J. Michael Straczysnki Says Babylon 5 Reboot Is Coming
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- August 7, 2014
By James DeRuvo (doddleNEWS)
Comic-Con wouldn’t the same without science fiction writer J. Michael Straczysnki having to field questions about the fate of his 90′s syndicated television series Babylon 5. And what usually followed was a diatribe complaining about how Warner Brothers treated his series like a middle child and that, without complete control, there was little point in talking about a new chapter. But with two series, and a handful of movies-of-the-week, could Babylon 5 be primed for a reboot? Straczysnki is usually apoplectic about such a possibility. But not anymore, as it seems that there may be a feature film coming that will reboot the entire thing.
Well, of course they’ll be a reboot. They’re all the rage now. Being able to mine established fan bases and to blow the dust off of old TV shows has never been more popular. It started with Battlestar Galactica, which the SyFy channel and producer Ronald D. Moore re-birthed with tremendous success. Then came Star Trek with J.J. Abrams. Christopher Nolan‘s Batman Trilogy. Zack Snyder‘s Superman reboot. And the list just keeps on growing as just about every studio executive is looking to put a new coat of paint on an old property.
J. Michael Straczysnki
Straczysnki has been busy with his new streaming series on Netflix called Sense8, which he’s filming with the Wachowskis. So it’s anyone’s guess when a feature will be coming. But according to TVWise, JMS wisely held on to the feature film rights to the idea, and since he was the man who wrote every single episode of the series, who better to write the reboot?
Straczynski reportedly plans to have a script written by the end of 2015, with filming to begin the year after. So we probably wouldn’t see a Babylon 5 movie in theaters until at least 2017 or later. And that would be a good thing, since the next two or three years is going to be cinematic carnage as studios will be vying for box office receipts with high profile, big budget event films like Batman vs. Superman, Star Wars Episode VII plus its sequels and spin-offs, and the Avengers: Age of Ultron. It’s going to be relentless. So for Straczynski to take his time is a good thing.
Straczynski would also like to cast some of the original members of the TV cast in new roles, although both Richard Biggs and Andreas Katsulas have since passed away. Does that mean we would see a reboot or a next generation hand-off like what is rumored with Star Wars: Episode VII? It really comes down to how Straczynski can run down the estimated $100 million he’s looking to spend on the film. Can a Kickstarter raise that much? This isn’t Veronica Mars, but avid fanbases do epic things. And since there’s a video game project that has crowd sourced close to $50 million, it’s not out of the realm of possibility. So who knows?
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