BATTLESTAR GALACTICA NEWS
Major cast member to depart

Monday - January 15, 2007 | by Livi Dolgin

Beware of spoilers in the report below!

As Battlestar Galactica continues to break new ground, more significant cast changes are in the works. Executive producers Ronald Moore and David Eick told the Chicago Tribune's "The Watcher" column that the end of Season Three will remove a central cast member's name from the credits.

Speculation is rife that Katie Sackhoff (Kara Thrace, a.k.a. Starbuck) will depart the series. The controversial move to cast Starbuck as a woman shook the Galactica world in the beginning. Now, Starbuck's future is up for speculation again. The producers report that she completed filming early, short of the last three episodes.

In the shocking episode, "Maelstrom," all sorts of plot twists and turns will send the series in a new unexpected direction. The episode is Starbuck's story. According to Eick, the series will experience a "reshift as radical as what we've done before."

"I can say that Galactica will suffer a shocking loss in that episode and Kara is a key member of the crew," Moore said. "Certainly if she were not there suddenly, that would shift the parameters of what the show is and what the show is about and who the key players are."

"It's a fundamental and permanent change in the makeup of the show's cast and of the show itself and how the show operates and what the show is about," Moore said. "It's a very dramatic change of direction."

Eick continued: "What we're doing with Kara Thrace is profound and is major, and yet it doesn't necessarily translate as simply as you might think."

Other hints indicate that Sackhoff's character will not be the only one involved in the story's new direction. Moore indicated that whether or not Gaius Baltar is a Cylon, he will stand trial for his crimes.

Eick explained that "one of the profound things that does happen to Lee involves him taking a different side from Adama and Laura and others with respect to Gaius Baltar and his crimes against them."

In addition, the producers say that a 2-hour feature film is in discussion to be released between Seasons Three and Season Four, but that another season has not yet been ordered. If the fourth season does not go ahead, neither would the movie (likely a direct-to-DVD release).

While you are still speculating who might be a Cylon, read all the spoilers in the Chicago Tribune story.

Battlestar Galactica returns to the SCI FI Channel Sunday nights beginning January 21 at 10 p.m. Eastern and Pacific!

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