Jack Paglen to script a reboot of Battlestar Galactica for Universal

After years of attempted big screen adaptations and a successful television reboot, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA may finally be hitting a theater near you. Just don’t hold out hope that it will continue the adventures from SyFy’s acclaimed series. Variety is reporting that TRANSCENDENCE and PROMETHEUS 2 screenwriter Jack Paglen will be scripting a new take on BATTLESTAR GALACTICA that is being billed as a full “reimagining”.

Bryan Singer was attached to a BATTLESTAR GALACTICA movie several years ago that was being eyed as independent of the SyFy series. With Singer having moved on to the latest X-MEN films, it remains to be seen who will helm Universal’s film. Ronald D. Moore and anyone associated with the 2003 series do not appear to be involved by original 1978 series creator Glen Larson will return in a producer role for the feature film.

Both versions of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA followed a standard premise:

All Battlestar Galactica productions share the premise that in a distant part of our galaxy, a human civilization has extended to a group of planets known as the Twelve Colonies, to which they have migrated from their ancestral homeworld of Kobol. The Twelve Colonies have been engaged in a lengthy war with a cybernetic race known as the Cylons, whose goal is the extermination of the human race.

The end goal was for the humans to reach a fabled thirteenth colony known as Earth. While the 1978 series was a cult favorite, it was also considered a STAR WARS rip-off. The reboot offered a grittier, military-focused look at the premise and was lauded by fans and critics alike. It remains to be seen if Universal’s version will be more of the space opera of the original or the grittier take.

Either way, consider this progress on a project long dormant in development hell. The question is does anyone still want a new BATTLESTAR GALACTICA?