Buck Rogers in the 21st century: Classic sci-fi character blasting back to the big screen

One of the defining characters of American sci-fi is coming back to the big screen. After dominating the pulp world and making his way to TV and the movies with Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, legendary space hero Buck Rogers is landing in the 21st century thanks to a (fittingly) Legendary film adaptation.

According to The Wrap, Legendary is planning to pull a Dark Tower with the project, creating a prestige TV show that leads to both a AAA film franchise and animated series that'll fully explore the Buck Rogers universe for modern audiences — all led by Transformers producer Don Murphy, who set things up, and Legendary's Mary Parent and Cale Boyter.

The hero, who made his debut in Armageddon 2419 A.D. by Philip Francis Nowlan and found multimedia prominence starting in the 1930s John F. Dille comic strip, is a bit of a Star Trek Rip Van Winkle who wakes up after a long slumber to find that he's in the far future — and the world is in the middle of a massive sci-fi war. The pulp and serial hero is perhaps best known to media fans through Gil Gerard's performance during the late '70s.

Buck Rogers has attempted multiple modern resurgences onto the screen that've been complicated with rights issues, lawsuits, and more over the years, with Legendary's acquisition of the movie rights being the first major and concrete step for the franchise in a while. No word on when some of these reboot projects will get underway. But regardless — it sounds like Buck is back.