Galaxy Quest Show Announcement Was Leaked Says Simon Pegg

Simon Pegg admits that a leak spoke about the announcement of his Galaxy Quest series. The titular film came out in 1999 as an affectionate parody of Star Trek but didn’t impact the box office like DreamWorks hoped it would. Over 20 years since it hit theaters, Galaxy Quest has gained a cult following and is more culturally relevant than ever. The sci-fi comedy, which starred Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub, Sam Rockwell, and Daryl Mitchell, saw a cast of actors entangled in a real-life intergalactic adventure that involved aliens and space warlords.

Despite a novelization following the movie’s release in 1999 and several comic book tie-ins, a film or television sequel for Galaxy Quest has never come to fruition. According to Allen, work began on a feature film sequel in 2014 and is nearing completion, but the development of a television series has been far more chaotic. It began as a co-production between Paramount and Amazon Studios, but a reorganization of management at Paramount in 2018 put the series on hold. Weaver later claimed the Galaxy Quest series was still in development, but now Pegg is reportedly developing his version of a Galaxy Quest show.

Screen Rant asked the Star Trek actor about his involvement with the series and what it entails, but there isn’t much to share just yet. “It’s just sort of talking at the moment,” says Pegg, but acknowledges the growth in popularity of the film and how fun it would be to develop a follow-up series. Later, he admits that the announcement “was something that leaked, and it’s a little premature to be talking about it in any terms.” Read the discussion about Pegg’s role in the series below:

Talking about people who grew up with Ice Age, something that I grew up with was Galaxy Quest. I heard the news that you were developing a Galaxy Quest series. What does that entail? I’m so excited for that.

Simon Pegg: It’s just sort of talking at the moment. It’s a discussion. It would be, I think, foolish to call it anything more than that right now.

But that’s such a great movie. It’s one of those films that I think has endured because it’s just such a high-quality film. And even though it didn’t make a huge splash on its arrival, it’s more present today culturally than every movie that came out that year probably. So, who knows? That would be fun to do.

Are you thinking original cast members? New cast?

Simon Pegg: I don’t know. I don’t know. Honestly, it was something that leaked, and it’s a little premature to be talking about it in any terms.

Unfortunately, his tight-lipped answers don’t provide much confidence that a Galaxy Quest series is any more likely to see a wide release now than before, or whether or not his rendition is in any way related to the Paramount/Amazon project. Still, the news is proof that interest in developing the series is still very much alive, and Pegg would be the perfect person to propel the process as somebody who’s been directly involved with the Star Trek revival. He is supposedly working alongside Georgia Pritchett, who’s written for Veep, The Shrink Next Door, and other successful TV comedies. The fact that a leak announced his involvement is less surprising than the role itself, as leaks have plagued entertainment industry content for the past few years.

The problem with the leak is that Pegg could very well be working on a revival series but is so early on in pre-production that it means nothing yet. Like the Paramount series, his project could falter or be put to rest before it’s officially in development. One of the biggest obstacles to date has been how to address the late Rickman’s character, Alexander Dane. Pegg, however, is one of Hollywood’s busiest comedians, and the Galaxy Quest series could receive the green light sooner rather than later. There is also the possibility that he is keeping the real progress under wraps, and his series is further along than he lets on. Until more information about the project is shared, Pegg will be in The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild, which is streaming on Disney+ on January 28, 2022.

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