Last year, Syfy gave the “Blake’s 7” reboot a rare straight-to-series order that was contingent upon Syfy’s approval of the pilot script. Somewhere along the line, things must have changed as the new “Blake’s 7” TV series wasn’t picked up and now it may be bypassing television altogether.
According to Deadline, Georgeville TV is close to landing a series order for “Blake’s 7” from Xbox Live, possibly as the first full length original series on the service. Green Lantern and Casino Royale director Martin Campbell is still attached to “Blake’s 7,” but it’s not clear if the pilot episode written by Joe Pokaski (“Heroes”) is still being used.
The original “Blake’s 7” series was created by Terry Nation for BBC in 1978. The series ran for four seasons while following Roj Blake (Gareth Thomas), a man persecuted and imprisoned by a tyrannical Terran Federation. Blake eventually escaped from a prison planet alongside some of his fellow prisoners and he brought together additional allies as they led an insurgency against the Federation.
The final two seasons of “Blake’s 7” focused on Avon (Paul Darrow), who took control of Blake’s ship, the Liberator after Blake’s disappearance. “Blake’s 7” is also notorious for ending on a cliffhanger that left several of the main characters either dead or severely injured.
Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that Steven Spielberg will be producing a “Halo” TV series for Xbox Live. If “Blake’s 7” goes forward as well, it could give Xbox Live a more exciting programming lineup than Syfy currently has.
