‘Babylon 5’ is Being Rebooted by J. Michael Straczynski for The CW
Babylon 5 – the beloved sci-fi show from the 1990s – is coming back with its original creator at the helm.
The show had a familiar underlying idea to it – a plethora of alien races and humans trying to co-exist on a space station (the Babylon 5 – a hub for diplomatic and trade meetings). Its plots were darker and focused on complex conflicts that wove into a larger story; and its multifaceted characters that evolved as the story moved forward. It was ground breaking.
Love it or hate it, Babylon 5 changed television with its use of tech and pre-planned story arc that tossed out the endless story of the week approach that was that was the standard at the time. You can see its influence in nearly every TV series out right now – whether it’s sci-fi or not. It ran for five seasons starting in 1993 and spawned several direct to TV movies to supplement the main story before it wrapped in 1998.
A new, reimagined series is on the way according to Variety:
Original series creator J. Michael Straczynski is onboard to write the project. He will also executive producer under his Studio JMS banner. Warner Bros. Television, which produced the original series, will produce the reboot. Straczynski took to Twitter to give fans a better idea of what he’s doing with the reboot.
To answer all the questions, yes, it’s true, Babylon 5 is in active development as a series for the CW. We have some serious fans over at the network, and they’re eager to see this show happen. I’m hip deep into writing the pilot now, and will be running the series upon pickup.
— J. Michael Straczynski (@straczynski) September 27, 2021
The creator wanted to make it clear that this is a reboot with all new actors, not another spin off. The new show will be taking changes in the real world into account (including Straczynski’s extra decades of writing experience) and bringing in more ideas and influences.
— put them in a blender with a ton of new, challenging ideas, to create something fresh yet familiar. To those asking why not just do a continuation, for a network series like this, it can’t be done because over half our cast are still stubbornly on the other side of the Rim.
— J. Michael Straczynski (@straczynski) September 27, 2021
This format gives room to update the story and expand it for a new audience, but I’m hoping they go for new characters that can stand on their own. Recasting favorite characters can be dangerous. Andreas Katsulas is G’Kar and Peter Jurasik is Londo Mollari – it’s going to be hard for long time fans to separate the actors from the iconic characters they created. This isn’t like James Bond of Batman that can handle new actors’ interpretations. We’ll have to see what they go with.
What are your hopes for the reboot?
via Babylonian Productions
