Battlestar Galactica reboot series no longer moving forward at Peacock

Variety reports that the Battlestar Galactica reboot series, which was in development for Peacock, is no longer moving forward. I smell a Cylon conspiracy.

The Battlestar Galactica reboot series was first announced in 2019 and has been in development ever since. The reboot was a passion project for Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail, who was slated to executive produce. Michael Lesslie (The Little Drummer Girl) was originally attached to write the project, but he left and was replaced by The Sinner creator Derek Simonds in January, who was attached to serve as writer, executive producer, and showrunner of the series. However, this may not be the end of the project, as an individual with knowledge of the situation said that it will be shopped to other outlets.

Esmail provided an update on the project just last year, saying, “We have a great outline and we’re probably going to go to pilot soon.” Esmail also explained why he wasn’t running the series himself.

“I know myself as a filmmaker and I don’t know if hard sci-fi is something I’m going to be the A-plus person to pull off,” Esmail said. “And Battlestar needs the cream of the crop. But I love the world and what Ron Moore did with the [2004 version] — how it was such an allegory for what we were going through at the time of 9/11. I knew that if we bring in the right partners to write and film the show, I could be on that other end as a person of guidance to say, “OK, I think this is working; it’s the same magic I felt watching the Ron Moore version.“

Plot details were very released, but the reboot was said to be set in the same continuity as the 2003 series developed by Ron Moore. While some questioned the need for another Battlestar Galactica series, Esmail had the world had changed enough to allow for a new interpretation. “The world is changing way too fast for us. I mean, when we started working on it, I obviously was aware of AI, but now, four or five years later, it’s in the public consciousness and now that’s so influential in how we’re going to tell the story,” Esmail said. “The allegory piece is something that is crystallized in a different way, too. The focus is the same, which is the fear of tech and how it might take over, but this idea of just ‘the robots are going to be our overlords’ is a very facile and overly simplistic way of looking at it. Now that the audience is more sophisticated about the consequences, I think we have to match that with Battlestar.“