With rumblings of a Battlestar Galactica movie having done the rounds for a while now, the project has taken a giant leap forward as Universal has brought in a new writer for the film.

Courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter, The Girl in the Spider’s Web’s Jay Basu has been hired to rewrite the initial screenplay in place from Westworld’s Lisa Joy.

The original sci-fi series centred on the solo warship known as the Galactica in the aftermath of the millennia-long battle against the no-good Cylons. Galactica: 1980 would follow in, err, 1980, and then a hugely well-received TV redo of the original turned up in 2004. That reboot subsequently led to Caprica and Blood & Chrome.

The last we’d heard on his Battlestar Galactica movie was that The Hunger Games’ Francis Lawrence was directing – and that still appears to be the case right now.

As ever, expect more on all of this if and when it develops.