George Clooney’s New Project Receives Demand to Be Shut Down, Claiming Actor Does Not Own the Rights

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The Buck Rogers estate is calling for George Clooney’s planned TV reboot of the classic sci-fi franchise to be shut down.

The Nowlan Family Trust, which oversees the Buck Rogers estate, sent a cease-and-desist letter to Legendary Entertainment and producer Don Murphy following the announcement that it was developing a TV reboot starring Clooney, who’s also executive producing through his production company Smokehouse.

The Buck Rogers estate contends that it’s already “signed an agreement with Skydance Productions” to produce a film adaptation of the property.

Estate attorney Neville Johnson wrote in the letter, “Your conduct is a slander of title of the rights the Buck Rogers Interests own. Demand is made that you correct the record publicly as Legendary/Murphy have no chain of title. You are directed to advise all third parties, including any insurers, distributors, and financiers that there is no chain of title held by Legendary/Murphy.”

A spokesperson for Legendary dismissed the cease-and-desist letter, telling Deadline, “We have secured the rights we need to proceed with our project and the company will not comment any further on these baseless claims. This same party has been claiming for years that they have rights which they do not have and have been trying to inhibit projects based on rights they do not legally control.”

Created by Philip Francis Nowlan, Buck Rogers debuted as a 1928 sci-fi novella featuring a mining engineer from the 20th century who awakens from suspended animation after 500 years to find himself in the middle of a intergalactic war. The property was later developed into a comic strip, radio and film serials and a 1979-1981 TV series.