‘Galaxy Quest’ TV Series On Hold Says Writer

It seems Amazon’s television adaptation of Galaxy Quest has been put on hold.

Paul Scheer is writing the series. He tells The Wrap that the firing of Amy Powell as president of Paramount TV has taken some of the wind out of the project.

“We currently are in a little bit of a hold pattern because our executive at Paramount, Amy Powell, was fired for some insensitive comments,” Scheer said.

Scheer likens the Galaxy Quest television series to the return of Star Wars in The Force Awakens in 2015.

“We want to create this kind of thing that feels like this epic sequel, but a continuation. I compared it to what The Force Awakens is to Star Wars. It is continuing a story but bringing in new characters,” he said. “My pitch for Galaxy Quest was, ‘How can we kind of blow this out and pay off things for the fans that love Galaxy Quest, but more importantly — and the thing that I really wanted to do is — appeal to the ‘me’ of now. Who’s the 18-year-old version of me that loved Galaxy Quest now? What would they want to see? Because I think that that is a movie that we haven’t really made yet: the Tropic Thunder in the world of modern-day science fiction.

“When Galaxy Quest came out, it was a niche thing, Star Trek fandom is a niche thing,” Scheer continued. “Now it is selling out Hall H in Comic-Con, so that’s kind of the impetus for the continuation.”

Galaxy Quest was a film about the cast of the in-universe sci-fi series that was clearly modeled on Star Trek. The cast is abducted by aliens who saw the TV series and believed it was depicting reality. They are forced to man an actual starship and try to save the day like their characters would.

The original film featured Sigourney Weaver, Tim Allen, Alan Rickman, and Sam Rockwell. Scheer has teased that members of the original cast will meet a new generation of Galaxy Quest actors in the series.

“So it is mixing two casts. It’s separate kind of adventures that kind of merge, and I’m looking at this first season not as episodic, but as a serialized story,” Scheer said. “So, the only way I’ve been looking at it is, using everything from the first movie and making the reasons for everything not just – I want to avoid anything that could be viewed as a reboot for reboot’s sake. There are real reasons behind these choices – maybe too much so.”

Are you still hopeful about the Galaxy Quest TV series? Let us know in the comments!