In a surprising and intriguing move Joseph Michael Straczynski the creator and showrunner
for the 90s science fiction series Babylon 5 is now rebooting his original creation which
is set to air on the CW network.
However there have been some significant changes at the network itself that have impacted production.
In this video I’d like to discuss the latest changes at the CW and how this has affected
the planned reboot.
News of a Babylon 5 series from its original creator Joseph Michael Straczynski first broke
September of 2021.
The new entry to the franchise is described as a from the ground up reboot.
Warner Bros is once again set to produce this new version with episodes airing on the CW.
Straczynski has clarified that he is not retelling the same story but rather going in the direction
of a reimagining like Westworld or Battlestar Galactica, where you take the evergreen elements
of the original series and put them in a blender with a ton of new challenging ideas to create
something fresh yet familiar.
This official premise of this new reboot revolves around John Sheridan, an Earthforce officer
with a mysterious background, who is assigned to Babylon 5, a five-mile-long space station
in neutral space, a port of call for travelers, smugglers, corporate explorers and alien diplomats
at a time of uneasy peace and the constant threat of war.
His arrival triggers a destiny beyond anything he could have imagined, as an exploratory
Earth company accidentally triggers a conflict with a civilization a million years ahead
of us, putting Sheridan and the rest of the B5 crew in the line of fire as the last, best
hope for the survival of the human race.
After the reboot was announced Straczynski noted how supportive and eager the CW network
was to see this show happen saying, the network understands the uniqueness of Babylon 5 and
is giving me a great deal of latitude with the storytelling.
If production went according to initial plans the series was headed for a late 2022 premiere.
However not long after this reboot was announced was the CW Network itself put up for sale
by WarnerMedia putting the future of this sci-fi reboot in a precarious position.
Recently Joseph Michael Straczynski addressed the current status of his Babylon 5 recreation
on his Patreon.
I’ll leave a link in the description below if you’d like to read his full statement.
He begins saying: Anyone who knows the history of Babylon 5 knows that the path of this show
has never been easy, and rarely proceeds in a straight line.
Apparently, that has not changed.
About a month or so ago it was announced that the CW Network, B5’s home for the last year
while the pilot script was in active development, was up for sale.
When news of this broke, the immediate question was: will this have any effect on B5?
He then stated that he had already heard from someone inside Warner Bros that confirmed
there were a number of High Level Conversations taking place regarding the CW to determine
how many pilots and what sort could be picked up during this transition, especially given
pre-existing deals and commitments.
Straczynski remained optimistic at the time.
Deadline Hollywood reported a few days later regarding the slate of pilot scripts ordered
for production by the CW and Babylon 5 was not on the list.
The Network has ordered pilots for the Supernatural prequel series The Winchesters, a Walker prequel
series called Walker: Independence, a new DC series called Gotham Knights and additional
scripts for the networks Zorro reimagining.
While Babylon 5 is renowned as top tier science fiction, it seems the youth oriented network
wants to play it safe by prioritizing Ips that have proven successful before like Supernatural
and Walker and those that have wide recognition like a Gotham and Zorro series.
Straczynski even said that, When a pilot script is not picked up to production, 99.999% of
the time, that’s the end of the road for the project, the script is dead.
However despite this all is not lost for Babylon 5.
Straczynski continued in his statement saying: I received a call from Mark Pedowitz, President
of The CW.
(I should mention that Mark is a great guy and a long-time fan of B5.
He worked for Warners when the show was first airing, and always made sure we got him copies
of the episodes before they aired because he didn’t want to wait to see what happened
next.)
Calling the pilot “a damned fine script,” he said he was taking the highly unusual step
of rolling the project and the pilot script into next year, keeping B5 in active development
while the dust settles on the sale of the CW.
So as of right now the B5 reboot is still in active development at the CW and Warner
Bros and expected to air sometime around fall of 2023.
Many fans have already expressed concern not so much with the idea of a reboot itself but
rather with the CWs involvement.
Considering it’s for sale at all serves only to further validate those concerns with
whether or not the network can do their part to make sure this new entry to this beloved
franchise is a success.
However Straczynski was confident before in the network’s creative support and it seems
from these comments that his hopes were not misplaced.
He concluded his remarks by saying that the road to Babylon 5 has never been easy.
But the good news to come out of today is that the road is still very much intact.
For myself, I feel it's far too early to get excited about this potential project.
While the CW has put out content in the past I’ve thoroughly enjoyed such as Superman
and Lois, the entirety of Smallville and the early seasons of Flash and Arrow.
They’ve also produced several lackluster series recently that have been poorly received
no doubt contributing to the reasons that the network needed to be sold.
I’d feel much better about this reboot if I knew of the involvement of other key figures
from the original series.
I don’t think I’m alone in saying that it would be wonderful to see Bruce Boxleitner
have a role similar to the late Richard Hatch in Ronald D. Moore’s reimagined Battlestar
Galactica series.
With Boxleitner’s latest return to scifi in the Orville season 3, I would think there’s
reason for hope that he might be open to take on a role in this new Babylon 5 series.
But I’m curious to know what you think about the Babylon 5 reboot.
Are you optimistic about this project or do you have reservations regarding whether or
not the series can be successfully remade.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.
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