Since the CW announced its fall lineup showing mostly reality-based programs, fans of Babylon 5 grew concerned the series had been scrapped. Before the sale of the CW the show was expected to have already premiered on the network. Now though the new owners of the CW has passed on the show and Warner Bros. Discovery are looking for a new home.
The reboot series was originally announced in September 2021 with J. Michael Straczynski writing the pilot episode as well as running the series. A lot has happened since then with the sale of the CW, the writer’s strike, and more, all having a major impact on the show.
Now the creator J. Michael Straczynski speaking to Inverse has given an update on the future of the show.
“It’s just been a matter of time and obstacles. We were going to go with the CW originally, then Warner got it back. Then, we were going to take it out and to the market, but then the Discovery purchase happened and that put us on ice for a while. Then, okay, that got all cleared up. And then the strike hits. After that, right as they were literally prepared to send it out the door, the rumor about a merger between Warner and Paramount happened. So, finally, it went out to buyers about two weeks ago. We’re waiting on word from those who have been sent the pilot script. One has said no, but the rest are all still in process. There’s interest from the rest of them. So, we will see where it goes.”
This is great news for fans of the show. Babylon 5 also recently had a straight to DVD and streaming animated movie that reportedly did well. This has helped push for the show to find a new home on a new network or streaming service.
J. Michael Straczynski worked on the original Babylon 5 series as a writer, director, and producer. The series started as a 1993 made-for-television movie then became a TV series and ran from 1993 to 1998 totaling 110 episodes over five seasons as well as inspiring several spinoff series and films.
The plot as originally described by the CW:
“In a from-the-ground-up reboot of the original 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.”
For now, we will have to wait and see what happens next, but the show seems to be far from dead.
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