BABYLON 5 Creator J. Michael Straczynski Says A Decision About The Reboot's Fate Will Be Made This Month

BABYLON 5 Creator J. Michael Straczynski Says A Decision About The Reboot's Fate Will Be Made This Month BABYLON 5 Creator J. Michael Straczynski Says A Decision About The Reboot's Fate Will Be Made This Month

Babylon 5 is a franchise with a passionate and devoted fanbase, but that may not be enough as The CW nears a final decision about plans for the long-awaited reboot. Find more details on that right here...

By JoshWilding - Sep 20, 2022 06:09 PM EST
Filed Under: Sci-Fi
Source: SFFGazette.com

You might remember hearing about plans for a Babylon 5 reboot that would air on The CW. The news was met with excitement by fans of the classic sci-fi series, but despite talk of a separate project coming our way next year, this one appears to have crash-landed and seemingly hasn't come close to taking off for some time now.

The CW will soon be owned by Nexstar Media Group, and the latest update from creator J. Michael Straczynski (via SFFGazette.com) indicates that the fate of this reboot is going to be decided by the end of the month. 

The announcement about a new take on Babylon 5 was made in 2021 prior to the Warner Bros. Discovery merger and The CW being offloaded to the highest bidder. While the network has since said the project remains alive, Straczynski is calling on fans to make their voices heard. Yesterday evening, the Thor scribe managed to get the series trending on Twitter at #1.

Whether that will be anywhere near enough remains to be seen, though back in February, the writer praised The CW Chairman Mark Pedowitz and said the reboot's pilot is a "damned find script." Unfortunately, it just doesn't feel like Babylon 5 is, or ever really has been, a huge priority for the network, particularly in the midst of such sweeping changes.

The fact it was initially pushed into next year's pilot season was a promising sign earlier this year, but now it looks like the clock is ticking and a final decision is about to be made. The CW is expected to change greatly under new ownership and that regime may not be looking to develop a pricey sci-fi series even if it is based on a popular franchise.

Stay tuned to SFFGazette.com for updates.
 

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UncleHarm1
UncleHarm1 - 9/20/2022, 6:06 PM
I learned today that Babylon 5 is not a Star Trek spinoff
dracula
dracula - 9/20/2022, 6:36 PM
@UncleHarm1 - although Deep Space 9 has a lot of similarities to it
UncleHarm1
UncleHarm1 - 9/21/2022, 12:46 PM
@dracula - I prefer Deep Space 1 thru 8, but to each their own
dracula
dracula - 9/21/2022, 5:38 PM
@UncleHarm1 - my favorite trek series
Blergh
Blergh - 9/20/2022, 6:19 PM
doubt it's going to happen in lew of the many changes coming towards the CW.
Many have predicted that Nexstar will turn the CW into a reality network, I tend to agree.
JDL
JDL - 9/20/2022, 11:09 PM
@Blergh - Sadly that makes sense. I couldn't see how they were going to do anything scripted without studio support and this explains it.
dracula
dracula - 9/20/2022, 6:34 PM
Wonder when he will do Superman earth one vol 4
PartyKiller
PartyKiller - 9/20/2022, 6:35 PM
So this is why he's been upping his Anti-Christian and woke tweets. To attract Twitter SJWs to work for him by getting his terrible product to trend to help him make money from CW.
dracula
dracula - 9/20/2022, 6:37 PM
@PartyKiller - have you watched the original show

Damn good stuff
Reeds2Much
Reeds2Much - 9/20/2022, 6:44 PM
Half of JMS's Spider-Man is some of the best Spider-Man stories ever.

Half of JMS's Spider-Man is also some of the worst.
DalekCraigWasson
DalekCraigWasson - 9/20/2022, 8:29 PM
@Reeds2Much - To be fair, and not to remove the blame completely, but Sins Past and One More Day were very much editorially mandated. JMS' story was about aged up kids of Peter and Gwen but Joe Q changed it against JMS' wishes to Norman and Gwen's kids. One More Day was Joe Q's master plan from Day 1 and JMS almost got his name taken off it. At the moment, it lists both Quesada and Straczynski as writers.
MosquitoFarmer
MosquitoFarmer - 9/20/2022, 7:31 PM
I hate this show. Not for any reason against the show itself, but when I was wee little and had to wake up for school at 6 or 7am, my dad always had that crap on before the weird Nickelodeon programs got started, like Weinerville.
Mugens
Mugens - 9/20/2022, 7:51 PM
Seasons 2-4 is some of the best sci-fi ever put on TV, at least to me. Not sure that magic could ever be replicated but you never know. Unfortunately, so many of the main cast of the original has passed away. Not sure how the reboot would work but interested to see.
r1g0r
r1g0r - 9/20/2022, 8:48 PM
CW could screw up a wet dream that had already ended.
TheJester187
TheJester187 - 9/20/2022, 9:29 PM
Stop it!!! Lmao this needs to stop reboots have been gettin out of hand especially with straamin. 1 season and they cancel. We don’t need this 90’s goober shit
Waifuslayer
Waifuslayer - 9/20/2022, 10:59 PM
JUST 👏 MAKE 👏 NEW 👏THINGS 👏
NinnesMBC
NinnesMBC - 9/21/2022, 1:36 AM
It's the same situation with Stargirl, a decision will be made by the end of the month & the whole fandom is watching live together and campaigning in a similar way to get the show ongoing.

I applaud the way J. Michael Straczynski has gathered the troops and make that much loud of noise. It's true things have changed within The CW since they were sold to these people (all thanks to Zaslav too since the merge was complete in April and by the end of the month it was when cancelations began all to pay off that debt which didn't help much in the end and it just happened the greedy and cheap Zaslav appealed to other cheap TV people that want all to be unscripted programming to make the network more interesting) but it's also true that Warner Bros still have 12.5% of ownership meaning that they can still make scripted content/shows.

So there's a chance for Babylon 5. Especially when it is said Nexstar was interested in the streaming app/service of The CW and the numbers in viewership that are made there in their decision to buy the network. So if they want to make it profitable by 2025 then they need shows like this, pricey or not. There's no way they will reach that goal with just making reality tv.

And if not then maybe it's time they focus on that CW app and actually launch with it a better streaming service like HBO and others hopped in the streamer war. Babylon 5 and others (DC shows i.e.) could thrive on there while they go and make the actual network into just reality.

But I just know that saying no to a franchise like this and to Straczynski would be a huge tone deaf and stupid decision. Good luck making the CW profitable without that.
bobevanz
bobevanz - 9/21/2022, 5:11 AM
Okay, now do Stargate!
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