Amazon's GALAXY QUEST Series Has Been Put on Hold
Amazon has been in the process of developing a Galaxy Quest series for a few years. Writer-actor-comedian Paul Scheer (The League) was hired to write the series, and in a recent interview with The Wrap, he explains that the firing of Amy Powell as president of Paramount TV has taken some momentum out of the project, and it's currently on hold.
"We currently are in a little bit of a hold pattern because our executive at Paramount, Amy Powell, was fired for some insensitive comments."
That's kind of a bummer to hear. I was actually looking forward to the series, especially because it was going to continue the story from the film with the members of the same cast and characters. Scheer goes on to compare his Galaxy Quest series to the return of Star Wars with The Force Awakens:
"We want to create this kind of thing that feels like this epic sequel, but a continuation. I compared it to what The Force Awakens is to Star Wars. It is continuing a story but bringing in new characters. My pitch for Galaxy Quest was, ‘How can we kind of blow this out and pay off things for the fans that love Galaxy Quest, but more importantly — and the thing that I really wanted to do is — appeal to the ‘me’ of now. Who’s the 18-year-old version of me that loved Galaxy Quest now? What would they want to see? Because I think that that is a movie that we haven’t really made yet: the Tropic Thunder in the world of modern-day science fiction."
He continued:
"When Galaxy Quest came out, it was a niche thing, Star Trek fandom is a niche thing. Now it is selling out Hall H in Comic-Con, so that’s kind of the impetus for the continuation."
When previously talking about the series, Scheer shed some light on how he was handling the series and the characters, saying:
"It was really important to do service to a Galaxy Quest story that gives you everything that you want and indoctrinates people who have never seen Galaxy Quest into what the fun of that world is. That Tropic Thunder, Galaxy Quest world. And also to continue the story of our original characters and have consequences from the first film.
"So it is mixing two casts. It’s separate kind of adventures that kind of merge, and I’m looking at this first season not as episodic, but as a serialized story. So, the only way I’ve been looking at it is, using everything from the first movie and making the reasons for everything not just – I want to avoid anything that could be viewed as a reboot for reboot’s sake. There are real reasons behind these choices – maybe too much so."
Hopefully, the series finds its footing again and gets back on track to production because I would really love to see this series happen. It sounds like Scheer has a good handle on it, as it'd be great to see the story continue all these years later.