The franchise was
rebooted with the 2003 miniseries
Battlestar Galactica, based on Larson's series and created by
Ronald D. Moore. It was quickly followed by a
2004 series, which ran for four seasons and spawned the television films
Razor (2007) and
The Plan (2009), multiple web series, and the
spinoff prequel television series
Caprica (2010). In the series, the 40-year armistice between the Twelve Colonies of humanity and a race of warlike, sentient robots called Cylons is suddenly broken by the Cylons. They launch a cataclysmic attack on human civilization that kills billions, and subsequently pursue the fleeing 50,000 survivors to exterminate them completely. Fully mechanical Centurions remain the avatars of Cylon aggression, but biological models of Cylons, indistinguishable from humans, have infiltrated what remains of the human population, and their identities are revealed over the course of the series. Updated versions of
Raiders and
Basestars are also depicted, as well as
Hybrids, a type of Cylon which is a bridge between the mechanical and biological forms, used to control Basestars by existing in symbiosis with them. They are strong and agile, with bladed fingertips and retractable guns built into their lower arms. The Centurions are terrifying, deadly automatons who show no mercy, They are able to devise and execute complex tactical maneuvers. and are among the most devout. Some humans use the slur "toasters" to refer to the Centurions. These Centurions become an independent faction of Cylons, forming an uneasy alliance with the surviving humans and more pacifistic humanoid Cylon models, and showing that peaceful coexistence might not be impossible. The following year, the 2006 episode "
Downloaded" was nominated for a WES award in the same category.
Humanoid Cylons Humanoid Cylons are indistinguishable from humans in that they are constructed of biological components to near-perfectly replicate human biology, though they still possess a digital molecular structure. There are a finite number of distinct models, but each model can have multiple copies, which share biology and general personality throughout their model but develop into distinct individuals. The biological Cylons can be harmed and killed in the same manner as humans, but each copy can be resurrected by downloading their digital consciousness into a new body. Multiple copies of seven distinct Cylon models are depicted in the first three seasons, followed by the revelation that a "fundamentally different" group, dubbed the "
Final Five" Cylons, are also embedded in the human fleet. Some humans use the slur "skinjobs" to refer to the humanoid Cylons. Arianne Gift of
Game Rant called resurrection technology "profoundly significant" and a "fundamental element" of the series. is introduced as a seductress who exploits her sexual relationship with celebrity scientist Dr.
Gaius Baltar (
James Callis) to gain access to the military defense mainframe of the Twelve Colonies. She sacrifices herself to save Baltar in the attack on the planet
Caprica, but her consciousness is subsequently downloaded into a new body on a Cylon Resurrection Ship. This copy, dubbed "Caprica Six" by the Cylons, is considered a hero, but has developed sympathy for humans, and regrets her part in the attacks. Boomer is a
sleeper agent programmed to believe she is human, and also to commit acts of sabotage without remembering doing so. She is eventually activated to assassinate Adama, who is a father figure to her. He survives, and though he shows mercy by not executing her, Boomer is murdered by a vengeful crewmate. She resurrects among the Cylons, but has difficulty accepting that she is one of them. Boomer and Caprica Six, realizing that the Cylons' destruction of the human race is wrong, defect to the human side. However, Boomer later finds herself incapable of assimilating into human society, and does not join the rest of the Eights in their alliance with humans. This Number Eight, later known as Sharon "Athena" Agathon, falls in love with Helo and gives birth to the first human-Cylon hybrid baby. is introduced in the
season two episode "
The Farm" as a physician who treats
Galactica fighter pilot
Kara "Starbuck" Thrace (
Katee Sackhoff) for a gunshot wound in what is supposedly a Resistance hospital on devastated Caprica. She soon realizes he is Cylon performing fertility experiments on human women, and kills him and escapes. Simon is a Number Four model, who are medical specialists and the most machine-like of the Cylons, employing logic and reason paired with a lack of emotional response. At least one Number Four, however, is shown to sacrifice himself rather than let his human family die in
The Plan. D'Anna is a Number Three model, who are depicted as "calculating and duplicitous", and known to manipulate both humans and other Cylons as necessary. In
season three, D'Anna becomes obsessed with learning the identities of the so-called Final Five Cylons, which is forbidden knowledge. She finally succeeds in "
Rapture", dying in the attempt. D'Anna resurrects, but she and all Number Threes are promptly boxed as punishment. is a religious counselor on the
Galactica in the season two finale "
Lay Down Your Burdens". He is revealed to be a Cylon when a duplicate Cavil is spotted among a newly-arrived group of refugees from Caprica.
Final Five as
Galen Tyrol,
Michael Trucco as
Sam Anders,
Michael Hogan as
Saul Tigh and
Rekha Sharma as
Tory Foster. The fifth and final Cylon,
Ellen Tigh (
Kate Vernon) is not pictured. Seven of the 12 humanoid Cylon models are introduced in the first two seasons of the series. According to showrunner
Ronald D. Moore, the concept of the remaining five Cylons as a special group was devised during the writing process for the season three episode "
Torn", to explain why Baltar would see only the seven known Cylon models, and not all 12, aboard the Cylon Basestar. The so-called Final Five are believed to be embedded in the fleet, but knowledge of their identities, or even speaking about them, is forbidden to the Cylons. In the episode, Caprica Six explains to Baltar that "we don't talk about them ... ever." Four of the Final Five are revealed in the season three finale, "
Crossroads": Colonel
Saul Tigh (
Michael Hogan) and
Galen Tyrol (
Aaron Douglas) of
Galactica crew;
Tory Foster (
Rekha Sharma), a political operative who works for President
Laura Roslin (
Mary McDonnell); and
Sam Anders (
Michael Trucco), a former professional athlete-turned fighter pilot. Brought together by strains of a song only they can hear, they are shocked to realize that they are Cylons. In "
Six of One", the Cylons realize that the Raiders are refusing to attack the Colonial fleet because they have detected the Final Five among the humans. Cavil moves to lobotomize the Raiders to restore their obedience, but a subsequent vote ends in a draw with Numbers One, Four and Five voting for, and Numbers Two, Six and Eight voting against. Natalie Faust, a prominent Six, removes the higher brain inhibitors from the Centurions, which gives them free will, and they proceed to kill all of the One, Four and Five models in the room. The last Cylon is revealed to be
Ellen (
Kate Vernon), Tigh's presumed-dead wife, in the season four episode "
Sometimes a Great Notion", The Final Five are revealed to be the last survivors of a previous race of Cylons, the so-called Thirteenth Tribe of Kobol, who until now were believed to be humans. They orchestrated the armistice between Cylons and humans 40 years before the start of the series, but were betrayed by one of their own creations, Cavil, who had come to despise humans for their flaws and physical limitations. In "
Scar", Viper pilots Starbuck and
Kat (
Luciana Carro) compete to destroy a particularly dangerous Raider they have dubbed Scar, who has killed several of their fellow pilots. As depicted in "Torn", the Basestars are controlled by Hybrids, a type of Cylon which is a bridge between the mechanical and biological forms and exists in symbiosis with a Basestar. The machines were highly advanced, developing both biological models and resurrection technology for digital consciousness transfer. At the end of hostilities, all the inhabitants of Kobol (both human and machine) chose to leave the planet and seek out new homes in space, with the twelve human tribes departing together on the
Galleon. The departing humans mythologized their machine counterparts, stylizing them as the "Thirteenth Tribe" of Kobol, and described their journey to a new home, called "Earth". Eventually, the Thirteenth Tribe settled on "Earth" and developed sexual reproduction, resulting in resurrection technology falling into disuse and eventual loss. Hoping to prevent history from repeating itself, they traveled to the Twelve Colonies hoping to avert a war between the humans there and the Cylons, eventually interceding with the Centurions to agree to an Armistice during the first Cylon war. The Cylons opted to cease hostilities, declaring an Armistice and promptly disappearing.
Second Cylon War After forty years, the Colonial Admiralty sent Battlestar
Valkyrie on a covert mission close to the armistice line to gather intelligence on Cylon activity. A stealth ship from the
Valkyrie crossed the armistice line, but was intercepted by the Cylons. Three years later the Cylons began a surprise attack on the Colonies. The attack was successful because a Cylon agent, later known as
Caprica Six, infiltrated
Caprica's colonial defense network with the unwitting complicity of renowned scientist
Gaius Baltar and created backdoor programs to shut down the network and its defenses. The
thermonuclear attacks wiped out billions of humans, nearly the entire colonial population. Two Battlestars –
Galactica and
Pegasus – survived. A fleet of civilian ships was scattered throughout the neighboring space. Together they fled into deep space. The Cylons pursued them while beginning the next phase of their evolution,
procreation. Female human survivors were detained and used in experiments to create Cylon-human hybrids. The experiments were unsuccessful, leading the Cylons to conclude that the missing component was love. They tested this by using an
Eight posing as Lt. Sharon "Boomer" Valerii from
Galactica to seduce a marooned Galactica officer,
Lt. Karl "Helo" Agathon on Caprica. They fell in love. The Eight abandoned the Cylons, helping Helo to escape. The couple later produced the first viable human/Cylon birth. This Eight joined the fleet with Helo. She later married Helo, joined the colonial military and received the call sign "Athena". Ten months after the initial attacks, Eight Sharon Valerii (call sign "Boomer"), attempted to assassinate Commander Adama under the influence of programming unknown to her. She was unaware that she was a Cylon before the attack, though she had been uneasy because of unexplained blackouts (during various attempts to sabotage
Galactica). A vengeful crew mate, Cally Henderson killed her. She downloaded into a new body and settled on Cylon-occupied Caprica in her former apartment, unable to relinquish her human identity. She led a campaign for better treatment of the humans. She and other like-minded Cylons influenced the Cylon civilization, which withdrew from the colonial home worlds and pursued benevolent treatment of the humans and then reconciliation. During this time, the half-human half-Cylon hybrid, Hera Agathon, was born on
Galactica. Fearing that the Cylons might capture the child,
President Laura Roslin faked Hera's death and secretly had her adopted by a human woman.
New Caprica The humans settled on a harsh and barren planet they dubbed New Caprica. The refuge lasted a year before the Cylons found them. Outnumbered and outgunned, the
Galactica,
Pegasus, and the rest of the colonial fleet in orbit fled, leaving the Cylons to occupy the human settlement unchallenged. Initially, the occupation was peaceful, but later the Cylons became more forceful and vicious in response to increasing human
resistance. In the end, they used punitive methods to keep the humans in line, including
summary executions and infiltration by seemingly sympathetic Cylons.
Escape Four months later, the colonials escaped with the help of a resistance movement and the efforts of both the
Galactica and
Pegasus. The escape required Athena's help. She entered the Cylon facility and took the keys to the various colonial landing craft. Before this, a
Three learned from a human oracle that Hera was alive and on the planet. She rescued Hera after her adoptive mother was killed during the escape. The
Pegasus sacrificed itself to save the crippled
Galactica, but the crew survived, joining
Galactica. The Cylons then adopted the colonials’ mission to find the home of the Thirteenth Tribe, a planet they called Earth, intending to settle there. They resumed pursuit of the fleet, but upon reaching the Lion's Head Nebula, dispatched a Basestar to investigate. The Basestar took on board a canister left by the Thirteenth Tribe. The canister contained an airborne virus that proved deadly to the Cylons. The virus persisted through the download process, so the Basestar that had been dispatched for the investigation was abandoned to avoid contamination. The colonial fleet discovered the Basestar and captured the ailing Cylons. The colonial fleet's attempt to use the virus to wipe out the Cylons was defeated when Helo, repulsed by the strategy, had the captive Cylons killed while out of range of a
resurrection ship. Meanwhile, Boomer turned increasingly anti-human. She was charged with Hera's care, but Hera rejected her. During a truce negotiation, Boomer told Athena that her daughter was alive but sick on the Baseship. She invited Athena to come to the Baseship and rejoin her people, because the occupation showed that humans and Cylons were incompatible and that humans would never truly accept her. ==In other media==