‘Battlestar Galactica’ Reboot: ‘The Sinner’ Creator to Serve as Showrunner

More than four years after sci-fi fans heard that a new version of Battlestar Galactica was in development at Peacock, the project has new talent attached.

Derek Simonds, creator of USA’s The Sinner, will serve as writer, executive producer, and showrunner of the updated Battlestar Galactica, according to Deadline.

Simonds’ other writing credits include the TV series The Astronaut Wives Club and When We Rise, and he was an executive producer of the 2017 film Call Me By Your Name.

Mike Pont/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival

The new version of Battlestar Galactica is also executive-produced by Sam Esmail and Chad Hamilton, through their banner Esmail Corp, with the backing of Universal Content Productions.

Esmail told Deadline in 2022 that he and his colleagues were “working” on the new BSG. “In fact, I just read a great outline, and it’s in great shape. Because the strike is over now … we’re back into developing it.”

The original Battlestar Galactica, created by Glen A. Larson, debuted on ABC in 1978 and starred Richard Hatch as Captain Apollo, Dirk Benedict as Lieutenant Starbuck, and Lorne Greene as Commander Adama. Amid a war against the robot Cylons, those characters were three of the last human survivors venturing to find a mythical planet called Earth. The show lasted one season and begat a 10-episode spinoff called Galactica 1980 two years later.

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In 2003, Sci-Fi Channel presented another version of Battlestar Galactica, a miniseries developed by Ronald D. Moore and starring Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sackhoff, Jamie Bamber, James Callis, Tricia Helfer, and Grace Park. That miniseries turned into a full-fledged series that spawned a spin-off, two TV movies, and multiple web series.

As for other versions of the space opera, screenwriter Simon Kinberg signed on the dotted line to write and produce a Battlestar Galactica film for Universal in 2020, as The Hollywood Reporter announced at the time.

Kinberg told Collider in 2022 that there was “synergy” and “constant communication” between his project and Esmail’s TV show. “We’ve become close and been having a really good time together, and there will be, for lack of a better phrase, and it’s an overused phrase, a shared universe,” he added.