Babylon 5: The Road Home

Babylon 5: The Road Home
Release Date	15 August 2023
Production Credit
Written By	J. Michael Straczynski
Directed By	Matt Peters
Executive Producer	J. Michael Straczynski
Co-Executive Producer	Sam Register
Editor	Craig Paulsen
Music By	Kristopher Carter, Michael McCuistion, Lolita Ritmanis
Publishing Order
Preceded By	Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

Babylon 5: The Road Home is an animated film by Warner Bros. Animation & Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment. It was released on Digital, DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K-UHD on August 15, 2023.

Straczynski has stated that the project is "not a sidebar story, or an unrelated sequel, or a re-do of anything that came before." He has also stated that this is a "brand new original animated movie is already finished and in the can. So it's 100% real, happening, and coming out very soon."

Story

The story begins after the end of the Shadow War but before Lost Tales, where President John Sheridan is leaving Babylon 5 (B5) to Minbar to further develop the Interstellar Alliance and start a new life with Delenn. While celebrating a new advanced power system, Sheridan didn’t feel well and learned the power core uses tachyons, which caused Sheridan to become unstable between time and space. His body seemingly forms a time bubble and starts his time jumping journey.

John first jumps to 23 years in the future to see an older Dr. Stephen Franklin. In this timeline, Sheridan already died 3 years prior but Stephen didn’t have the heart to tell him and lied that he’s 18 years in the future instead. Franklin’s tests proved that Sheridan is out of phase in time, meaning he not only can time jump between timelines, but end up in alternate realities. Stephen already formulated a plan: to go down Epsilon 3 (from B5), find Zathras, and get a time stabilizer. Before further could be discussed, Sheridan jumps back into the past.

On Earth, John jumps to January 17 2258 (the year he took over B5), at his home farm with his father. As he was enjoying the scenery, a portal appears and sends him to Z'ha'dum 2256: the ill-fated expedition of the Icarus and the return of the Shadows. John attempted to warn the expedition not to tamper with the aliens in hibernation, but it was too late. The Shadows had awakened and went after the expedition crew. As they charged towards the IPX crew and Sheridan, John jumps to an alternate timeline where he never commanded B5 but Jeffrey Sinclair. The Shadows are overrunning B5 and John meets Jeffrey, giving a quick 20 secs explanation of what’s happening. Jeff didn’t doubt John’s explanation and drafted John to make a last stand against the Shadows as they infiltrated B5. The command center was blown and Susan Ivanova died by blowing up the command center. Both John and Jeff agreed B5 is lost and the only way left to stop the Shadows was by self-destructing B5. As John struggles to blow up B5 with the Shadows after him, he encounters Lyta and G’Kar. Time was up and John was forced to jump without completing his mission, but Lyta and G'Kar managed to get the job done. The explosion destroyed B5 along with the invasion force, giving surviving Earth Forces time to flee.

John is now back in B5 in his correct time at Elizabeth Lochley’s bedroom. With limited time, John got Liz to give John a ride down to Epsilon 3 to speak with Zathras. Without needing explanation, Zathras figured out John’s situation and also showed that since they last saw him, The Great Machine has been replicating many copies of Zathras in the hundreds, creating the Zathri. Zathras explains that because of John’s constant shifting through time and space, it’s encouraging a space-time dimensional collapse event, where all timelines, dimensions, and realities will fall upon each other. Curious why his jumps are seemingly connected to the Shadows, Zathras explains his time jumps are tied to his deepest thoughts and feelings. Because the Shadow War and his bonds means the most to him, he always appears next to a friend or a Shadow event. Before Zathras could stabilize John, a portal appears and sends him to a different reality.

John ends up in a reality where they lost the Shadow War. John finds Susan and Londo getting ready for the end. After losing the war, the Vorlons didn’t want the Shadows to have Earth and they decided to destroy it by pushing the moon into the planet. As the moon descended, John jumped and finds himself at The Rim, the edge of space, time, and reality. He meets an entity that takes the form of G’Kar, explaining where they are standing and John’s threat to reality. John questioned the point of his existence if he’s so dangerous, but the entity explains it would defeat the great experiment of consciousness. The entity tells John that possibility is based on love and its greatness can’t be so easily destroyed. John wanted to ask more, but he jumped again.

In another alternate reality, the IPX ran out of business 10 years prior and the Icarus expedition never happened; Sheridan has peacefully commanded B5 without the Shadow War. Being unwell from constant jumping, he bumps into Lennier and collapses. John wakes to find himself talking to a younger version of himself and tries to explain his situation. Because the truth sounded too crazy, Lyta was sent in to telepathically verify the truth. After confirming his story, Zathras arrives to help John. Before anything could happen, John started to shift again. Zathras tries to help John by reminding him that he has influence where he jumps based on his feelings and he thinks of Delenn. It was then another portal opens, showing that Delenn has been chasing after John this whole time. John joins hands with Delenn and returns home.

Cast

• Bruce Boxleitner as John Sheridan
• Claudia Christian as Susan Ivanova
• Peter Jurasik as Londo Mollari
• Bill Mumy as Lennier
• Tracy Scoggins as Elizabeth Lochley
• Patricia Tallman as Lyta Alexander
• Paul Guyet as Zathras and Jeffrey Sinclair
• Anthony Hansen as Michael Garibaldi
• Mara Junot as Reporter and Computer Voice
• Phil LaMarr as Dr. Stephen Franklin
• Piotr Michael as David Sheridan/Trudan/Marcus Cole
• Andrew Morgado as G'Kar/Starfury Pilot
• Rebecca Riedy as Delenn/Young Sheridan