It’s now been 21 years since Galaxy Quest came out, and we’ve still yet to get any kind of follow-up. To be fair to the creators, though, a revival was in the works last decade before the late, great Alan Rickman passed away. Seeing as his turn as Alexander Dane AKA Dr. Lazarus was such a key reason for the original movie’s success, the project was halted out of respect for him. But every now and then, we’re told that there’s still a chance that a sequel, probably in the form of a TV series, could happen.
Sigourney Weaver – who played Gwen DeMarco AKA Lt. Tawny Madison of the NSE Protector – has given us an update this week on where the Galaxy Quest TV show stands. While speaking with Collider, she offered up a brief history of how plans for a follow-up have developed and hit various snags over the years before revealing that she believes the idea is being dusted off.
“They were in the middle of reviving it. First of all, there was another script. There was a sequel written by our writer, Bob Gordon. The movie was so witty, and when they released it, DreamWorks cut a lot of the wittiest scenes because they wanted to put it out as a children’s movie at Christmas. I think that was disappointing for everybody, so he decided not to let them have the second one. However, it was about four years ago, Bob and (producer) Mark Johnson and the whole group, started to develop a series. We lost the wonderful Alan [Rickman] unexpectedly, so that was put in mothballs, but I think they are finally now reviving it,”
Weaver then gave a tease of the storyline for the show and it sounds like it’ll continue the meta angle of the first film by having the original Galaxy Quest crew brought back for a reboot alongside a younger cast. She also described Rickman as “irreplaceable,” but suggested that the producers are looking for someone else to play Lazarus.
“It will be the story of the old ancient Galaxy Questers being brought into this series with another young cast,” she continued. “I haven’t read them, so I don’t know the details, but I think that everyone in Galaxy Quest would love to participate because it was such a wonderful experience for us. How they will find someone to play Alan’s part, don’t know, but I think that they have a very good idea of who to do it. He’s irreplaceable, eternally. I think there may be good news on that front, but I haven’t heard about it in these six months, so when it’s gonna happen, I’m not sure.”
Well, good luck to whoever has to fill the gigantic shoes of Alan Rickman in that role. Apparently, the showrunners have a “very good idea” for an actor to do the job, but it’s hard to imagine anyone embodying the embittered, sarcastic sci-fi star as well as Rickman. On the other hand, if they are finally making headway on the GQ TV show, then that’s news to celebrate.
Tim Allen – who featured as Shatner-alike Jason Nesmith AKA Captain Peter Quincy Taggart – has likewise said that he hasn’t given up hope that a Galaxy Quest revival will happen. Hopefully we can count on Tony Shalhoub, Daryl Mitchell and (especially) Sam Rockwell being willing to return, too.
