Buck Rogers Revival Show Adds George Clooney As Producer & Possible Star

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George Clooney has signed on to produce a new Buck Rogers series—and he might star in it as well. Clooney is coming off the recent release of his science fiction film Midnight Sky on Netflix and looks to be aiming at another science fiction project. Development on a Buck Rogers project has been in development for some time now, and with a star like Clooney, the series could gain some serious momentum and attention.

Buck Rogers originated in Philip Francis Nowlan’s 1928 novel Armageddon 2419 AD and was spun-off into a weekly comic book series starting in 1929. This popularity eventually led to a 1932 radio program and a 1939 film serial that went on to inspire George Lucas when he was creating Star Wars. The success of Star Wars would then re-ignite interest in the brand as Universal revived the concept in a series titled Buck Rogers in the 25th Century that aired on NBC from 1979 to 1981. While an iconic figure that helped shape the science fiction genre, the popularity of the character and brand is not the hot commodity that it once was. Legendary Entertainment announced they were developing a Buck Rogers project in 2020.

According to The Wrap, George Clooney is set to produce a Buck Rogers television series for Legendary Entertainment, with the intention of Clooney to star in the series. Clooney’s longtime producer Grant Heslov is signed on as an Executive Producer under their Smokehouse Pictures production company. Brian K. Vaughan, comic book creator of Y: The Last Man and The Runaways, is currently attached to write the script.

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While no network was talked about in the report, there is reason to believe that Netflix might be the eventual home of the series. Clooney’s most recent film, Midnight Sky premiered on Netflix in December. Legendary and Netflix teamed up to bring Lost in Space, another revival of a classic science fiction series, to audiences. Legendary Entertainment announced that they were developing animated series based on Kong: Skull Island and Tomb Raider that would premiere on Netflix. Netflix even offered $200 million for the streaming rights to Godzilla vs. Kong, which Legendary Entertainment was intending to take but was blocked by Warner Bros. to instead keep the film to premiere on their own streaming service, HBO Max.

George Clooney is one of the biggest names in Hollywood, yet he has been hesitant to return to the world of big-budget IP projects since the disastrous response to Batman and Robin back in 1997 which had a major impact on the types of projects he would agree to. This would also mark a return to television for him, as before he became a movie star was known for guest roles on Roseanne and The Golden Girls before becoming a household name thanks to the hit series E.R. It appears that a title with as much legacy and cultural influence as Buck Rogers might be appealing to him.