wanted to be involved in the franchise.
Despite the new writer’s enthusiasm, the project seemed to stall again when Singer returned to the x-men universe to do days of future past and, possibly, its follow-up, apocalypse. In 2014, reports on the project no longer included him as director, but the OSG film did get a new writer around this time. In April 2014, we learned that Transcendence writer Jack Paglen was set to script a “complete reimagining” of the story for Universal. Later that year, Larson, who was still engaged as a producer at this time, died. In 2016, producers Scott Stuber and Michael De Luca, and Dylan Clark were on board to oversee the project.
The new production team moved relatively quickly onto the next iteration of OSGwriting Westworld co-creator Lisa Joy to pen a new screenplay and Hunger Games – Catching Fire director Francis Lawrence as a potential new director. Flash forward two After years, and Universal brought in another writer, Jay Basu (The girl in the spider’s web) for what would have been a “rewrite” of Joy’s work.
This is where things get slightly complicated. While Universal Pictures was still developing the OSG movie, NBCUniversal’s new streaming service Peacock decided it was worth exploring another avenue for the franchise, and in 2019 drafted Mister Robot creator Sam Esmail to begin work on what he dubbed “a new story in mythology” and not a reboot of Ronald D. Moore’s 2003 series. A year later, the studio reaffirmed its commitment to a feature version simultaneously, when Kinberg was brought in as both screenwriter and producer on the film side.
So if you tally the dots, that makes five writers and two directors, to our knowledge, who worked on the battle star movie since 2009, and that’s just the short story. Where does this lead us now? Earlier this year, Kinberg teased that he was ready to pitch the film project to potential directors, although no one has signed on as of this writing, and the film could potentially ramp up as soon as possible. next year. Regarding the show, Kinberg noted that there was a “synergy” between her story and Esmail’s, but did not elaborate.
Right now that means if we’re lucky we might see not one, but of them new versions of Battlestar Galactica emerge in the coming years. So let’s all say!
Battlestar Galactica is streaming on Peacock.
