NBC and Peacock drop BATTLESTAR GALACTICA reboot reboot plans

After several years in development hell, NBC and Peacock have abandoned their plans to reboot the Battlestar Galactica reboot.

Back in September 2019, NBC tapped Sam Esmail, the creative force behind Mr. Robot, to develop a fresh take on the Battlestar Galactica franchise for their Peacock streaming service. The franchise had been created by Glen A. Larson and aired a single, huge-budgeted season on ABC in 1978, opening to enormous ratings but shedding them by season's end to be cancelled. A spin-off show, Galactica 1980, aired a single, critically-derided half-season in 1980 before being likewise cancelled.

Ronald D. Moore and David Eick resurrected the show with a grittier reboot in 2003, informed by the War on Terror and the Iraq War. The show ran for four seasons and two spin-off TV movies, concluding in 2010. A further straight-to-DVD movie followed in 2013, and a spin-off show, Caprica, aired a single season in 2010-11. This reboot, produced by NBC for the Sci-Fi Channel (later SyFy), was vastly more acclaimed, winning a Peabody and a Hugo Award.

Despite Esmail's high profile, the project struggled to get off the ground, possibly because Esmail only wanted to write and produce, leaving day-to-day showrunning duties to another producer. Michael Lesslie initially took on the project, only to later depart. Derek Simonds came on board in January 2024 in what appears now to have been a last-ditch effort to save the project.

Confusingly, Lesslie and Esmail made competing statements, the former stating the new show would be a fresh reboot of the premise and Esmail saying the new show would exist within the 2003 show's continuity. In January 2022, Universal announced that the new show would exist alongside a fresh feature film take on the franchise, to be written by X-Men screenwriter Simon Kinberg.

Now NBC have confirmed they are terminating their involvement in the project. No reason was given, but it was likely the long gestation time and expense (albeit minor so far) spent on going nowhere, Esmail not having the same profile and clout that he did back in 2019 when the project was getting off the ground, and the considerably more hostile streaming climate, with Peacock not performing as well as it could have done.

Universal are now shopping the project to other potentially interested parties

New BATTLESTAR GALACTICA movie and TV projects will be set in a "shared universe"

Two new Battlestar Galactica reboots are currently in the works at NBC/Peacock and Universal. The first is a new television series, to be co-written and produced by Sam Esmail (Mr. Robot) and showrun by Michael Lesslie (the Assassin's Creed movie). The second is a feature film, to be written by Simon Kinberg (X-Men: Dark Phoenix).

It was already a confused situation, with Esmail stating that the new TV show will share continuity with the Ronald D. Moore iteration of the series, with Moore reading the pilot script and giving his blessing to the project. However, Lesslie disagreed, describing the show as a total reboot of the premise. Lesslie subsequently departed the project and no replacement has been named.

At first the movie was also described a total reboot of the premise, but in a fresh interview with Collider, Kinberg has now claimed that the film will occupy a "shared universe" with Esmail's iteration, and is "working closely" with him on the project. Whether that means both movie and TV show will be set in the RDM version of the story and will be heavily related (sharing actors and characters), or one will be a prequel to the other, or the two are in a shared universe but aren't related to the RDM spin of the idea, is completely unclear.

It is also entirely possible that "shared universe" and "continuity" have simply now become Hollywood buzzwords which people say even though they're not technically correct.

Battlestar Galactica's premise is compelling but limited: a race of robots known as the Cylons destroy the Twelve Colonies, twelve planets inhabited by humans in an unclear time period. The surviving humans band together under the last surviving major warship, the battlestar (combined carrier/battleship) Galactica, in a ragtag, fugitive fleet and run across the galaxy in search of the fabled and legendary "Thirteenth Colony," Earth. In 1978 Glen A. Larson wrote and produced a first version of the franchise which was very popular, but cripplingly expensive and cancelled after one season (as was a terrible, low-budget spinoff, Galactica 1980, which saw the fleet arriving at contemporary Earth). In 2003, Ronald D. Moore created a total reboot of the premise which ran for four seasons on SyFy, winning multiple Hugo and Peabody Awards and becoming one of the most critically feted shows on television. The show was well-received for most of its run, but ended on a highly controversial, divisive note. This iteration of the franchise spun off a prequel series, Caprica, which was cancelled after one season, and a further pilot for another series, Blood & Chrome, which did not proceed to series. There have also been successful video and board games based on this version of the series.

The decision to reboot BSG again, whether in a new continuity or not, has also received a mixed reaction. The Ronald D. Moore version of the story, despite its flaws, is widely regarded as definitive. Given the tonal disparity between the two early versions of the premise (a cheesy space opera and a more psychologically convincing, post-9/11 mediation on the ethics of war and terrorism), it's unclear what a third version of the story can do that has already not been done.

The creative talent involved has also been criticised; Esmail is a superb writer and director, but he has made it clear he will be relatively hands-off on the series and is more setting it up before heading off to other projects (dismaying those who only though the project promising because of his involvement). Lesslie's only credit of note was a failed video game adaptation, and Kinberg has arguably only worked on two decent projects (X-Men: Days of Future Past, although that was a collaboration with the much better Jane Goldman, and as a writer on Star Wars: Rebels), with almost all of his other work being disastrously awful, most recently the terrible Apple+ series Invasion and a series of dud comic book movies for Fox, including X-Men: Apocalypse, Fantastic Four and Dark Phoenix (a second missed bite of that cherry, since he also made a hash of the same idea in X-Men: The Last Stand).

According to Kinberg, they still haven't found a director for the Battlestar Galactica movie, so don't hold your breath on that one. The TV show has several scripts completed and is apparently ready to move forward, but pre-production has not formally begun yet and a series order has not been given, suggesting further development is required. They also need to find a new showrunner to replace Lesslie, assuming Esmail is still not keen on taking up that role himself.

Sam Esmail adds to BATTLESTAR GALACTICA 3.0 confusion

Producer Sam Esmail has taken part in a video interview with Collider about the upcoming new Battlestar Galactica TV show, on which he is working as an executive producer.

This new project has been described by Esmail as a continuation, or at least set in the same universe, as Ronald D. Moore's Battlestar Galactica, the second version of the franchise which ran from 2003-09 and spawned two spin-off projects (prequel series Caprica and prequel TV movie Blood & Chrome). He reiterates in the new interview that he spoke to Moore (currently helming both Starz's Outlander and Apple+'s For All Mankind) and got his blessing for the project.

However, the new show's actual head writer and showrunner Michael Lesslie, has previously indicated that the new show will be a fresh reboot/remake of the original premise, something which NBC's publicity seems to have agreed with.

Although there is scope for further exploration of Moore's BSG iteration, it would probably not involve the titular Galactica starship herself and might involve a fairly deep dive of the mythology behind the show. It is unclear if NBC would be interested in a reboot of the show which did not involve the "classic" elements of the series, such as Viper fighters, Cylons and characters such as Adama, Apollo, Starbuck and Baltar.

NBC's parent company, Universal, are also simultaneously developing a totally fresh, ground-up movie version of Battlestar Galactica with X-Men movie ruiner Simon Kinberg and Planet of the Apes reboot mastermind Dylan Clark and it's unclear if they would want two versions of the same story airing simultaneously. It's also unclear if they'd want two different universes/takes on the same story going on at the same time, maybe feeling that might get confusing. However, it's not unprecedented, with both Netflix and Constantin Films developing two different takes on the Resident Evil franchise in different continuities, with both projects now greenlit and in pre-production.

The third TV iteration of Battlestar Galactica is currently in the planning stages and is due to debut on Peacock, NBC's new streaming service, in 2022 or 2023. Esmail hopes to start shooting the series this year, but notes that may not be possible due to various delays stemming from the global pandemic.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA 3.0 gets its showrunner, confirmed to be another remake

The third TV version of Battlestar Galactica (fourth if you count Galactica 1980 as a separate thing, which you probably shouldn't) is heading to the screen with a new showrunner appointed.

Michael Lesslie (AMC's The Little Drummer Girl, MacBeth, Assassin's Creed) has been tapped to take the lead as writer, co-creator and showrunner on the project. Sam Esmail (Mr. Robot) is serving as co-creator, writer and executive producer, and may direct the first episode. However, it sounds like Esmail's role may be more in launching the project and then stepping back, which will probably dismay those who were only interested in the project because of Esmail's involvement.

The new Battlestar Galactica was originally touted as not a reboot or reimagining, but instead as a new chapter in the universe created by Ronald D. Moore for the 2003-09 SyFy series. Indeed, Esmail called Moore to get his blessing to develop the idea before taking it to NBC. However, in today's statement, Lesslie says the new series will pay tribute to both Moore and the original 1978-80 series created and run by Glen A. Larson. The press release also says it will be set in a "reimagined world," suggesting it will offer a new, fresh take on the franchise.

The news will likely not go down well among fans of either Battlestar iteration, perhaps feeling that between the bright and optimistic original take on the idea and Moore's much darker, grittier iteration, there really isn't anywhere else to take the premise. We will see as it the idea develops further.

The third Battlestar Galactica will launch on NBC's streaming service, Peacock, with a production schedule to be decided once the pandemic has ended.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA reboot to be rebooted, for some reason

The Battlestar Galactica reboot is getting a reboot, because that's how things work now.

NBC has tapped Sam Esmail, the creative genius behind Mr. Robot, to take charge of a third iteration of the Battlestar Galactica franchise. The series will spearhead NBC Universal's new streaming service, which has the decidedly underwhelming name of "Peacock."

Battlestar Galactica was created by Glen A. Larson and aired as a single season on ABC in 1978-79, followed by a half-season, mid-season replacement sequel series called Galactica 1980, which is best being never watched or remembered. The original Battlestar was quite popular, but the absolutely titanic budget for the series prevented it from continuing.

In 2003 the Sci-Fi Channel, as it was then called, rebooted the show with Ronald D. Moore as executive producer and showrunner. The rebooted Galactica was a darker, moodier affair, much-informed by 9/11 and the War on Terror. With its low-fi aesthetics (no lasers, cute kids or robot dogs) and gritty attitude, the show won a whole new legion of fans as well as widespread critical acclaim, including Hugo and Peabody awards and multiple Emmy Awards in technical categories. The New York Times declared it one of the twenty best shows of the 21st century so far - a peer of The Wire, The Americans and Breaking Bad - just a few months ago.

Battlestar Galactica 2.0 concluded in 2009 with a highly divisive finale - one arguably even more polarising than Game of Thrones' or Lost's - before following it up with an unsuccessful spin-off show, Caprica, and a one-off TV movie, Blood and Chrome, in 2013. This iteration of the franchise has continued to be developed in video games, such as the excellent Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock, and a well-received board game and new miniatures game.

News that a third version of the show is in development has already been met with scepticism. The original 1978 version of the show was promising but cheesy, so the idea of rebooting it was quite valid and Moore more than delivered on the promise inherent in the premise, even if he didn't quite stick the landing. The question arises what a third version of the same idea could deliver.

The one interesting thing about the idea is the creative talent involved. Previously, X-Men director Bryan Singer had been attached to a film reboot (for the second time, having previously worked on a TV version in the late 1990s and early 2000s that was superseded by Moore's), which would have been the wrong medium. Sam Esmail is also a genuinely provocative and talented writer and director, whose Mr. Robot (which concludes with its fourth season early next year) is one of the best shows currently airing. Esmail's take on BSG could be very interesting, although it remains to be seen what he could bring to the table that is genuinely different. Certainly Ronald D. Moore seems intrigued by the idea, and has given Esmail his blessing to develop a fresh take on the franchise.

Battlestar Galactica 3.0 remains in development, but if NBC pull the trigger it will likely be fast-tracked to debut next year.

UPDATE: Sam Esmail has taken to Twitter to confirm that the new show will not be a reboot of Moore's version of the show, but will instead "explore a new story in the mythology whilst remaining true to the spirit of Battlestar. What this means precisely remains to be seen, but it may be an indication that the new show could be set within the Moore continuity but in a previously unseen time frame, such as the original exodus from Kobol to the Twelve Colonies, or the settling of the Thirteenth Colony. More information as we get it.

MR. ROBOT to conclude with its fourth season

The USA Network has confirmed that the fourth season of Mr. Robot will be the last. The season is currently shooting and is expected to debut in early 2019.

Mr. Robot began airing in 2015, with its first season airing tremendous critical acclaim. The second season met a cooler reception, but Season 3 (which I have still to watch) was praised as a return to form. The show was renewed for an 8-episode fourth season a few months ago with a view for a short fifth season to follow, but creator-producer Sam Esmail decided that it made more sense to finish the story as soon as possible. Season 4 has therefore been extended to 12 episodes to found off the story.

The news makes sense as the talent involved in the show has started finding itself in demand elsewhere. Sam Esmail is executive producing Homecoming, a new psychological thriller starring Julia Roberts, which is set to launch on Amazon TV in November. Star Rami Malek is also picking up advance positive noises for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury in the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody and is already in demand for other projects.

Mr. Robot's final season is due to air in early 2019.

Mr Robot: Season 2

Fsociety has carried out the biggest hack in history, bringing E-Corp to its knees. But the world economy is crumbling as well, sparking a crisis. Whilst Fsociety plans its next move, E-Corp sees an opportunity in the chaos to consolidate its own power. Whilst all this is happening, Elliot has gone off the grid, living a simple life without a computer in sight...but still troubled by the memories of his dead father.

At one point in the Season 2 finale of Game of Thrones, the character of Stannis Baratheon says of an enemy after he has shown his hand, "He has played his little trick and he can only play it once." At the end of Season 1 of Mr Robot the show's creator, writer and main director Sam Esmail unveiled the mother of all plot twists on his audience, one worthy of The Sixth Sense and Fight Club. It was handled well and (in retrospect) foreshadowed expertly. But, just as M. Night Shyamalan found out in his latter career, you can only really do that kind of thing once or twice before it risks getting stale, as the audience tunes in to find out what trick you're going to play next rather than focus on the character or story, and the lengths you go to one-up yourself get increasingly ludicrous and, before you know it, the psycho trees have shown up.

Esmail makes exactly that kind of mistake in the opening episode of the second season. He plays another trick on the audience and this is not made fully clear until more than halfway through the season. It's well-done and entertaining, but it's a clever gag that really should have been revealed at the end of the first episode (by which time it's already pretty clear what's going on). Dragging it out for half the season damages the show's already languid pacing and makes you wonder if the director-producer is a bit too pleased with himself for coming up with a second twist idea. It's all a bit tiresome and the pacing and structure of the second season is completely shot to hell as a result. The fact this is a longer season (12 hours rather than 10, although the first episode is double-length) doesn't help with that issue either.

Fortunately, the show survives. Whilst the Elliot storyline goes on an extended trip to tedium for the first half of the season (enlivened only by an amusing experimental episode which recasts Elliot and his friends in a 1980s sitcom, complete with studio laughter track and a guest appearance by ALF), the rest of the characters pick up the slack. His sister Darlene (Carly Chaikin) takes over Fsociety and has to orchestrate their moves as they try to follow up on success of the hack but face problems from their erstwhile Chinese allies in the Dark Army. Angela (a superlative performance from Portia Doubleday) has been hired by E-Corp and ingratiates herself with its ruthless CEO, Philip Price, whilst working with Darlene to help bring the company down from the inside. Joanna Wellick (a devastatingly intense turn by Stephanie Corneliussen) is hunting for her missing husband and will let absolutely nothing stand in her way. Particularly impressive is new character Dominique DiPerro (Grace Gummer), who starts off as a fairly generic FBI character but rapidly gains added dimensions and depth as the season progresses, as well as a couple of excellent action scenes (shot in Esmail's typically off-kilter style).

It's this accumulation of more interesting secondary characters and storylines which really keeps the show's head above water until Elliot's storyline re-synchronises with the rest of the cast and things can move forward (Elliot even sits out an entire episode and I didn't realise it until after it was over). I wouldn't say that erstwhile star Rami Malek is wasted in these opening episodes - his performance is absolutely outstanding, as normal - but once you realise his storyline is designed to keep him on ice for half the season it does feel a bit pointless. But once Elliot is back in the game the pacing and intensity of the show kicks up a notch and the last few episodes of the season are excellent, once you get over your annoyance when you realise that after 12 episodes we really haven't moved very far from the end of Season 1 at all.

As with Season 1, the characterisation is subtle and clever, the soundtrack is utterly outstanding (bonus points for the well-judged, tactical deployment of Depeche Mode) and the unusual direction makes this possibly the most visually distinctive show on television. This is almost a remarkable work of art but it also strays into being cold and unwelcoming, more concerned with narrative trickery and holding the audience at arm's length lest they rumble the show's secrets. This is a show that is very easy to admire for its aesthetics but it's definitely a hard show to love. For the upcoming third season the show really needs to make up its mind on what story it wants to tell and dial back on the self-indulgence before it disappears up its own posterior.

The second season of Mr. Robot (***½) is available now on Blu-Ray (UK, USA) and DVD (UK, USA).

Mr Robot: Season 1

Elliot Alderson is an IT technician who suffers from anxiety and depression. At night he hacks other people on the internet, sometimes just for something to do, sometimes to help them. His skills are called upon when he is recruited by the enigmatic "Mr. Robot" into a hacker's collective, Fsociety, which plans to bring down E-Corp (which Elliot nicknames "Evil Corp") and erase all of society's debt as a way of freeing it from control by the banks and governments.

Mr. Robot is an intriguing show. Created and developed by idiosyncratic film-maker Sam Esmail, its premise sounds deeply boring. In actuality, it's one of the best-directed, visually distinctive shows of the last few years, with a layered, complex and fascinating plot related through some extraordinary performances. There's nothing quite else out there like it in terms of it having its own unique feel and atmosphere, save maybe the first season of True Detective and both (so far) of Fargo, although it's a very different kind of series.

The series is rooted in the character of Elliot. Elliot is a massively atypical protagonist. He is nervous, anxious, socially awkward and suffering from a range of anxiety and depressive issues. He is a brilliant hacker and technician, but his ability to work with other people is limited. He also has boundary issues and finds it hard to relate to people around him. It's a tremendously powerful and nuanced performance by Rami Malek, who sells this awkward and damaged human being with total conviction and utter skill.

The actors around him are just as good: Christian Slater is very good as Mr. Robot (who doesn't appear that often but gives a nervous, edgy and intense performance when he does) but one of the other stand-outs is Portia Doubleday as Angela, Elliot's best friend, who starts off feeling like a disposable side-character but rapidly becomes an integral figure as she is blackmailed by a different hacking group and inadvertently ends up ascending the hallways of corporate power. Her character arc is unexpected and brilliantly developed. Frankie Shaw also gives a charismatic performance as Shayla, Elliot's drug-dealing neighbour who starts off as a bit of a cliche but very rapidly becomes a compelling character. Martin Wallstrom also gives a blisteringly intense, offbeat and bizarre performance as Tyrell Wellick, the corporate super-executive who is very much Elliot's mirror image but uses his brilliance for much darker ends.

The direction is intriguingly different, putting characters in the corners of the screen to make them feel crushed by the space around them, reflecting the magnitudes of the tasks they face. The musical score is atmospheric and sparse and the story developers with pace and verve over the course of the ten episodes in the first season. Up until around the sixth or seventh episode, I was convinced that the first season of Mr. Robot was going to supplant the first season of Fargo as my favourite season of television this decade.

Then it all goes off the rails.

Not completely or fatally, but in the last couple of episodes of the season Esmail puts an explosive device under the storyline you thought you were watching and blows it to pieces. Rarely have I seen a show that was so bold as to completely rewrite what you thought you were watching and start telling a new story. It's conceptually brilliant, artistically brave and, from a creative writing standpoint, very impressive. The problem is that this paradigm shift really only benefits a few characters (Angela and Darlene, most notably) but it has a huge detrimental affect on Elliot, who becomes much more difficult to read and sympathise with as a character as a result. There's also a similar shift (if for different reasons) for Tyrell, who becomes flat-out loathsome and utterly repugnant. Then there's the fact that this shift completely shunts the Fsociety hacking storyline, which dominates most of the season, to one side. It feels like the audience's emotional investment in the characters and storylines is short-changed by it being revealed that so much of what we thought was going on wasn't right.

Some people may disagree, and certainly the blanket acclaim levelled on the show - even the bitty and highly unsatisfying semi-cliffhanger finale - shows that it works for many. But for me it leaves Season 2 with a lot of work to do to redeem that final twist and make it work.

Mr. Robot's first season (****) is certainly worth watching for its fantastic acting, directing and atmosphere, not to mention its unusually accurate depiction of hacking, and for its superb character development. The way the season ends is also startling, shocking and fascinating, but also divisive. The season is available now on Blu-Ray (UK, USA) and DVD (UK, USA).