Tim Allen Offers Status Update on GALAXY QUEST 2 and Says the Script Is Fabulous

Tim Allen is still holding out for hope that one day the long-awaited Galaxy Quest sequel will get made. The project was in development for years and at a point where it was close to actually happening. At one point it was being developed as a TV series, and it was picked up by Amazon. Then Alan Rickman passed away. After that, the project was put on the shelf.

Well, it seems like Allen will never give up, never surrender on the sequel. During a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, the actor offered an update on the sequel saying that it has a “fabulous script” and that it’s currently in a “holding pattern.” He also shares that they have a way to honor Rickman if the project does move forward:

“I haven’t reached out to anybody in the last week, but we talk about it all the time. There is constantly a little flicker of a butane torch that we could reboot it with. Without giving too much away, a member of Alan [Rickman]’s Galaxy Quest family could step in and the idea would still work.”

Original director Dean Parisot and co-writer Robert Gordon were developing the sequel, and that story would have focused on the relationship of Allen’s character Jason Nesmith, aka Commander Peter Quincy Taggart, and Rickman’s Alexander Dane, aka Dr. Lazarus. Allen teased:

“It’s a fabulous script. But it had a hiccup because the wonderful Alan Rickman passed. So it all got very sad and dark because [the script] was all about [Lazarus] and Taggart. It was all about their story. It doesn’t mean they can’t reboot the idea, and the underlying story was hysterical and fun.”

I would have loved to see that story, but with Rickman no longer with us, it seems like a story that would be extremely hard to tell even if they did bring a family member of the character into the story. Regardless, Allen is super optimistic about the script and thinks it can be updated in a way that can honor Rickman, but without him.

He goes on to reveal that plot of the sequel also revolves around light-speed space travel, and it would find the crew out-of-sync with the rest of the planet:

“[The sequel] could happen now or in five years and it doesn’t matter at all because when you travel at light speed, when you come back it can be like only 20 minutes, but 20 years have passed, right? That part is wonderful for the sci-fi freak in me. But right now it’s in a holding pattern.”

While it would be strange to watch a Galaxy Quest sequel without Rickman in the role of Dr. Lazarus, I’m such a huge fan of the first film that I can’t help but be curious about seeing how this sequel plays out.