A “Babylon 5” animated movie is in the works from original series creator J. Michael Straczynski.
“BABYLON 5 ANIMATED MOVIE [sic] coming from Warner Bros. Animation & WB Home Entertainment!” Straczynski announced via Twitter. “Classic B5: raucous, heartfelt, nonstop, a ton of fun through time and space & a love letter to the fans. Movie title, release date and other details coming one week from today.”
Straczynski further said that the film is “already finished and in the can” and that “it feels the most B5-ish of anything we’ve done since the original show.”
The original “Babylon 5” was produced by Warner Bros. Television. The series ran in syndication and on TNT for five seasons, 110 episodes, and seven TV movies, including the 1993 pilot film. The show is considered one of the best sci-fi series ever made by many critics and won numerous awards throughout its run, including two Hugo Awards and a Saturn Award.
The show took place on the titular Babylon 5, a five-mile-long space station in neutral space, a port of call for travelers, smugglers, corporate explorers and alien diplomats at a time of uneasy peace and the constant threat of war. The cast for the series included Bruce Boxleitner, Claudia Christian, Jerry Doyle, Mira Furlan, and Richard Briggs. Straczynski followed up “Babylon 5” with the TNT spinoff series “Crusade.” The “Babylon 5” franchise also includes novels, short stories, and comic books. A reboot series was announced as being in development at The CW in 2021, but there have been no updates on the project since.
Straczynski’s other work includes the Netflix series “Sense8,” which he co-created and showran along with the Wachowskis. His feature writing credits include the Angelina Jolie-led drama “Changeling,” the action-thriller “Ninja Assassin,” the story for the first “Thor” film, and the story for “World War Z.” He is also an accomplished comic book writer, having worked for DC and Marvel.
