Battlestar Galactica is coming to an end after its fourth season, the show’s executive producers have confirmed.
CYLON AND ON: As predicted, the upcoming, fourth season of Battlestar Galactica will be the last, as confirmed by the show’s executive producers Ronald Moore and David Eick in a Hollywood Reporter story this Friday.
“This show was always meant to have a beginning, a middle and finally, an end,” Eick and Moore said in a statement. “Over the course of the last year, the story and the characters have been moving strongly toward that end and we’ve decided to listen to those internal voices and conclude the show on our own terms. And while we know our fans will be saddened to know the end is coming, they should brace themselves for a wild ride getting there – we’re going out with a bang.”
Eick and Moore had denied the persistent rumours that the show was ending, despite the increasingly elegiac tone of the episodes and the unmistakable impression that the storylines can’t play themselves out much longer without going prequel big time.
At a teleconference call Friday, Moore said that they feel the show has reached its third act. The storyline is propelling us.” He added: “If we don’t start paying this off and if we don’t reveal those secrets, you feel like you’re jerking around the audience.”
Moore added that the start of production in Vancouver last month “felt like the beginning of senior year.”
According to a Los Angeles Times story, the last season will have a few surprises, among them the likely return of the character played by Lucy Lawless. The 2-hour Battlestar special to be aired in November will be a prequel dealing with the story of the Pegasus, the other remaining battlestar, commanded by Michelle Forbes’ Admiral Cain. What it won’t do is deal with any of the last-minute cliffhangers dropped at the end of season three, so fans will have to wait until after the special to find out if everyone is a damn Cylon or what.
The pilot of Caprica, the prequel series to the show, is still in the running to be picked up by the Sci-Fi Network in the States. “We’re anxious for any opportunity to pursue it,” David Eick said. “It’s not on the front burner, but no one has said it’s dead. We continue to hope.” Which sounds as hopeful as “maybe it isn’t malignant.”
A feature film spin-off is even less likely. “The plan is to end the show, to bring it to a definitive conclusion,” Moore said, adding: “but never say never. You never know how we’ll feel when we actually write the conclusion. It would be foolish to say absolutely not. But right now, the plan is to end it [with the series].” Which means that if anyone’s still watching after we reveal that this was all Dirk Benedict’s dream, we’re like, “Hey – movie? Why the hell not?”
