Bruce Boxleitner Addresses The BABYLON 5 Revival That Creator J. Michael Straczynski Has Been Developing

There’s been some talk of a Babylon 5 revival over the past couple of years. Creator J. Michael Straczynski has been actively developing it, but the project has yet to be officially picked up. A lot of fans have been pretty excited about this project, but unfortunately, there hasn’t been any update on what is currently going on with it.

Series star, Bruce Boxleitner, who played Captain John J. Sheridan in the series was recently asked about the revival, and he said: "I haven't heard a thing. I haven't heard a thing. I know there was big corporate shakeups going on at Warner Brothers and CW and all that, so I don't know how it's played out."

Yeah, those big changes at the WB and CW probably didn’t help any progress that was being made behind the scenes. Last year, the project was confirmed by The CW chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz, saying:

“It is very much in active development, I personally spoke with Straczynski back when we picked up the pilot. I’m a huge fan of Babylon 5, on a personal basis, I’ve seen every episode of the series. I’ve known Joe for a long, long time. I’d love to bring back that story in some shape or form, I think it’s perfect for the CW.”

That definitely sounded like a promising update! Around the same time Straczynski offered the following update:

“Calling the [reboot] pilot ‘a damned fine script,’ he said he was taking the highly unusual step of rolling the project and the pilot script into next year, keeping B5 in active development while the dust settles on the [prospective] sale of the CW. Here’s the bottom line: Yesterday, Babylon 5 was in active development at the CW and Warner Bros. for fall 2022. Today, Babylon 5 is in active development at the CW and Warner Bros. for fall 2023. That is the only difference.”

A few months after that, Straczynski was calling for fan support to help get the project the green lit. Straczynski tweeted at the time:

"It's never been my way to ask B5 fans and followers for a solid on behalf of the show.  Because I feel it's my role, and the role of the show, to be in service to you, not the other way around. But tomorrow, for the first time in 22 years, I will ask."

He then asked fans to show their support for the Babylon 5 reboot on social media by tweeting about it in an attempt to sway Warner Bros. TV’s final decision:

"The fate of the #Babylon5 pilot may be decided end of this month,Though much of @TheCW was bought by @NXSTMediaGroup the decision also rests heavily with @WarnerbrosTV. If fans want to show their support for B5 & let them know you want this to happen, now is the time #B5onCWin23."

There has been no update from Straczynski since. That’s probably not a good sign, but I imagine that the creator hasn’t given up on the project and that he’s still trying to push it forward.

The new iteration of Babylon 5 is described as a “from-the-ground-up reboot.” In the series, “John Sheridan, an Earthforce officer with a mysterious background, is assigned to Babylon 5, a five-mile-long space station in neutral space, a port of call for travelers, smugglers, corporate explorers and alien diplomats at a time of uneasy peace and the constant threat of war. His arrival triggers a destiny beyond anything he could have imagined, as an exploratory Earth company accidentally triggers a conflict with a civilization a million years ahead of us, putting Sheridan and the rest of the B5 crew in the line of fire as the last, best hope for the survival of the human race.”

Do you think that the Babylon 5 revival will ever happen?