The planned reboot of “Battlestar Galactica” for the Peacock streaming service has found its showrunner in the form of Michael Lesslie who will create, write and executive produce the series.
Lesslie was the lead writer and showrunner of AMC’s acclaimed Park Chan-wook directed mini-series adaptation of John le Carre’s “The Little Drummer Girl”. He also penned the scripts for Justin Kurzel’s “Macbeth” and “Assassin’s Creed” films.
Here he’ll join “Mr. Robot” and “Homecoming” executive producer Sam Esmail on the project, the reboot coming from Esmail’s overall deal with NBCU’s Universal Content Productions last year.
The original 1970s series centered on the last group of humans on the verge of extinction after a series of wars with a robot race of their creation, The Cylons, destroyed the Twelve Colonies. All the humans are left in one remaining battleship group – anchored by the Galactica – as they search for their last option for survival: a fabled Thirteenth Colony known as Earth.
The property was rebooted by celebrated “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” writer/producer Ronald D. Moore who turned it into the critically acclaimed four season series for Syfy which ran from 2003-2009. That version starred Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sackoff, Jaimie Bamber, Grace Park, Lucy Lawless and more. Moore has since gone on to serve as showrunner on Starz’s hit “Outlander”.
Lesslie’s take is said to be a whole new iteration of the property rather than a revival of either previous version.
Source: Deadline
