Sam Esmail's "Battlestar Galactica Restart" to NBCU Streaming Service – Deadline

The new NBCUniversal streaming service, which the company says would be called Peacock, will be launched in April 2020 with original content including serial restarts from the NBCU library. This list includes the reboot of a science fiction classic: a new Battlestar Galactica, billed as an original series of Mr. Robot and Back home executive producer Sam Esmail.

Little is known about the restart, but we hear that Esmail is a big fan of BG He told NBCU that it was one of the titles he wanted to address as part of the mega-new four-year global deal he signed with NBCU's Universal Content Productions earlier this year.

NBCU Universal produced the original created by Glen A. Larson Battlestar Galactica The series for ABC and NBC Universal TV produced the successful reorganization commissioned by Ronald D. Moore, which took place from 2004 to 2009 on the Sci-Fi channel of the time. Esmail had been in contact with Moore, who had blessed the idea, because of his passion for Moore's version of the series.

Esmail currently leads three series for UCP: Mr. Robot, that he created; anthologyy Briarpatch, featuring Rosario Dawson (both for USA Network); and Amazon Back home. He already has several series in development at the studio, including two limited series high-profile: Metropolis, based on Fritz Lang's 1927 science fiction classic, and Angelyne, with his wife Emmy Rossum.

But there was no word before today about Battlestar Galactica, the property created by Larson thanks to the success of the original Star wars. The plot was centered on the last group of humans about to disappear after a series of wars with a race of robots, the Cylons, destroying the twelve colonies. All humans are left in a group of remaining battleships, anchored in Galactica, while they search for their last option for their survival: a thirteenth legendary colony called Earth.

The series was broadcast on ABC only during one season in 1978-1979 with Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict and Lorne Greene as Commander Adama. It was followed by a short-lived sequel that lasted 10 episodes in 1980. But it spawned several series of books a board game and a video game because it acquired cult status, if not commercial success.

Moore revived the franchise with a three-hour mini-series on Sci-Fi Channel in 2003 produced by Universal TV and starring Edward James Olmos in the role of Commander of Perkins. Mary McConnell, Katee Sackoff and Grace Park also starred (the last two featuring the characters from Hatch and Benedict) and the success led to a series order. This Battlestar Galactica, a critical hit, ran four seasons. A sequel to the Moore series, Caprica, was canceled with five episodes remaining in his only season. Several television movies followed.

We do not know where in the BSG the Esmail universe would go with the recently announced restart. NBCU has announced many series related to Peacock with some similar details on Tuesday including the restart of Saved by the gong, from 30 rocks Executive Producer Tracey Wigfield and featuring members of the original cast, including Elizabeth Berkley and Mario Lopez, and Punky Brewster with Sun Moon Frye.

New and original series, films and library titles are all part of the Peacock mix. The streaming service will launch more than 15,000 hours of content, the company said.