Babylon 5 Reboot Pushed Back To Next Development Season By The CW
J. Michael Straczynski, the creator of "Babylon 5," has a reboot of the beloved science fiction show in the works — and while it hasn't been ordered to series yet, there's still hope that it might happen at The CW.
According to Deadline, the reboot of "Babylon 5" would be "from-the-ground-up" and it "would follow John Sheridan, an Earthforce officer with a mysterious background, who is assigned to Babylon 5, a five-mile-long space station in neutral space." Earlier this month, Straczynski posted an update on his Patreon, where he explained why the new version of "Babylon 5" was not included among the pilot scripts that The CW had picked up this season. He wrote:
"I received a call from Mark Pedowitz, President of The CW. (I should mention that Mark is a great guy and a long-time fan of B5. He worked for Warners when the show was first airing, and always made sure we got him copies of the episodes before they aired because he didn't want to wait to see what happened next.) Calling the pilot 'a damned fine script,' he said he was taking the highly unusual step of rolling the project and the pilot script into next year, keeping B5 in active development while the dust settles on the sale of the CW.
"Here's the bottom line: Yesterday, Babylon 5 was in active development at the CW and Warner Bros. for fall 2022. Today, Babylon 5 is in active development at the CW and Warner Bros. for fall 2023. That is the only difference."
Straczynski has kept busy since Babylon 5
After a 90-minute pilot film, "The Gathering," the "Babylon 5" series ran for 5 seasons and a total of 110 episodes from 1994 to 1998. At a time when most network shows were content to deliver self-contained episodes from week to week, Straczynski approached "Babylon 5" as a "novel for television." The show was ahead of the Golden Age of TV curve in terms of serialization.
In the 2000s, Straczynski went on to write for Marvel Comics, penning "Thor" and "Supreme Power," among other titles, before moving to DC Comics. For several years, he teamed with superstar artist John Romita, Jr. on Marvel's flagship "Amazing Spider-Man" title. Their tenure was marked by several notable stories, including a landmark September 11th tribute issue with an all-black cover.
Straczynski concluded his "Amazing Spider-Man" run with the controversial "One More Day" storyline, co-written and pencilled by Marvel's then-editor-in-chief, Joe Quesada. This storyline retconned it so that Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson were never married and it also restored Parker's secret identity, which he had revealed to the public during the "Civil War" crossover event. Needless to say, the influence of "One More Day" could be felt all over "Spider-Man: No Way Home."
In the 2010s, Straczynski went on to work with the Wachowski's on Netflix's "Sense8." With the "Babylon 5" reboot, he would be serving as writer and executive producer.
While fans can't expect to see the show rebooted in 2022, it sounds like there's still a very good chance a new CW "Babylon 5" series might happen in 2023. We'll keep you posted.