As Babylon 5’s Captain (later President) John Sheridan, Bruce Boxleitner was hugely disappointed to leave the franchise in 1999. So when the opportunity arose to reprise his role in the new Babylon 5 DVD movie, The Lost Tales - Voices in the Dark, he jumped at the chance. Words: Joe Nazzaro

When did you first hear about The Lost Tales?

I had an email from a fan in London about a year ago saying, "Have you heard?" So I looked it up online and there it was: Joe Straczynski had announced that this new project was going ahead! I'd heard these things before, so I thought, "Yeah, sure. This is just another dream of somebody’s." But then I got a call from [producer] Doug Netter, and suddenly it was happening very fast and we were on our way!

What was it like to be back working on Babylon 5 after all this time?

It was all very different, and yet somehow I felt I was back in 1998 and nothing had happened in-between. We shot up in Vancouver, in HD, on a huge green screen stage, with only a skeleton crew, and it was amazing how the actual shooting has changed. But there I was, in my old wardrobe – which still fits by the way – and it was just so exciting! I had a little bit with Tracy Scoggins, who’s Colonel Lochley now, and Peter Woodward as the wonderful Galen.

Don't you also have some scenes with a new Centauri character called Vintari?

Yes, he’s the reason for my part of the story. I play an older, wiser Sheridan, who sees a lot of his younger self in this young Centauri prince. He’s my guest on the journey back to Babylon 5, which is also a journey of reflection for Sheridan. It’s a terrific story, and very timely as well.

Does Babylon 5 feel like unfinished business for you? You seemed very disappointed when your involvement came to an end with A Call to Arms.

There were a lot of things I couldn’t say at the time, but, frankly, I was very angry. I was so invested in it and I know the others were, too. Rightly or wrongly, I often felt that I was the cheerleader for the cast, and ending the show at that time just didn’t seem right to me.

I’ve seen a lot of series come and go, and I don’t think science fiction has fared too well since we left the airwaves, except on the Sci Fi Channel. People may yell at me for saying that, but we were definitely influential, and there really isn’t anything set in outer space anymore. The last of the Star Treks went off air, and it looks like this season of Galactica will be the last.

Maybe we’ll fill that gap a little bit. A television series becomes a family, and we were a really tight-knit group. We've lost three people, including two of our prominent cast members [Andreas Katsulas, who died in 2006, and Richard Biggs, who died in 2004], but I think we’ve handled that very well, with a mention of both those characters in The Lost Tales.

You’ve managed to avoid the typical science fiction typecasting, despite cornering the market in good-hearted sheriffs. Why do you think that is?

I’m done with sheriffs! I did my ‘sheriff’s trilogy’ as I call it, but I’m such a workaholic that I still don't think I've been working enough. I think there's still a slight curse from doing SF shows, as the Star Trek people have shown, but I’ve got to go in and audition like everybody else nowadays, so it’s a whole new world.

I auditioned for Stargate Atlantis the other day and didn’t get it. I don’t know who did, but I was in there with some pretty high-profile actors. I was shocked that I had to read for it! It was wonderful to be called to do this, because I didn’t have to go in and read.

Those luxuries are not mine to have anymore, because it’s a whole new group of people and a much younger business, so you have to try and reinvent yourself again. When I did Babylon 5, that was a reinvention, because I was having a slump in my career at that time. It gave me a real boost, and believe me, I’m forever grateful for it.

Would you be willing to return for more Lost Tales in the future?

Absolutely! If they’ll have me. I’m from another era, so it seems a bit strange that we’re not going to be on screen somewhere. But you have to remember that the show originally coincided with the advent of the internet. All those fans were able to go onto web pages and chat rooms and that’s how it grew. It was 90s technology that launched the show, so if home entertainment is the new venue, that’s fine.

Babylon 5: The Lost Tales – Voices in the Dark is released on region one DVD on 31 July.