Beloved Sci-Fi Classic Blakes 7 Returns After 45 Years With Acclaimed The Last of Us Director at the Helm

Alright, here’s a bit of news straight from the 'wait, is this really happening?' pile: Peter Hoar — the guy who directed some of the best episodes of The Last of Us — is teaming up with Matthew Bouch, a producer on The Witcher, to try and bring back Blake's 7. Yes, seriously, Blake's 7. If your British TV knowledge only extends as far as Doctor Who and maybe Red Dwarf, Blake's 7 was basically the UK’s gritty, budget-challenged answer to Star Trek back in the late '70s and early '80s. And now, for reasons both nostalgic and business-minded, it might be making a comeback.

What Was Blake’s 7 Again?

Quick history for the less-initiated:

• Blake’s 7 originally aired on the BBC from 1978 to 1981.
• The show followed a crew of misfit rebels fighting against a fascist government called the Terran Federation. Think 'space outlaws outsmarting the system' – and sometimes each other.
• It started by focusing on Roj Blake (played by Gareth Thomas), but halfway through, computer whiz Kerr Avon (Paul Darrow) ended up running the show in seasons 3 and 4.
• The creator, Terry Nation, is the same guy who came up with the Daleks on Doctor Who.
• This show was famous/infamous for its tiny budget, wobbling sets, and, despite all that, some pretty daring storytelling. It’s got one of the bleakest endings in TV history – folks still argue about it.

Who's Involved in the Revival?

Peter Hoar isn’t just directing — he’s apparently planning to helm every single episode. If that sounds ambitious, it probably is, but this guy’s resume includes Daredevil, Iron Fist, and The Umbrella Academy. So he’s handled big universes with questionable budgets before.

Joining him are:

Matthew Bouch: Now adding 'space resistance drama' to his fantasy-heavy CV.
Jason Haigh-Ellery: Also producing.
Lizzie Worsdell: Came in as executive producer from Multitude.

According to reports, they're shopping the reboot around right now. So if you’ve got a streaming platform, don’t be surprised if someone tries to sell you a spaceship that still has paint drying on the hull.

Why Now – and Why Blake's 7?

It’s not just nostalgia at play here (though there's definitely a lot of that, too).

Bouch spelled out part of the strategy pretty clearly – there’s a gap in the British sci-fi landscape. Ever since news broke that Disney Plus is giving Doctor Who the cold shoulder internationally, there’s this 'what's next?' feeling for UK-made sci-fi. In other words, they think it's time to dust off some old properties.

Here's a quote that sums it up:

'We look back at when we were young with a degree of nostalgia but also thinking about the '70s and '80s as we were growing up and the amount of genre material that was available... We are looking to the international market and seeing if there is a way of dovetailing that British low-budget sensibility with international markets. We know in the US there's a big contraction and we all need to think about finding ways to make things more economical.'

Translation: Blake’s 7 is British, culty, and cheap — which could actually be an advantage these days, especially when budgets everywhere are getting slashed but viewers still want something distinctly different. (They’re also well aware that, yes, the original had wobbly sets — and no, it didn’t matter, because the story worked.)

The Takeaway

If this actually happens, expect all the usual reboot questions: Will they go full-on retro? Try to make it slick and modern? Lean into the low-budget charm? Either way, it’s a fascinating gamble on a show with a weird, bleak history that’s beloved by a loyal but not exactly massive following.

If you never caught the original, now might be the time — just be ready for a little 1970s cardboard chic mixed with some surprisingly smart sci-fi. And if you did? Dust off your anti-Federation badges. It might be time to fly the Liberator again.