Before Alan Rickman passed away earlier this year, Amazon had plans to reunite the cast of Galaxy Quest for a sequel. Talk of a potential follow-up to the 1999 cult flick is, of course, nothing new. Rumors have been circulating for years, fuelled by fans eager to see another tale featuring the crew of the Protector. It turns out that Galaxy Quest 2 wasn’t just a pipe dream though – it was a real possibility.
Here’s what star Sam Rockwell revealed on a recent Nerdist podcast:
“They were going to do a sequel on Amazon. We were ready to sign up, and [then] Alan Rickman passed away and Tim Allen wasn’t available – he has a show – and everybody’s schedule was all weird. It was going to shoot, like, right now. And how do you fill that void of Alan Rickman? That’s a hard void to fill.”
He’s not wrong. Rickman is a fundamental part of the team and his absence in Galaxy Quest 2 would have left a noticeable gap. His droll sense of humor and dry witticisms brought a much-needed balance to the sunshiney, upbeat persona of Tim Allen’s leader.
Still, it’s disappointing to hear that we were so close to seeing Rickman, Allen, Rockwell, Sigourney Weaver and Tony Shalhoub together again, hurtling across space for another madcap adventure.