There has been interest in making a small screen follow-up to the 1999 sci-fi comedy Galaxy Quest (watch it HERE) for several years. Back in 2015, Paramount TV Studios got a Galaxy Quest TV series set up at Amazon, with the film’s writer Robert Gordon working on the script and director Dean Parisot and producer Mark Johnson also attached. Much of the film’s cast – which included Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub, Sam Rockwell, Daryl Mitchell, and Enrico Colantoni – was expected to return… but unfortunately, the project was derailed when Rickman passed away in 2016, and not even a new script from Paul Scheer (The League) was able to get it back on track. Now Paramount TV Studios is giving Galaxy Quest another try, and The Hollywood Reporter confirms that the TV series is set up at the Paramount+ streaming service.
Mark Johnson, whose producing credits now include Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Interview with the Vampire, and The Mayfair Witches, will be executive producing the Galaxy Quest TV series through his company Gran Via Productions. But this Paramount+ iteration is not based on the ideas Gordon or Scheer brought to the table at Amazon. Instead, the streamer is searching for another writer.
The Galaxy Quest film had the following synopsis: For four years, the courageous crew of the NSEA protector – “Commander Peter Quincy Taggart” (Tim Allen), “Lt. Tawny Madison” (Sigourney Weaver) and “Dr.Lazarus” (Alan Rickman) – set off on a thrilling and often dangerous mission in space…and then their series was cancelled! Now, twenty years later, aliens under attack have mistaken the Galaxy Quest television transmissions for “historical documents” and beam up the crew of has-been actors to save the universe. With no script, no director and no clue, the actors must turn in the performances of their lives.
Made on a budget of $45 million, Galaxy Quest earned just over $90 million at the global box office, and quickly gained a cult following.
Are you a Galaxy Quest fan, and would you be interested in watching a TV series based on the film on Paramount+? Share your thoughts on this project by leaving a comment below.