After the original Battlestar Galactica, the continuation Galactica 1980 and Ron Moore’s highly regarded re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica, comes a fourth outing for the show.

Creator Glen Larson is onboard as producer with Bryan Singer directing. Writer John Orloff of TV mini-series Band of Brothers will write the screenplay.

The interesting part? Instead of rebooting the original or Ron Moore’s, Orloff intends to work within both versions of Battlestar.

“I’m a huge fan of the original series and of the second show, too. But I always thought the first show was a little too heavily reliant on Star Wars, you know? Whereas I think the second show was really original and really cool. And I think I’ve come up with a way to write this movie that won’t f*** any of that up. I’m not sure how much they want me to talk about it. Let’s just say it’s not what you expect. It will all work in the universe that exists. It will not conflict with anything Ron Moore has done. I don’t think you can compete with what he’s done.”

–John Orloff to HitFix

It’s speculation that Singer’s Battlestar Galactica will go in the same direction as J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek reboot; keeping both versions intact while venturing off into an alternate universe.

To put it bluntly: I really doubt Bryan Singer’s Battlestar will compare to Ron Moore’s version. Moore’s had a strong cast who carried the weight of the premise and moved it past a simple humanity vs. cylon war. Then, of course, the show spanning four seasons to flesh out the characters and move the plot forward. Not to mention Bear McCreary’s excellent scoring for the show.

Singer and co. have a lot to live up to; and I’m pessimistic that they’ll pull off a version that will rival Ron Moore’s Battlestar Galactica. But we’ll see.