I'm afraid to get too excited. Can it really be true??
If by "it" you mean "production of
B5: The Lost Tales" the answer is a barely-qualified "yes".
Warner Bros. has committed to the project, they have singed contracts with Netter and JMS, approved a budget and agreed to distribute the resulting stories through their new direct-to-DVD divisioin even if they can't make a deal to also have them run on TV (which they are pursuing.)
Short of all of the surviving actors turning JMS down flat there is no way this is
not going to go forward for at least the first batch of three. (As with
everything in show business, or any other business, whether a new series/project/widget
continues is a function of the market. Nothing is ever 100% certain.) If he can get two or three of the established actors for the first trilogy, the thing will get made. And if it does well enough to go on I'm sure that other actors who weren't intereest originally (or weren't available) will be more open to appearing in the later batches.
Now, JMS may not make his target date of getting production started by the end of September if everyone's schedule doesn't mesh, but I doubt things would be delayed by very much. Most of the actors haven't been terribly busy (at least with TV or movie work) since the end of the series, and none are tied down as regulars in other series.
(Doyle has his radio show, but talk show hosts get vacations, too, and his producers would probably be delighted by the added exposure having on TV again would get the show - especially since he could at least mention it while doing press for
B5:TLT. Peter Jurasik retired from acting to teach in North Carolina, but i suspect the prospect of playing Londo again would be enough to coax him back. Maggie Egan - who played the "good" ISN anchor - has said that she'd come out of retirement to reprise
that role and do
B5 again if given the chance, so I'd be surprised if Peter didn't.)
Regards,
Joe
Good angle, there.
