Just days after Ronald D. Moore himself weighed in on Peacock’s Battlestar Galactica reboot from creator Sam Esmail, some bad news broke about the project: the NBCUniversal streamer is no longer moving forward with the science fiction series. This may not seem like the biggest shocker in TV history after relatively few updates over the years since the project was first announced in 2019, but with how passionate of a fanbase there is for the 2004 version of the series, I feel like any show under the BSG banner could have at least started strong.
Read on for the details of the new Battlestar getting the axe as well as why the news started flashing me back to my favorite episode of the 2004 series with Katee Sackhoff as Kara “Starbuck” Thrace.
What Happened To Peacock’s Battlestar Galactica Reboot
The update that the new take on Battlestar Galactica is no longer happening comes courtesy of Variety, but production company Universal Content Productions is reportedly looking to shop the series around to find a home elsewhere than Peacock. No details are currently available about what that will entail and which platforms are being targeted, but Netflix has rescued genre shows before like Manifest and Lucifer. I could see a home for Battlestar Galactica there. Then again, BSG is currently available streaming with Amazon Prime Video subscriptions.
The reboot was said to take place within the same continuity as Ronald D. Moore’s 2004 take on BSG, which itself was a reboot of the original series from the late ‘70s, but stars from the Sci-Fi series weren’t expected to be part of the cast. Still, Peacock’s Battlestar getting cancelled before it’s even produced reminds me of my favorite episode from Moore’s era that proved Battlestar doesn’t have to stick to a familiar format to create something great, and that could have been true for streamers with Peacock Premium subscriptions as well.
My Favorite Episode Of Battlestar Galactica: “Unfinished Business”
From what I’ve heard from other BSG fans, the Season 3 episode “Unfinished Business” is far from a universal favorite, and it truly is a departure from the show’s usual format. As the members of the crew blew off steam by fighting each other in a ring – and fighting dirty, in the case of Starbuck vs. Apollo – the episode took viewers through a series of flashbacks that finally answered some big questions.
The focus was much more on character than plot, and I’m sure that anybody who despises the Lee/Kara pairing would happily skip this episode in a rewatch, but I appreciated seeing all the messiness play out on screen with some strong performances from Katee Sackhoff and Jamie Bamber, among others. Plus, Bear McCreary was in fine form in “Unfinished Business,” with the song “Violence and Variations” ranking as one of his best of the series in my estimation. (Seriously, check it out.)
This was an atypical episode of Battlestar Galactica that arguably was barely even science fiction, but the emphasis on character was fantastic for me and really set the stage for how Starbuck and Apollo would somehow manage to get even messier in the coming episodes.
And dang it, if the 2004 version of Battlestar Galactica could produce something so great and so different by pushing its own boundaries, I would have loved to see what Sam Esmail and a whole new team could do with the world of BSG that was built by Ron Moore and his crew in the early aughts.
Of course, it is still possible that this new version of Battlestar Galactica will be produced, depending on whether or not UCP is successful in shopping it around. For now, you can always revisit the 2004 version of BSG streaming on Amazon Prime Video, including the excellent "Unfinished Business" as Episode 8 of Season 3. You can also find more recent and/or upcoming viewing options in our 2024 TV schedule now.
