Peacock's Battlestar Galactica Reboot Lands New Showrunner

Peacock's Battlestar Galactica reboot has a new showrunner. Deadline reports that Derek Simonds will write and executive produce the series while serving as its showrunner. Simonds is best known as the creator of The Sinner. Emsail Corp, the company of Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail, is producing the Battlestar Galactica reboot through Universal Studio Group's UCP. Peacock announced Esmail's reimagining of Battlestar Galactica in 2019. Esmail previously recruited Michael Lesslie as Battlestar Galactica's showrunner, but Lesslie later exited the project. Esmail, a self-professed fan of the Battlestar Galactica franchise, and Chad Hamilton are executive producers on the series for Esmail Corp.

"I'm a huge fan of Ronald Moore's Battlestar, but I don't know if I'm great at hard sci-fi like that," Esmail told The Hollywood Reporter in 2020. "I love it. I'm a fan of it. But I knew early on that we were going to have to bring somebody in to run the room and to write the scripts."

Esmail has also hinted that the new Battlestar Galactica series may experiment with unconventional release strategies. "There might be episodes that are longer than others," Esmail said. "There might be a three-episode arc. There might be a standalone episode that's a half-hour long. We don't want to put guardrails up at all. We want to do whatever's best for each episode. And because I do believe in the episode model, I maybe share the frustration some critics have when showrunners go on and say 'Well, it's a 10-hour movie.' That's silly. It's not. What we're doing here is every episode you have the opportunity to change up the tone, to change up the story, to change up the point of view. So we're going to lean into that, not shy away from it."

What is Battlestar Galactica?

Glen A. Larson created the original Battlestar Galactica television in 1978 when space opera was all the rage in the wake of the box office success of Star Wars. The series follows the interstellar adventures of a ragtag space fleet carrying the remnants of a planet-spanning human civilization destroyed by the Cylons, a race of cybernetic beings. The show ran for one season, ending in 1979, but returned with a 10-episode sequel titled Battlestar 1980 a year later. Despite its brief time on the air, Battlestar Galactica established a cult fandom and became the basis of many licensed comic books, novels, toys, and other merchandise.

A Battlestar Galactica reboot, helmed by Star Trek: The Next Generation alum Ronald D. Moore, reimagined the series for the 21st century. The new Battlestar Galactica reboot launched with a miniseries released on Syfy in 2003, followed by a series in 2004 that ran for four seasons full of tension and mystery. The modern Battlestar Galactica is still widely regarded as one of the best sci-fi television shows ever. The series spawned two made-for-television movies (Razor in 2007 and Blood & Chrome in 2009), and a prequel series titled Caprica, co-created by Moore. Caprica launched in 2010, running for a single 19-episode season.