Sci-fi nerds rejoice, Battlestar Galactica is coming back, and Sam Esmail, the mind behind Mr. Robot and Homecoming, is behind the new revival. Sam Esmail’s other work seems to take sci-fi themes and spread them across other genres. His genre-bending abilities may be just the ticket for diving back into the world of Battlestar Galactica, as the series will be circling its third iteration since its creation in the 70s. Ronald D. Moore’s previous Battlestar Galactica reboot ended in 2009 and, although it was set on the same world, it did not follow the same premise as the original series. Apparently, we can expect another completely new storyline with Esmail’s revival of the series, but we may have a little more waiting to do.
It seems that Sam Esmail will be taking his time on his Battlestar Galactica project, which may be a smart move. Apparently, he's still working on the pilot, taking the other versions of the series into consideration and not stepping on any toes as he does so. This may be music to the ears of longtime fans, as it sounds like Ronald D. Moore has been consulted in the new revival. And his previous revival will not be displaced by the new version. In Esmail’s own words:
We’re still working on the pilot. Look, it’s a big universe, it’s a big world, I want to respect the Ronald Moore Battlestar. I spoke to him before I even took on the project to make sure that it’s all kosher with him, because the last thing I want to do is step on his toes, and the one thing we both agreed on is that it won’t be a reboot of what he did. Which I think we both wanted.
It appears that while all the versions will have their own storyline, the new revival will use the previous series to strengthen the pre-existing universe. With Sam Esmail taking what has already been laid out in the universe into heavy consideration, it makes sense that the project is still in the pilot phase.
In the same interview, Sam Esmail tells Collider that he pretty much knows what story he wants to tell, but he is still exploring ways to tell it in the universe laid out largely by Ronald D. Moore. In his own words:
It’s still in the early phases of trying to figure out the world via the pilot. I think we’ve got the basic construction of the type of story we want to tell, the part of mythology that we’re gonna explore – because Battlestar does have a rich mythology and again I have to give Ron a lot of credit for that – and so now we’re sort of closing in on what that pilot’s gonna look like.
The massive universe and mythos of Battlestar Galactica pretty much creates the opportunity for infinite storylines. That’s part of the beauty of the series, but it could also make it easy for one story to contradict another. It could be a great thing that Sam Esmail is being cautious and true to the world he is expanding upon.
Sam Esmail’s Battlestar Galactica will release on the recently launched Peacock. No release date has been locked down yet, but CinemaBlend will continue to keep you updated on future developments. If you need something to watch until then, check out our updated Netflix schedule for this year or our TV schedule for the current season.
