'Babylon 5' will return as an animated movie from its original creator

We’ve known there was a reboot coming of 1990s sci-fi cult hit Babylon 5 for a while now, but we didn’t have any concrete details until today. Original series creator J. Michael Straczynski just announced that it’s an animated feature length film developed by Warner Bros. Animation.

Straczynski is quiet regarding plot details but did say that the movie is “classic B5” with a “raucous, heartfelt” story, going on to suggest that the cartoon feature is “the most B5-ish” project since the original series bowed out in 1998. He also said that the movie is completely finished and just awaiting release. In other words, it’ll likely be a matter of months, not years, before mega-fans get their eyeballs on this one.

To that end, the writer said that the official movie title, release date and other details will drop next week. If the film is “in the can”, as Straczynski says, here’s hoping we also get a trailer or at least some animation stills with that release date announcement. It’s still unknown which original series actors, if any, will reprise their roles for the film.

Babylon 5 was originally on the air for five seasons, which was followed up by five made-for-TV movies (the last one aired in 2002). The show has long-been praised for its commitment to hard sci-fi and revolving crew of motley characters, netting two Hugo Awards and a Saturn Award during its run. It’s primarily set on the titular space station, calling to mind rival sci-fi epic Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. There’s some discussion as to which series came first, as DS9 aired a full year before Babylon 5, but B5 was first to production. In recent years, series creator Straczynski has been heavily involved with shows like Sense8 and plenty of high-profile comic books.