‘Babylon 5’ Series Reboot From J. Michael Straczynski In Works At the CW
Denise Petski
September 27, 2021 10:00AM PDT
A new version of the Emmy-winning space opera television series Babylon 5 is in the works. The CW has put in development Babylon 5, described as a “from-the-ground-up reboot” of the critically acclaimed 1990s series, from original series creator J. Michael Straczynski and Warner Bros. Television.
Written by Straczynski, the reboot revolves around John Sheridan (played by Bruce Boxleitner in the original series), an Earthforce officer with a mysterious background, who is assigned to Babylon 5, a five-mile-long space station in neutral space, a port of call for travelers, smugglers, corporate explorers and alien diplomats at a time of uneasy peace and the constant threat of war. His arrival triggers a destiny beyond anything he could have imagined, as an exploratory Earth company accidentally triggers a conflict with a civilization a million years ahead of us, putting Sheridan and the rest of the B5 crew in the line of fire as the last, best hope for the survival of the human race.
Created by Straczynski, the original Babylon 5 debuted in 1993 with the pilot film The Gathering. A future-history story covering the years 2257-2262, with each year corresponding to one season, Babylon 5 was the first series to introduce viewers to the concept of a five-year arc, with a defined beginning, middle and end. The series launched in 1994 and ran for five seasons and 110 additional episodes. Cast included Bruce Boxleitner, Michael O’Hare, Claudia Christian, Jerry Doyle, Mira Furlan, Richard Biggs, Andrea Thompson, Bill Mumy, Jason Carter, Tracy Scoggins, Stephen Furst, Patricia Tallman, Peter Jurasik, Andreas Katsulas, Jeff Conaway and Robert Rusler.
Straczynski won over a dozen awards for his work on the series, including two Hugo Awards, the Saturn Award, the Space Frontier Foundation Award, and the Ray Bradbury Award. Following the original series, Straczynski continued to tell stories in the Babylon 5 universe, with the TNT series Crusade, seven subsequent feature-length films, and a series of novels, novelizations, short stories, and comics from DC.
Straczynski most recently created, wrote and show-ran (with the Wachowskis) the Netflix series Sense8 and was nominated for a Producers Guild Award for his work on the series finale film. He also created the Showtime series Jeremiah. His script for the Clint Eastwood–directed feature film Changeling, starring Angelina Jolie, was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay. His other film credits include Underworld: Awakening, World War Z, Thor and Ninja Assassin.
In addition to his film and television work, Straczynski is an acclaimed comics writer for DC and Marvel, receiving the Eisner, Icon and Inkpot Lifetime Achievement Awards for his books, which have sold over 13 million copies worldwide. His new novel, Together We Will Go, has just been published by Simon and Schuster, and he is head of the creative council for a new comics publishing company, Artists, Writers and Artisans (AWA). Straczynski is repped by A3 Artists Agency and Gendler-Kelly.
Denise Petski
September 27, 2021 10:00AM PDT
A new version of the Emmy-winning space opera television series Babylon 5 is in the works. The CW has put in development Babylon 5, described as a “from-the-ground-up reboot” of the critically acclaimed 1990s series, from original series creator J. Michael Straczynski and Warner Bros. Television.
Written by Straczynski, the reboot revolves around John Sheridan (played by Bruce Boxleitner in the original series), an Earthforce officer with a mysterious background, who is assigned to Babylon 5, a five-mile-long space station in neutral space, a port of call for travelers, smugglers, corporate explorers and alien diplomats at a time of uneasy peace and the constant threat of war. His arrival triggers a destiny beyond anything he could have imagined, as an exploratory Earth company accidentally triggers a conflict with a civilization a million years ahead of us, putting Sheridan and the rest of the B5 crew in the line of fire as the last, best hope for the survival of the human race.
Created by Straczynski, the original Babylon 5 debuted in 1993 with the pilot film The Gathering. A future-history story covering the years 2257-2262, with each year corresponding to one season, Babylon 5 was the first series to introduce viewers to the concept of a five-year arc, with a defined beginning, middle and end. The series launched in 1994 and ran for five seasons and 110 additional episodes. Cast included Bruce Boxleitner, Michael O’Hare, Claudia Christian, Jerry Doyle, Mira Furlan, Richard Biggs, Andrea Thompson, Bill Mumy, Jason Carter, Tracy Scoggins, Stephen Furst, Patricia Tallman, Peter Jurasik, Andreas Katsulas, Jeff Conaway and Robert Rusler.
Straczynski won over a dozen awards for his work on the series, including two Hugo Awards, the Saturn Award, the Space Frontier Foundation Award, and the Ray Bradbury Award. Following the original series, Straczynski continued to tell stories in the Babylon 5 universe, with the TNT series Crusade, seven subsequent feature-length films, and a series of novels, novelizations, short stories, and comics from DC.
Straczynski most recently created, wrote and show-ran (with the Wachowskis) the Netflix series Sense8 and was nominated for a Producers Guild Award for his work on the series finale film. He also created the Showtime series Jeremiah. His script for the Clint Eastwood–directed feature film Changeling, starring Angelina Jolie, was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay. His other film credits include Underworld: Awakening, World War Z, Thor and Ninja Assassin.
In addition to his film and television work, Straczynski is an acclaimed comics writer for DC and Marvel, receiving the Eisner, Icon and Inkpot Lifetime Achievement Awards for his books, which have sold over 13 million copies worldwide. His new novel, Together We Will Go, has just been published by Simon and Schuster, and he is head of the creative council for a new comics publishing company, Artists, Writers and Artisans (AWA). Straczynski is repped by A3 Artists Agency and Gendler-Kelly.
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