It’s a good time to be Ed Neumeier. The screenwriter behind RoboCop and Starship Troopers is currently producing RoboCop Returns, which is based on a reworked version of his unproduced sequel script from the late ’80s, and the film sounds like it’s going to return to the franchise to its former glory. But that’s not all Neumeier is working on, as the writer/producer has revealed that his other major science-fiction series could also be coming back in a big way.
In an interview with HN Entertainment, Neumeier was asked about the prospect of reuniting the original cast of 1997’s Starship Troopers for a sequel, and he gave a surprising answer. “I don’t want to jinx anything, but we are talking about trying to do a television show that is based on that idea,” he said. In other words, Neumeier is having discussions — though he didn’t divulge with whom — about bringing back the OG cast, most notably star Casper Van Dien, for a Starship Troopers sequel TV series. It’s unclear where the show would potentially air, what it would look like, or how much of the original cast would return, but just knowing that it’s a possibility should be enough to excite fans.
It’s unclear how this potential series could affect the planned upcoming Starship Troopers reboot film from Sony, which is reportedly going to be a tamer, PG-13 interpretation of Robert A. Heinlein’s original novel. Neumeier is not involved in that project, and it doesn’t sound like he’s a huge fan of the idea, either. “Well, I have mixed feelings about [the reboot] because I think that what we did with the first Starship is almost not repeatable in a way,” Neumeier said. “I based the structure of Starship Troopers when I was writing it (on) the structure of WWII propaganda films that the studios made between 1941 and 1944 … [Sony’s] idea is, as I understood … to kind of do An Officer and [a] Gentleman. Johnny Rico as the Officer and [a] Gentlemen version of a sci-fi movie. So maybe you could do that, a romantic picture about kids coming up together in the service and one of them becoming an officer and (what) all of that means, you know? It’s really not what Heinlein’s about, but that’s okay, I can imagine you could do that. I’m not sure who goes to see that movie, though.”
Obviously, nothing is concrete at this point with either this sequel series or the reboot film, but it definitely sounds like fans of the original Starship Troopers may have reason to celebrate in the near future.
