NBCU's streaming service Peacock unveiled, led by Battlestar Galactica reboot

NBCUniversal’s foray into the streaming wars has been a long time coming, but now the mysterious competitor to Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and more has a name — and a few reasons for genre fans already overwhelmed with choice to tune in.

Peacock, playing off NBC’s classic logo, will be an ad-supported service that launches in April of 2020. While that’s in the near future, the big push, according to chairman of direct-to-consumer and digital enterprises Bonnie Hammer, will come with July’s Olympics. “Nobody has it but NBCU and Peacock,” Hammer said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

Among popular exclusive offerings like Parks and Recreation and The Office (to compete with the hotly contested sitcom stalwarts of Seinfeld and Friends), Peacock will launch with shows like Bates Motel, Battlestar Galactica, Psych, and dozens of non-genre comedies and dramas in its back catalog. The film lineup at launch includes sci-fi, fantasy, and horror standbys like Back to the Future, E.T., Jaws, and the Fast and Furious franchise.

But that’s just the older stuff, the bingeable stuff. What about the new? Well, that’s led by one of the more exciting announcements of the day: new Battlestar Galactica. The franchise that’s given generations of sci-fi fans reasons to mistrust Cylons is getting another refresh, this time from Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail. While Ron Moore’s version gave Glen A. Larson’s ‘70s series a critically acclaimed facelift, Esmail’s will similarly keep the world of the Twelve Colonies fresh and modern — that said, his version will be inspired by Moore’s, rather than Larson’s. As for SYFY WIRE’s part, our deep-dive podcast Battlestar Galacticast has kept fans hooked on the show with its celebrity guests and episodic insight.

The new Battlestar Galactica isn’t the only original series coming to Peacock. True-crime drama Dr. Death (starring Alec Baldwin, Jamie Dornan, and Christian Slater), dystopian adaptation Brave New World (with Demi Moore and Alden Ehrenreich), mystery One of Us Is Lying, Telemundo show Armas de Mujer (which joins thousands of hours of Spanish-language content), and limited series Angelyne join a bevy of comic content (like Rutherford Falls, co-created by The Good Place’s Mike Schur) that will launch with the service.

While the stateside service (not global yet) will begin its launch in April, details on pricing or a specific launch date are not available.

(Note: NBC Universal and its parent company, Comcast, own SYFY WIRE.)