The Babylon 5 reboot is still on the table at the CW after several rounds of housecleaning prior to the network’s final sale to entertainment giant Nextar on August 22, 2022, According to creator and showrunner J. Michael Straczynski, however, things are still up in the air, so he’s started a social media campaign to show the decision makers that Nextar that this is a something fans are wildly excited about.
“The fate of the #Babylon5 pilot may be decided end of this month,” Straczynski wrote on Twitter. “Though much of @TheCW was bought by @NXSTMediaGroup the decision also rests heavily with @WarnerbrosTV. If fans want to show their support for B5 & let them know you want this to happen, now is the time.”
Straczynski made the hashtag #B5onCWin23 into the rallying point for fans to prove their desire to see the reboot, and the fans have been responding in thunderous voice. The hashtag became the top trending one on Twitter at one point (notably outperforming the death of Queen Elizabeth), so here’s to hoping that The CW and Warner Bros. TV are listening.
Apart from the fact that the new Babylon 5 show will be a “from-the-ground-up” reboot, we don’t know a lot. Certain to be updated are the show’s CGI graphics, groundbreaking for the time but showing its age now.
With so many of the original cast having passed away in the 30 years since the show’s original run, Straczynski will also have to start over with a completely new cast. One or two of the original actors are still around, though, notably Claudia Christian (Susan Ivanova), Patricia Tallman (Lyta Alexander) Peter Jurasik (Londo Mollari) and Bruce Boxleitner (Captain John Sheridan). Unfortunately, a lot of the original cast have simply passed away, the most recent departure being the much beloved Mira Furlan.
The series is apparently at a critical juncture; the CW is obviously looking for evidence that the viewing public is really hot to see a the reboot of Babylon 5 move forward, and the best way Stracynski has to prove it to them is in social media. Use the hashtag #B5onCWin23 in your posts to show your support, and the tidal wave of affection for the series and the anticipation for the reboot will become transparently evident to the people who are making the final decisions. If this works, we just might see Babylon 5 lighting up our screens in 2023.
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[Reprinted by permission from SCIFI.radio]
