‘Galaxy Quest’ TV Series in the Works at Paramount+
Galaxy Quest is going from a fictional series to an actual TV series.
Paramount+ is teaming with its studio counterpart, Paramount Television Studios, for a live-action adaptation of the 1999 cult favorite sci-fi spoof. Sources say the project is in the early development stages and a search is underway for a writer to pair with Mark Johnson, the Breaking Bad alum who exec produced the film and is returning for the scripted update. Johnson and his Gran Via Productions banner are the only execs currently attached to the project.
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Reps for Paramount+ and the Nicole Clemens-led Paramount Television Studios declined to comment.
This is not Paramount TV Studios’ first attempt to adapt Galaxy Quest for television. The studio first developed a new take on the beloved pic that starred Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub, Sam Rockwell, Daryl Mitchell and Enrico Colantoni as a ragtag group of actors from a space-focused canceled TV show in 2015. That incarnation, a follow-up to the movie, sold to Amazon and came with the film’s writer, Robert Gordon, attached to pen the script. Johnson and the pic’s director, Dean Parisot, were also involved in the project that never made it beyond the development stage.
Two years later, Paul Scheer took over writing the script from Gordon for Paramount TV Studios and Amazon. Plans for the Amazon take were put on hold after star Rickman’s death. “We were ready to sign up, and [then] Alan Rickman passed away and Tim Allen wasn’t available — he [had Last Man Standing] — and everybody’s schedule was all weird. It was going to shoot, like, right now. And how do you fill that void of Alan Rickman? That’s a hard void to fill,” Rockwell said in April 2016, three months after Rickman died of cancer.
Shortly after, Allen spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about the revival: “Galaxy Quest is really close to being resurrected in a very creative way. It’s closer than I can tell you, but I can’t say more than that. The real kicker is that Alan now has to be left out. It’s been a big shock on many levels.”
Amazon’s Galaxy Quest update never went beyond the development stages, with the title having been dormant for the past few years. Now, Paramount TV Studios is leading the charge to find a writer to come up with an idea to resurrect the feature for Paramount+. The streamer, coincidentally, is home to Alex Kurtzman’s Star Trek world, and Galaxy Quest is effectively a spoof of that franchise.
Johnson, meanwhile, has an overall deal with AMC Studios and is overseeing the cable network’s Anne Rice franchise. His credits include AMC’s Interview With the Vampire, Mayfair Witches, Lucky Hank, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul and Halt and Catch Fire. He’s repped by Ziffren Brittenham.
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