Around the turn of the millennium, science fiction TV was undergoing a period of intense evolution. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, shows were turning towards a serialized format just as cable networks began taking bigger creative swings. It was the cusp of the prestige television era, and sci-fi was getting bigger, weirder, and more cinematic. In the decades since, many defining sci-fi series from the era have returned in some form. We’ve gotten an X-Files revival and even a sequel to Star Trek: The Next Generation (Star Trek: Picard), but there remains at least one major show that still hasn’t gotten its modern-era reboot.
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On March 19th, 1999, Farscape premiered in the US on the Sci-Fi Channel. The series was a wild space opera created by Rockne S. O’Bannon and produced in collaboration with The Jim Henson Company. Starring Ben Browder as astronaut John Crichton and Claudia Black as Aeryn Sun, Farscape carved out a place for itself as one of the most interesting sci-fi shows, not just of the era, but of all time. It was somehow a psychedelic action-adventure epic, a romantic character drama, and a campy cult classic, with brilliant creature design. It was so singular, in fact, that even after Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars wrapped up the story in 2004, fans are still dying for a reboot.
Farscape Was the Wildest Show of the Late 1990s
When Farscape aired its pilot, “Premiere,” in March of 1999, we were introduced to Ben Browder’s American astronaut, testing an experimental spacecraft called the Farscape One. During an orbital slingshot maneuver meant to test human spaceflight, a wormhole opens, violently pulling Crichton across the universe. He emerges in the middle of a prison escape, stranded among alien fugitives aboard the biomechanical Leviathan ship Moya. Among them are warrior Ka D’Argo (Anthony Simcoe), fugitive priestess Pa’u Zotoh Zhaan (Virginia Hey), tiny Dominar Rygel XVI (voiced by the late Jonathan Hardy), and Pilot, a fully animatronic creature permanently bonded to the ship itself. The Peacekeepers, a militaristic regime led initially by Captain Bialar Crais (Lani Tupu), immediately pursue them, setting up the chase that will drive the more serialized aspects of the early series.
Yet, while the premise seems like standard fare for sci-fi, Farscape was aggressively strange, right off the bat. Unlike the polished utopia of Star Trek or the aim toward some militaristic realism of contemporaries like Stargate SG-1, Farscape fully embraced the chaos and camp of its concept. The aliens from the Jim Henson Creature Shop were often fully emotional leads, performed through advanced puppetry that allowed for a wide array of expressions. Rygel alone required multiple puppeteers.
The writing of the show was also very psychedelic and psychological. Crichton’s unravelling as he struggles to adapt, particularly in episodes like “Crackers Don’t Matter,” “A Human Reaction,” and later “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” depicted hallucinations almost more akin to experimental cinema than your average space adventure. In fact, throughout the series, writers often threw out genre rules entirely, transcending limitations and assumptions to deliver something unexpected and wholly original.
By the early 2000s, Farscape had become both critically respected and fiercely beloved by fans, earning Saturn Awards and pushing the Sci-Fi Channel toward more ambitious productions. Its cancellation in 2003 after four seasons shocked viewers and even the cast, sparking one of the earliest internet fan campaigns to save a TV show. The movement ultimately led to the 2004 miniseries Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars, which concluded the story. But with a universe so big, and a story so original, it’s no wonder fans are still waiting for their reboot.
Would a Farscape Reboot or Revival Work in the Streaming Era?
The question as to why we likely haven’t seen a reboot of the iconic space opera has a lot to do with ownership. Farscape was produced by The Jim Henson Company alongside Hallmark Entertainment and originally aired on the Sci-Fi Channel (now SYFY), meaning the rights situation involves multiple stakeholders. The Jim Henson Company maintains most of the control over the intellectual property and the iconic creature design, which is a factor that both protects the show’s legacy and complicates any new development.
Over the years, creator Rockne O’Bannon has remained active in television, contributing to projects like Defiance, while Brian Henson (Jim Henson’s son and an executive producer on Farscape) has repeatedly expressed interest in revisiting the franchise if the right opportunity emerges. Discussions about revivals have surfaced periodically since the 2010s, especially during the streaming boom when niche fandoms had a path laid out for them again.
The cast has also never strayed too far. Browder and Black reunited years later on Stargate SG-1. Black has since built a major voice acting career, including roles in Dragon Age and Uncharted. While Browder has popped up in a few other things, he still frequently attends conventions where Farscape (not to mention the Stargate franchise) remains a headline attraction. Many surviving cast members have openly supported the continuation of Farscape in some form. The timing arguably makes more sense now than ever as modern streaming platforms now focus entirely on the bingable, serialized storytelling that Farscape was pioneering back in the day.
The point of contention for some fans, however, is the overuse of CGI and VFX in science fiction (and all TV and movies) today. A loyal reboot in keeping with the wild spirit of the original Farscape would need to resist the allure of easy, shiny computer-generated creatures and invest the time and resources required for practical effects. Thankfully, given that The Jim Henson Company still owns the rights, we’re not likely to see a lazy, Disney-fied reboot any time soon. If it does get rebooted, Brian Henson is more likely to hire six puppeteers to resurrect Rygel XVI, though Jonathan Hardy, the voice behind the beloved Dominar, passed away in 2012, meaning they’d also need to find someone new to fill those iconic shoes.
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