Ever since Battlestar Galactica was rebooted back in 2004 and went on to become one of the most celebrated television sci-fi series of all time, Universal Pictures has been attempting to bring the series to the big screen. The studio’s efforts now appear to be making some headway, as the project has reportedly found a new screenwriter.
Lisa Joy, the writer, creator, and producer of the upcoming Westworld series for HBO, will pen a new screenplay for the Battlestar Galactica movie, which is expected to reboot the franchise once again.
Joy’s attachment to the film was first reported by EW, with the outlet also indicating that filmmaker Francis Lawrence — who directed the last three installments of The Hunger Games franchise — is circling the project as a potential director. Nothing official regarding Joy or Lawrence has been confirmed by the studio at this point, however.
Set in a far-flung future, the Battlestar Galactica series chronicles the experiences of the remnants of human civilization as they journey through the universe after being nearly wiped out in a war with a robot race known as the Cylons. Relegated to life aboard a fleet of spaceships led by the powerful warship Galactica, the surviving humans live under constant threat from the Cylons while trying to rebuild society among the stars and locate the mysterious planet called “Earth” that’s believed to be their last, best hope for a new home.
The original Battlestar Galactica series was created by Glen A. Larson and premiered in 1978. It was followed by the short-lived spinoff series Galactica: 1980. Years later, Ronald D. Moore and David Eick rebooted the series for SyFy, and the four-season saga that premiered as a television miniseries in 2003 went on to win a long list of prestigious honors, including a Peabody Award, the Television Critics Association’s Program of the Year Award, and a spot in Time’s list of the “100 Best TV Shows of All-Time.”
Previous attempts to bring Battlestar Galactica to the big screen have had X-Men franchise director Bryan Singer attached to the project, only to fall into development limbo over time. Transcendence screenwriter Jack Paglen penned one of the early drafts of the script for that film.
There’s no timeline at this point for the Battlestar Galactica movie to begin production.
