Douglas Confirms Battlestar Movie

Following up on Grace Park's revelation that a Battlestar Galactica TV movie was in the works, cast member Aaron Douglas has confirmed that the process to get it made is under way and provided some new details.

Douglas, who plays former flight deck chief and "sleeper Cylon" Galen Tyrol, told The Chief's Deck that one TV movie (and apparently only one, at least for now) is slated to start production in September. Like Razor, the as-yet unnamed movie will be set in the past: in this case, during the time-frame of the show's first season.

Edward James Olmos is slated to direct. Olmos has directed "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down" (1x09), "Taking a Break from All Your Worries" (3x13), and "Escape Velocity" (4x04), and [according to IMDb at the time of writing] is directing the extended season 4 finale as well.

The writer is Jane Espenson, a staff writer/producer whose previous credits include "The Passage" (3x10), "Dirty Hands" (3x16), "Escape Velocity," and "The Hub" (4x09). Espenson was one of the main writers for Buffy and also wrote for Firefly (one of my favorites, "Shindig" – though actually, all Firefly episodes are one of my favorites), The Inside, and Eureka. (Early reports had suggested David Weddle and Bradley Thompson might write the telemovie, but apparently they're actually leaving BSG for CSI.)

Douglas says NBC Universal's lawyers have contacted his agent about a deal for the film. In addition, Galactica SitRep reports that the studio has offered a deal to Dean Stockwell (Cavil), and is looking to sign Michael Trucco (Sam Anders), Grace Park (Boomer), Michael Hogan (Saul Tigh), and Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck), among others, for this film. Presumably we can also expect the presence of director Olmos.

The casting of Stockwell is particularly exciting, because his character, Brother Cavil, did not appear until "Lay Down Your Burdens: Part 1" (2x19). Will we see what Cavil, not yet exposed as a Cylon, was doing back then?