6 Canceled Battlestar Galactica Reboots That Never Happened

Initially launching in 1978 in the wake of the massive success of the "Star Wars" franchise, Glen A. Larson's spacefaring spectacle "Battlestar Galactica" chronicles humanity's battle against the merciless Cylons. After the initial '70s series, "Battlestar Galactica" has expanded into a multimedia property that's thrived intermittently for decades. This includes several television series, most notably the 2003 reimagining by fan-favorite screenwriter and producer Ronald D. Moore. In fact, pne of the best sci-fi shows of all time is the 2000s iteration of "Battlestar Galactica."

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on one's point-of-view, many separate attempts to reboot the "Battlestar Galactica" franchise have proved unsuccessful. Even with some of the biggest names in Hollywood attached, several revivals have quietly been shelved. For whatever reason, "Battlestar Galactica" has proved a tough nut to crack, with a surprising amount of failed reboots. 

Here are six canceled "Battlestar Galactica" reboots that never happened, despite the talent involved in their development.

"Battlestar Galactica" started as a television series in 1978 running for 24 episodes on ABC, following Commander Adama (Lorne Greene) searching for a new home for his people. Leading the Cylons in hunting for the human refugees is the traitorous Baltar (John Colicos), who had helped the malevolent robots in destroying humanity's colonies. This was followed by a sequel series, "Galactica 1980," with the human flotilla arriving at then-present day Earth after a 30-year voyage. With "Galactica 1980" cancelled after 10 episodes, the franchise remained dormant on television for over 20 years.

After working on various projects within the wider "Star Trek" franchise for years, Ronald D. Moore developed a reimagining of "Battlestar Galactica," starting with a pair of 2003 television movies. This version of the story reintroduced the Cylons as a rogue creation of humanity capable of disguising themselves in humanoid guises. This reimagining opened with the Cylons launching a devastating sneak attack on humanity, with the survivors joining a flotilla in search of Earth to establish as their new home. Creation of the Cylons and their rupture with humanity was explored in the short-lived 2010 prequel series "Caprica."

However, the road to this reimagining and the attempts to follow it up after "Caprica" have proved to be a challenging prospect for the franchise.

Richard Hatch (above left), who played Adama's son Captain Apollo in the '70s series, developed his own plans for a "Battlestar Galactica" revival in the '90s. From 1997 to 2005, Hatch co-wrote seven tie-in novels to the classic series, continuing the adventures of an older Apollo. These stories served as the literary extension of Hatch's television revival plans, which was tentatively titled "Battlestar Galactica: Second Coming." This revival would've ignored the events of "Galactica 1980" and other ancillary material, serving instead as a legacy sequel to the original series.

Hatch self-financed the production of a trailer for the proposed revival series, which was set approximately 20 years after the original series. In addition to Hatch himself, the trailer brought in several other classic actors reprising their roles, most notably Colicos as Baltar to warn Apollo of a new Cylon threat. However, there were several other competing revival projects at the time, and "Second Coming" did not move forward, despite enthusiastic fan response at conventions. Following this attempted revival, Hatch later became the only actor who appeared in both the original "Battlestar Galactica" and its reboot, albeit as the new character Tom Zarek.

Hatch wasn't the only figure from the classic series who was working on a "Battlestar Galactica" revival, with Larson returning to the sci-fi saga he created in the '90s. Officially announced in 1999, after Hatch's television revival plans, the movie involved Commander Cain searching for the titular space cruiser, the Battlestar Galactica. This involved another Battlestar, known as the Atlantis, which had arrived on a prehistoric Earth and helped steer humanity's presence on the planet. However, soon thereafter, the franchise turned its attention back to television with Hollywood filmmaker Bryan Singer attached.

Before the finale of Moore's "Battlestar Galactica" reimagining even aired, Universal had already quietly opened negotiations with Larson on another proposed movie reboot project. This would've been unrelated to Moore's series and reportedly involved several classic characters, including Adama, Starbuck, and Baltar. It is unclear how far development on the movie project advanced, with Larson eventually suing Universal over unpaid television profits in 2011. For his part, Larson passed away in 2014, with Universal settling the dispute with his estate the following year.

Bryan Singer was a self-professed fan of the original "Battlestar Galactica" and began development on planned television revival for Fox. The intended show was to be a sequel to the classic series, ignoring the events of "Galactica 1980" and taking place roughly 20 years later. The continuation revealed that humanity decided to create a colony in an asteroid belt named New Caprica and had grown decadent. This complacency is disrupted when the Cylons launch another sneak attack, as history repeats itself, and the conflict is renewed with fiery intensity.

Test animation from the planned series was unveiled during a presentation at San Diego Comic-Con 2001, with principal photography on a pilot episode set to begin months later. However, in the midst of pre-production and weeks away from filming, the terrorist attacks on September 11 took place, transforming the world forever. Uncomfortable with parallels between the Cylon sneak attack and real-world events, the network decided to shelve its revival plans. Singer returned his professional focus to filmmaking, prioritizing work on "X2: X-Men United," with Moore's revival plans moving forward instead.

Singer's association with "Battlestar Galactica" resurfaced a decade after his first attempt to revive the franchise fell by the wayside. Two years after Moore's series was completed, Singer focused on "Battlestar Galactica" after his planned "Excalibur" reboot was shelved. This planned revival was a feature film instead of a television project this time around and reportedly served as a reboot rather than a sequel to an existing story. Joining Singer was screenwriter John Orloff, another longtime fan of the franchise, who had previously written for "Band of Brothers" and the 2007 drama "A Mighty Heart."

However, development eventually stalled on this project too and, once again, Singer turned his attention back to X-Men movies, starting with "X-Men: Days of Future Past." In 2014, Jack Paglen, who previously wrote the sci-fi movie "Transcendence," signed on to write a new script. However, this attempt also fell into development turnaround as the project saw new producers take the helm. 

In 2016, producers Michael De Luca, Scott Stuber, and Dylan Clark signed onto the long-gestating "Battlestar Galactica" movie project, overhauling its development.

This new production team quickly put the planned movie project in development, signing Lisa Joy, who co-created HBO's "Westworld," to write a script. Francis Lawrence, fresh off directing "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2," was approached to direct the "Battlestar Galactica" movie. Two years later, Jay Basu was hired to polish Joy's screenplay, with Lawrence still attached to direct the project. However, development on this project eventually stalled out too, with much of the creative team leaving it behind.

In their place, the "Battlestar Galactica" reboot brought in filmmaker Simon Kinberg in 2020, with Kinberg scripting and producing the project with Clark. With no director attached to the project after Lawrence's departure, it was unclear who would helm this proposed movie. There's been little substantial news on what became of this movie project in the years since Kinberg joined the revival. In the meantime, Kinberg has undertaken multiple projects, including creating the Apple TV series "Invasion," directing the 2022 action thriller "The 355," and developing a new "Star Wars" movie.

In the midst of the franchise's attempted movie reboot, "Battlestar Galactica" saw a revival attempt being made for the Universal streaming service Peacock. In 2019, "Mr. Robot" creator Sam Esmail signed on to develop a "Battlestar Galactica" show for Peacock. The series was reportedly set in the same universe as Moore's "Battlestar Galactica" reboot, albeit with a different cast planned. As Kinberg signed on to the movie reboot the following year, this means Universal had two different "Battlestar Galactica" projects in development at once.

Ultimately, Esmail's planned revival suffered the same apparent fate as Kinberg's cinematic reboot after years of uncertainty. Michael Lesslie, who was writing and producing the Peacock revival, left the project by 2021. By 2024, the project was reportedly no longer in development at Peacock, though it was shopped around to other platforms. 

In the end, "Battlestar Galactica" has evidently always been a tricky franchise to realize on-screen, making Moore's achievement even more impressive given its track record. But "Battelstar Galactica" is bound to find new life at some point.