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After checking in with J. Michael Straczynski earlier this month, Babylon 5 fans learned that there was a second Babylon 5 project that wasn’t just in the works… it was done and set to release in 2023. Of course, everything would have to remain hush-hush until an official announcement is made, which may still be some time away, considering whatever it is wouldn’t drop until next year. But where does that leave the fate of JMS’s “from-the-ground-up” Babylon 5 reboot pilot for The CW? Glad you asked because JMS took to Twitter today for a big update. Based on what he had to share, it looks like the end of the month could be decision time for the project (much like we’ve heard about the fourth season of DC’s Stargirl). And while the decision may appear to rest solely on the shoulders of incoming new CW owners Nexstar Media Group, JMS makes it clear that fans should also be hitting up Warner Bros. Television to let them know they support the project getting a series order.
“The fate of the #Babylon5 pilot may be decided [at the] end of this month. Though much of [The CW] was bought by [Nexstar Media Group], the decision also rests heavily with [Warner Bros TV]. If fans want to show their support for B5 & let them know you want this to happen, now is the time,” JMS wrote in his tweet from earlier today (along with the hashtag, #B5onCWin23). Here’s a look at what’s been out there from JMS heading into today’s call to arms:
JMS first revealed that the pilot had not been picked up but that Pedowitz spoke with him to confirm that the pilot was still in active development back in February of this year. JMS began his update by referencing the biggest news surrounding The CW over the past few weeks and how it would play a factor in “how many pilots, and what sort, could be picked up during this transition.” That transition? The rumored sale of the network by Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount Global (previously ViacomCBS) to Nexstar. As JMS wrote, “pre-existing deals” and prior “commitments” would then play heavily into the decision-making.
After realizing that the Babylon 5 pilot had not been picked up, JMS shared the outreach that Pedowitz did to explain the pilot’s status. “I received a call from Mark Pedowitz, President of The CW. (I should mention that Mark is a great guy and a long-time fan of B5. He worked for Warners when the show was first airing, and always made sure we got him copies of the episodes before they aired because he didn’t want to wait to see what happened next.),” JMS revealed. “Calling the pilot ‘a damned fine script,’ he [Pedowitz] said he was taking the highly unusual step of rolling the project and the pilot script into next year, keeping B5 in active development while the dust settles on the sale of the CW.”
Straczynski’s series proposal focuses on John Sheridan (Bruce Boxleitner in the original series), an Earthforce officer with a mysterious background who is assigned to Babylon 5, a five-mile-long space station in neutral space, a port of call for travelers, smugglers, corporate explorers, and alien diplomats at a time of uneasy peace and the constant threat of war. His arrival triggers a destiny beyond anything he could have imagined, as an exploratory Earth company accidentally triggers a conflict with a civilization a million years ahead of us, putting Sheridan and the rest of the B5 crew in the line of fire as the last, best hope for the survival of the human race.
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