quote:

A “Babylon 5” reboot is in development at The CW, Variety has learned.

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.

The new iteration of the sci-fi series is described as a “from-the-ground-up reboot.” In the series, John Sheridan, an Earthforce officer with a mysterious background, 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.

Sheridan was played by Bruce Boxleitner in the original series, with the ensemble cast also including Claudia Christian, Jerry Doyle, Mira Furlan, and Richard Briggs. At this time, none of the original series stars are attached to the project.

The original “Babylon 5” ran in syndication and on TNT for five seasons, 110 episodes, and seven TV movies, including the 1993 pilot film. The show is considered one of the best sci-fi series ever made by many critics and won numerous awards throughout its run, including two Hugo Awards and a Saturn Award.

Straczynski followed up “Babylon 5” with the TNT spinoff series “Crusade.” The “Babylon 5” franchise also includes novels, short stories, and comic books.

Straczynski’s other work includes the Netflix series “Sense8,” which he co-created and showran along with the Wachowskis. His feature writing credits include the Angelina Jolie-led drama “Changeling,” the action-thriller “Ninja Assassin,” the story for the first “Thor” film, and the story for “World War Z.” He is also an accomplished comic book writer, having worked for DC and Marvel. He is head of the creative council for a new comics publishing company, Artists, Writers and Artisans (AWA).

Straczynski is repped by A3 Artists Agency and Gendler-Kelly.

quote:

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. The network understands the uniqueness of Babylon 5 and is giving me a great deal of latitude with the storytelling.

As noted in the announcement, this is a reboot from the ground up rather than a continuation, for several reasons. Heraclitus wrote “You cannot step in the same river twice, for the river has changed, and you have changed.” In the years since B5, I’ve done a ton of other TV shows and movies, adding an equal number of tools to my toolbox, all of which I can bring to bear on one singular question: if I were creating Babylon 5 today, for the first time, knowing what I now know as a writer, what would it look like? How would it use all the storytelling tools and technological resources available in 2021 that were not on hand then?

How can it be used to reflect the world in which we live, and the questions we are asking and confronting every day? Fans regularly point out how prescient the show was and is of our current world; it would be fun to take a shot at looking further down the road. So we will not be retelling the same story in the same way because of what Heraclitus said about the river. There would be no fun and no surprises. Better to go the way of Westworld or Battlestar Galactica where you take the original elements that are evergreens and 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.

How do you telling continuing story of our original Londo without the original Vir? Or G’Kar? How do you tell Sheridan’s story without Delenn? Or the story of B5 without Franklin? Garibaldi? Zack?

The original Babylon 5 was ridiculously innovative: the first to use CGI to create ships and characters, and among the very first to shoot widescreen with a vigorous 5.1 mix. Most of all, for the first time, Babylon 5 introduced viewers accustomed to episodic television to the concept of a five-year arc with a pre-planned beginning, middle and end…creating a brand new paradigm for television storytelling that has subsequently become the norm. That tradition for innovation will continue in this new iteration, and I hope to create additional new forms of storytelling that will further push the television medium to the edge of what’s possible.

Let me conclude by just saying how supportive and enthusiastic everyone at the CW has been and is being with this project. They understand the unique position Babylon 5 occupies both in television and with its legions of fans, and are doing everything they can to ensure the maximum in creative freedom, a new story that will bring in new viewers while honoring all that has come before.

Onward!

quote:

Originally posted by redstone:
Which Babylon disappeared? did they ever resolve that?

quote:

Originally posted by DrewR:
I loved B5 when it first ran and I recently re-watched it with my wife (who had not seen it before) and I was reminded how much I enjoyed it, I will give this reboot a try if it happens but I do not hold out much hope given how much Hollywood has let us down these last decades.

quote:

Originally posted by Dwill104:
I don’t have high hopes for this, and don’t know of anyone who wanted a reboot. What most people wanted was the original episodes redone in HD with better effects, not a reboot.

quote:

I guess they are trying to do what the BSG reboot did, but the problem with that is that B5 already had a long complex story arc and was somewhat dark and gritty, which are the main things the BSG reboot brought over the original series.

quote:

I see this as ending up being more of a rewokening and overt political commentary on current politics, than any real improvement.