EXCLUSIVE: Peacock’s reboot of Battlestar Galactica has found its world builder.

Michael Lesslie, who was the lead writer and showrunner of AMC’s spy drama The Little Drummer Girl and penned scripts for Macbeth and Assassin’s Creed, is to create, write and exec produce the series.

The new Battlestar Galactica comes from Mr Robot and Homecoming exec producer Sam Esmail, who struck a big overall deal with NBCU’s Universal Content Productions last year. It is produced by Esmail Corp and UCP with Esmail and Chad Hamilton also exec producing.

NBCU’s Universal produced the original Glen A. Larson-created Battlestar Galactica series for ABC, and UCP, then known as Universal Cable Productions, produced the successful Ronald D. Moore revamp that ran from 2004-2009 on the then-Sci-Fi Channel.



The original Battlestar Galactica centered on the last group of humans on the verge of extinction after a series of wars with a robot race, The Cylons, destroyed the Twelve Colonies. All the humans are left in one remaining battleship group, anchored by the Galactica, as they search for their last option for survival: a fabled Thirteenth Colony known as Earth.

The series ran on ABC for just one season in 1978-79 starring Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict and Lorne Greene as Commander Adama, followed by a short-lived sequel that lasted 10 episodes in 1980. But it did spawn several book and comics series, a board game and a video game as it gained cult status, if not commercial success.

Moore resuscitated the franchise with a three-hour Sci-Fi Channel miniseries in 2003 produced by UCP and starring Edward James Olmos in Greene’s commander role. Mary McConnell, Katee Sackoff and Grace Park also starred and the success led to a series order. That Battlestar Galactica, a critical hit, ran four seasons. A prequel spinoff to Moore’s series, Caprica, was canceled with five episodes remaining in its sole season. Several TV movies followed. Lesslie will work up a reimagined world.

Leslie’s other credits include writing a contemporary screenplay of Hamlet for Riz Ahmed to star in, for Netflix. He also has a number of projects for Storyteller Productions, which he set up with PJ van Sandwijk. Storyteller’s first feature documentary film, the iconic director Errol Morris’ take on Stephen K. Bannon and titled American Dharma, premiered in 2018, and its drama and documentary includes projects with the likes of Ron Howard, Doug Liman, William Nicholson, Guy Ritchie, Errol Morris, Steven Knight, Alex Gibney and Polly Stenham.



Leslie said, “I am beyond excited to be taking on this iconic and inspirational show. As a lifelong devotee, I know that the possibilities of Battlestar Galactica’sworld are infinite and that each iteration has raised the bar for epic and intelligent sci-fi storytelling. The teams at Esmail Corp, UCP and Peacock are second to none, and I already know that we are going to honour Glen A Larson and Ronald D Moore’s landmark series and break new boundaries with our own vision. It’s a dream come true – one I just can’t wait to share with fans, new and old alike. So say we all.”

Lesslie is represented by Grandview, Cassarotto, and Frankfurt Kurnit.

Battlestar Galactica reboot is “progressing nicely”

JULY 18, 2020 BY GARY COLLINSON


Last year, NBCUniversal announced that a reboot of the beloved sci-fi franchise Battlestar Galactica is in the works from Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail, with the project securing a showrunner back in May in Michael Lesslie (Assassin’s Creed, The Little Drummer Girl).

The new series is being eyed as one of the key originals for NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service, and Bill McGoldrick, President of Original Content at NBCU Entertainment Networks, has offered a brief update on the show’s progress, as well as reassuring fans that “we want to do it great service”.

“I have seen an outline that we’re excited about,” said McGoldrick .” “It’s obviously a big undertaking and we’re aware of the importance of that IP and we’re being pretty deliberate but it’s progressing nicely. [It] comes with a great deal of responsibility and we want to do it great service.”

SEE ALSO: All This Has Happened Before: Remembering Battlestar Galactica

According to Deadline, Lesslie is currently working on the draft script for the reboot, which will be delivered to Peacock within the next couple of months, after which the plan is to establish the writers’ room for the new series.

And where are you with your Battlestar Galactica adaptation?

We have a great outline and we’re probably going to go to pilot soon.

That’s another example of a show you aren’t running. How come?

Because I know myself as a filmmaker and I don’t know if hard sci-fi is something I’m going to be the A-plus person to pull off. And Battlestar needs the cream of the crop. But I love the world and what Ron Moore did with the [2004 version] — how it was such an allegory for what we were going through at the time of 9/11. I knew that if we bring in the right partners to write and film the show, I could be on that other end as a person of guidance to say, “OK, I think this is working; it’s the same magic I felt watching the Ron Moore version.”

As the world changes, does the show’s take on it change with it?

Yeah, and the world is changing way too fast for us. I mean, when we started working on it, I obviously was aware of AI, but now, four or five years later, it’s in the public consciousness and now that’s so influential in how we’re going to tell the story. The allegory piece is something that is crystallized in a different way, too. The focus is the same, which is the fear of tech and how it might take over, but this idea of just “the robots are going to be our overlords” is a very facile and overly simplistic way of looking at it. Now that the audience is more sophisticated about the consequences, I think we have to match that with Battlestar.

That’s another example of a show you aren’t running. How come?

Because I know myself as a filmmaker and I don’t know if hard sci-fi is something I’m going to be the A-plus person to pull off. And Battlestar needs the cream of the crop. But I love the world and what Ron Moore did with the [2004 version] — how it was such an allegory for what we were going through at the time of 9/11. I knew that if we bring in the right partners to write and film the show, I could be on that other end as a person of guidance to say, “OK, I think this is working; it’s the same magic I felt watching the Ron Moore version.”