This is something that’s been the source of speculation for awhile, but now the speculating is over because ‘Babylon 5’ creator J. Michael Straczynski has announced plan to reboot the saga as a theatrical movie, which will hopefully launch a successful film franchise.
Speaking to the gathered masses at the recent San Diego Comic Con the legendary television producer revealed that he and his team were looking to try and begin production in 2016, which means they he would be looking to get the movies script locked down by the close of 2015.
At present next to nothing is known about this movie reboot other than the fact that it would be a brand new take on the premise, which so successfully saw the series run for five seasons during the 1990s.
Straczynsnki has been attempting to get this feature film in the works for several years, but it is only now that he can move forward with a plan without having to worry about his deal with Warner Bros Television, which restricted him from being able to produce a big budget theatrical movie.
As to if he would use any of the classic shows cast members the producer has gone on record for saying that he’d love to bring some of the television cast onto the film. Which means that if all goes well we could see Bruce Boxleitner and Mira Furlan in brand new roles, which I think would be totally awesome.
Straczynski has previously pitched at least three Babylon 5 feature films. The first was in 1996 and was to tell the story of The Telepath war; while the second, tentatively titled Babylon 5: The Motion Picture, told the story of President Sheridan investigating when the entire crew of a White Star are found dead. It was the third film pitch, The Memory of Shadows, which came closest to fruition in 2004/2005. The project fell apart, however, when funding for the film could not be secured.
The producer and writers most recent foray into television is the highly anticipated Netflix series ‘Sense8.’
I’m not sure what to make of this. It could either be a good or really bad thing.
For me what made the ‘Babylon 5’ series so good aside from the writing was the actors. I mean finding someone like Andreas Katsulas to play a similar role to G’Kar in the movie will be damn tough. He totally owned it and was compelling to watch. Hopefully it will work out.