Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail is rebooting Battlestar Galactica for NBCU's new streaming service

With Mr. Robot and Homecoming, producer Sam Esmail created two of the most original shows of the past few years. He introduced the world to eventual Best Actor winner Rami Malek, and successfully brought Julia Roberts to TV. For his next act, Esmail is going back to the future by producing a new Battlestar Galactica series for NBC’s new streaming service Peacock.

The new Battlestar Galactica was announced as part of the overall initial lineup for Peacock, but it was easy to lose track of amidst the Saved by the Bell reboot news and the general fact that pop culture obsessives now have yet another streaming service to keep track of if they want to keep watching shows like 30 Rock.

Esmail’s Battlestar Galactica will be the third series by that name. The first, created by Glen A. Larson in 1978, only lasted for one season. The more popular iteration came in 2004 from showrunner Ron Moore, and used its plotline of robotic Cylon saboteurs to parallel the then-incipient War on Terror. See below for some of EW’s recent reflections on that series and its lasting legacy.

In a tweet on Tuesday morning, Esmail clarified that his Battlestar Galactica “will NOT be a remake” of Moore’s show.

“Why mess with perfection?” Esmail wrote. “Instead, we’ll explore a new story within the mythology while staying true to the spirit of Battlestar.”

Peacock is set to launch in April 2020.

This post has been updated with Esmail’s tweet.

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