As of last Christmas, Galaxy Quest celebrated its 21st anniversary of irreverent science fiction comedy, with the Tim Allen-led ensemble comedy still holding up. Over the years, there’s been talk of both a cinematic and television continuation of the adventures of the NSEA Protector, a Star Trek-style ship brought into reality by an alien race mistaking a TV series as historical record. But sadly, the passing of fellow cast member Alan Rickman affected the production of a Galaxy Quest 2. Because as Allen recently revealed, Rickman's character plays a major part in the sequel.
The earliest word on Galaxy Quest 2 spans as far back as 2014, when an oral history on the original film yielded several interviews with the cast indicating that the script was written and ready to go. If it wasn’t for Alan Rickman’s passing in 2016, the project could have moved forward in one incarnation or another. However, as Tim Allen recounted to EW, Rickman’s absence is the greatest stumbling block, with the following details laying out the current plot of the potential sequel:
It's a fabulous script, but it had a hiccup because the wonderful Alan Rickman passed. So it all got very sad and dark because [the script] was all about [Lazarus] and Taggart. It was all about their story. It doesn't mean they can't reboot the idea, and the underlying story was hysterical and fun.
Tim Allen’s reasons for Galaxy Quest 2 not moving forward just yet line up with the knowledge that was previously revealed by Galaxy Quest cast member Sam Rockwell. With Amazon ready to go into production on the sequel in 2016, Alan Rickman’s passing in January of that same year was a moment of mourning that pressed the pause button on continuing the story of Rickman’s Dr. Lazarus and Tim Allen’s Peter Quincy Taggart. Though, as the Last Man Standing star pointed out, there’s always room for revising the current draft into a way forward.
When last we’d heard of where the Galaxy Quest TV series was going to go with the story, writer Paul Scheer described a hybrid model that introduced a new crew, while leaving the door open for the older crew to take part in the fun. The lack of movement on that TV spinoff, as well as the cinematic sequel, means there are a lot of adventures the NSEA Protector could have in the future. Tim Allen even suggested in his recent interview that with a creative sci-fi fix, the hope for a Galaxy Quest 2 still flickers on. It’s just a matter of whether or not the creative team feels a world without Alan Rickman’s character is worth bringing into production.
As it stands, the world of Galaxy Quest exists in that first film alone, but who knows what the future may bring? In any event, stay tuned to CinemaBlend for any future developments as they transpire.
