You Won’t Be Able To Stream Babylon 5 For Much Longer
Babylon 5 is set to leave HBO Max on January 25, 2023.
It’s the end of the year and the beginning of new films and series entering the catalogs of streaming platforms. Unfortunately, this means that some of the popular content from 2022 is getting left behind to make room for new programming. Sadly, this is the case for the 1994 space opera Babylon 5, which has been streaming on HBO Max and will leave the streaming platform on January 25, 2023, according to SlashFilm.
Babylon 5 was lightyears ahead of its time, not only because it was a futuristic sci-fi space opera but because the format of the show was unlike anything else seen on television at the time. Created by J. Michael Straczynski, the series was pre-planned for only five seasons and was written like a novel but for television. Each episode was seen as a chapter in the overall story arc, and character arcs and plot lines often spanned over several episodes or even seasons.
At the time, most shows kept a general status quo throughout the series. Episodes would create drama at the beginning of the segment, and the drama would be resolved by the time that week’s credits rolled. While it’s common for a show to develop a story over the course of a season now, such as with popular franchises like Yellowstone, this was hardly ever done in the 90s when Babylon 5 aired.
The space opera television series follows a human military crew and alien diplomats on a space station called Babylon 5. The station was built after several inter-species wars and had become a neutral ground. While the series included plotlines that developed the conflict between races and the ongoing wars, many episodes also focused on character development and themes such as redemption, corruption, and oppression.
The show was extremely popular and is highly regarded as one of the best sci-fi shows of all time. Babylon 5 inspired the creation of tie-in novels, comic books, and short stories, which are all considered canonical to the Babylon 5 universe. Even though the show first aired almost 20 years ago, Babylon 5 has remained popular, with fans highly anticipating a reboot that Straczynski announced in 2021.
The CEO of CW, Mark Pedowitz, expressed during the network’s announcement of the series reboot that he had always been a fan of the show and that the reboot of Babylon 5 was in active development. However, the series has been in active development for a long time, possibly because Straczynski has stated that the reboot will be a stand-alone series and not a continuation of the previous plot. It is currently estimated to release in July of 2023. However, no official announcements have been made.
The original Babylon 5 series starred Mira Furlan as Delenn, Days of Our Lives actor Richard Briggs as Dr. Stephen Franklin, and Stephen Furst as Vir Cotto. In addition to Babylon 5, Furst was also known for National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978) and The Dream Team (1989). Warner Bros. Television produced the series.
