While Star Wars parodies are many and varied, Star Trek has also inspired its own fair share of space-centered films. One of the best of the bunch was 1999's Galaxy Quest, featuring an eclectic cast of space adventurers including Tim Allen, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub, Sam Rockwell, and Sigourney Weaver. In a recent interview with Collider, Weaver confirmed that a revival of the franchise is currently in the works.

"They were in the middle of reviving it. First of all, there was another script. There was a sequel written by our writer, Bob Gordon. The movie was so witty, and when they released it, DreamWorks cut a lot of the wittiest scenes because they wanted to put it out as a children's movie at Christmas. I think that was disappointing for everybody, so he decided not to let them have the second one. However, it was about four years ago, Bob and (producer) Mark Johnson and the whole group, started to develop a series. We lost the wonderful Alan [Rickman] unexpectedly, so that was put in mothballs, but I think they are finally now reviving it."

The original Galaxy Quest told the story of a fictional television show of the same name, clearly a riff on the original Star Trek show. The actors who play the interstellar crew on Galaxy Quest spend their time attending fan conventions and autograph signings.

During one such signing, a group of actual aliens approach Tim Allen's lead character Jason, who the aliens believe is an actual space captain. After the aliens request their help, Jason and the rest of the actors who play his crew members are drawn into an actual interstellar war.

Within this basic premise, Galaxy Quest was able to make some clever observations about the way real science and sci-fi overlap in popular culture, particularly in connection to the cult popularity of Star Trek. According to Sigourney Weaver, the script for the new Galaxy Quest movie takes things one step further in terms of meta-commentary by focusing on an in-story revival of the fictional Galaxy Quest show, with a new set of actors meeting the old veterans.

"It will be the story of the old ancient Galaxy Questers being brought into this series with another young cast. I haven't read them, so I don't know the details, but I think that everyone in Galaxy Quest would love to participate because it was such a wonderful experience for us. How they will find someone to play Alan's part, don't know, but I think that they have a very good idea of who to do it. He's irreplaceable, eternally. I think there may be good news on that front, but I haven't heard about it in these six months, so when it's gonna happen, I'm not sure."

With the passing of Alan Rickman, who played the fan-favorite character of Alexander Dane aka Dr. Lazarus in the original Galaxy Quest, it is difficult to imagine another actor stepping into the role. Hopefully, the producers will be able to find a way around Rickman's absence in the upcoming reboot of Galaxy Quest that feels satisfying and respectful to the actor's legacy. Watch the interview with Weaver over at Collider.