The NEXT last, best hope for peace? (BABYLON 5: TV Series 1993-1998) Reboot ????

BABYLON 5 is apparently getting a reboot on the CW
https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/babylon-5-reboot-the-cw-j-michael-straczynski-1235075236/

In JMS' words
"
To answer all the questions, yes, it’s true, Babylon 5 is now in active development as a series for the CW.  We have some serious fans over at the network, and they’re eager to see this show happen.  I’m hip deep into writing the pilot now, and will be running the series upon pickup.  The network understands the uniqueness of Babylon 5 and is giving me a great deal of latitude with the storytelling.

As noted in the announcement, this is a reboot from the ground up rather than a continuation, for several reasons.  Heraclitus wrote, “You cannot step in the same river twice, for the river has changed, and you have changed.”  In the years since B5, I’ve done a ton of other TV shows and movies, adding an equal number of tools to my toolbox, all of which I can bring to bear on the question: if I were creating Babylon 5 today, for the first time, knowing what I now know as a writer, what would it look like?  How would it use all the storytelling tools and technological resources available in 2021 that were not on hand then?  How can it be used to reflect the world in which we live, and the questions we are asking and confronting every day?  Fans regularly point out how prescient the show was and is of our current world; it would be fun to take a shot at looking further down the road.

So we will not be retelling the same story in the same way because of what Heraclitus said about the river.  There would be no fun and no surprises.  Better to go the way of Westworld or Battlestar Galactica where you take the original elements that are evergreens and put them in a blender with a ton of new, challenging ideas, to create something both fresh and familiar.

To those who have asked why we’re not just doing a continuation…for a network series like this, it can’t be done because over half our cast are still stubbornly on the other side of the Rim.  How do you telling continuing story of our original Londo without the original Vir?  Or G’Kar?  How do you tell Sheridan’s story without Delenn?  Or the story of B5 without Franklin?  Garibaldi?  Zack? 

The original Babylon 5 was ridiculously innovative: the first to use CGI to create ships and characters, and among the very first to shoot widescreen with a vigorous 5.1 mix.  Most of all, for the first time, Babylon 5 introduced viewers accustomed to episodic television to the concept of a five-year arc with a pre-planned beginning, middle and end…creating a brand new paradigm for television storytelling that has subsequently become the norm. That tradition for innovation will continue in this new iteration, and I hope to create additional new forms of storytelling that will further push the television medium to the edge of what’s possible.

Let me conclude by just saying how supportive and enthusiastic everyone at the CW has been and is being with this project.  They understand the unique position Babylon 5 occupies both in television and with its legions of fans, and are doing everything they can to ensure the maximum in creative freedom, a new story that will bring in new viewers while honoring all that has come before."

https://gizmodo.com/j-michael-straczynski-explains-why-babylon-5-had-to-be-1847759308





https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/27/22696836/babylon-5-reboot-j-michael-straczynski-warner-bros-the-cw


https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/babylon-5-the-cw-reboot-things-we-hope-to-see


Babylon 5 - Returning with new series from JMS!





They forgot Michael O'Hare???




R.I.P. Michael O'Hare (Babylon 5's Jeffrey Sinclair)

Even though the new show is on hold due to writers' strike now, the animated movie has already been completed already and is coming soon
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/babylon-5-the-road-home-voice-cast-unveiled-1235483312/
‘Babylon 5: The Road Home’ Voice Cast Unveiled (Exclusive)
J. Michael Straczynski's project brings back the original stars as well as new additions.


BY AARON COUCH

MAY 10, 2023 9:00AM
A week ago, Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski revealed that a new animated film from the franchise was in the works, and now more details are coming to the surface.

Babylon 5: The Road Home will continue the story he started in the 1990s, with the logline stating, “Travel across the galaxy with John Sheridan as he unexpectedly finds himself transported through multiple timelines and alternate realities in a quest to find his way back home. Along the way he reunites with some familiar faces, while discovering cosmic new revelations about the history, purpose, and meaning of the Universe.”


Returning Babylon 5 castmembers include Bruce Boxleitner as John Sheridan, Claudia Christian as Susan Ivanova, Peter Jurasik as Londo Mollari, Bill Mumy as Lennier, Tracy Scoggins as Elizabeth Lochley and Patricia Tallman as Lyta Alexander.

Straczynski wrote the film and executive produces. Matt Peters, known for Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons, directs, with Rick Morales serving as supervising producer. Sam Register is the executive producer on the project.

The voice cast also includes Paul Guyet as Zathras and Jeffery Sinclair, Anthony Hansen as Michael Garibaldi, Mara Junot as Reporter and Computer Voice, Phil LaMarr as Dr. Stephen Franklin, Piotr Michael as David Sheridan, Andrew Morgado as G’Kar and Rebecca Riedy as Delenn.

Babylon 5 began life as a film that aired on TV in 1993, and the ratings were strong enough that Warners ordered a series that ran five seasons and 110 episodes. Straczynski has continued expanding the story of Babylon 5, a 5-mile-long space station seen as neutral ground for various alien species to interact amid the backdrop of a threat of war. It spawned multiple feature-length TV films, comics and novels, as well as the spinoff series Crusade.

Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment are plotting a summer release for the new animated feature.

Straczynski has plugged the new film with words such as “raucous,” “heartfelt” and “nonstop,” and called it a “love letter to the fans.”

Babylon 5: The Road Home official trailer