Remember a few years ago when Universal was working on a Battlestar Galactica feature film? Turns out it's still happening and it has some exciting new names attached.
We first have to go all the way back to 2009 when work on this film project first started. The 2003/4 Syfy reboot of the 70s series was just wrapping up and Universal got together with Glen A. Larson to start work in a big-screen version. The project was meant to be a reimagining of the story which did not continue with the continuity of the original television series or the reboot but would include the characters we know like Adama, Starbuck, and Baltar.
Bryan Singer was attached to direct at one point and in 2011 John Orloff was close to writing, telling Deadline “I have wanted to write this movie since I was 12 years old, and built a Galactica model from scratch out of balsa wood, cardboard, old model parts and LEDs. I love BSG, and I would pass on the job rather than frak it up.”
Things were quiet for a bit and then in 2014 Universal hired Transcendence writer Jack Paglen (who's also worked on Ridley Scott's Alien: Covenant) for screenwriting duties. Earlier this year they picked up Scott Stuber and Dylan Clark of Bluegrass Films to produce but now we get to the really exciting news. Deadline reports on a new writer and a possible new director:
The long-awaited big-screen transfer of the Glen Larson 1978 TV series is moving forward at Universal. Lisa Joy, who scripted and is exec producer on HBO”s series Westworld, is writing the script. Francis Lawrence is circling the movie to direct…Numerous directors have taken cracks at the feature film version over the years. It gives Universal a strong chance to create another tentpole franchise.
This is excellent news from where I'm standing. Joy's credits also include Pushing Daisies and Burn Notice. She was also writing a film for Sony Pictures in 2014 which would have focused on female characters from Spider-Man lore, though there hasn't been any updates on that for a while. Lawrence of course ushered the last three installments of The Hunger Games franchise to screen and I'd be interested to see what his BSG would look like. Here's a tip for you though – keep Katee Sackhoff as Starbuck.