One Hurdle The Battlestar Galactica Reboot Will Have To Overcome

Peacock’s planned Battlestar Galactica reboot will have some big shoes to fill, but a history of the series from the early 2000s reveals that the ship designs might actually be the revival’s biggest problem. The Battlestar Galactica franchise began in 1978 with the original television series from the mind of Glen A. Larson. Since then, the property has been revisited in different media, with the early 2000s being the most successful and long-running venture that spawned the prequel series Caprica.

Scripts aimed at reviving Battlestar Galactica had often aimed to produce a sequel to the 1978 show while ignoring the events of Galactica 1980. The Battlestar Galactica miniseries that aired in 2003 and would go on to spawn a full TV series, however, was done as a remake of the original rather than a sequel. Peacock’s Battlestar Galactica is being produced by Sam Esmail and is set to take place in the same continuity as the 2004 Battlestar Galactica.

In the 2021 book Battlestar Galactica: Designing Spaceships, Eric Chu demonstrated the trail and error that the 2003 Battlestar Galactica miniseries had to go through to find the right approach for their spaceships. The Sci-Fi Channel behind the production of the show were keen for the ships to look completely different from the 1978 Battlestar Galactica, but the production team recognized that the devoted fanbase would not want a show that looked nothing like the original. This mean that Chu had to walk a delicate line to update and modernize the ships while keeping the same vibe as the originals. With Peacock’s Battlestar Galactica the show will be under a new studio again and it is likely that they will have to deal with the problem of how to design their ships once again. If they keep them too similar to the ships of 2000s’ Battlestar Galactica the show might feel too much like imitation, whereas if they change too much then long-time fans of the series might find it too alien.

Very little is known about Peacock’s planned Battlestar Galactica series beyond the fact that it will take place in the same continuity as the series from the 2000s. This means that their ships might face some unique design issues. If the series is set after the events of the previous Battlestar Galactica with some portion of humans leaving Earth for some reason, then ships will need to be updated and given an updated design. This will leave Peacock’s production team struggling between nostalgia and their own newer tone, as with the original.

Alternatively, Peacock’s Battlestar Galactica reboot could take place in the same time period as the 2000s BattlestarGalactica, following another contingent of unknown survivors, or even be a prequel series as with Caprica. While this would make some of the design choices for the ships easier as it would be a natural decision to keep the ship designs very similar to Battlestar Galactica and Razor, it would pose a different issue. Since the 2003 miniseries of Battlestar Galactica, there has been almost two decades of advancement in special effects and replicating the original ships too closely might result in the new series looking dated. Peacock’s Battlestar Galactica is an ambitious project after the previous series ended so naturally, and now it seems that its potential hurdles are only becoming more numerous.

About The Author

Faefyx Collington
(487 Articles Published)

Faefyx Collington (They/Them) is a senior features writer for Screen Rant. They’re a British writer of both fiction and non-fiction, focussing on science fiction, fantasy, and mystery for the former and on culture, gender, and current affairs for the latter.
Never content to settle to one thing, Faefyx is also a co-host and producer of the podcast and video series “Unramblings,” and can occasionally be found making music around the internet as well.
Having acquired degrees on both sides of the Atlantic, Fyx has settled (for the moment) in the southern United States where they live with their spouse and an entirely appropriate number of cats.

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