Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for Babylon 5: The Road Home.
Summary
- The animated movie Babylon 5: The Road Home introduces a new reboot universe that raises questions about the fate of Anna Sheridan.
- In the new universe, the Shadow War has not begun, and the role of IPX, the organization tied to Anna Sheridan's life and death, is completely different.
- The behavior of the younger John Sheridan suggests that he may not be married to Anna in the reboot reality, as he speculates about a mystery woman he'd like to meet someday.
The animated movie Babylon 5: The Road Home creates a new reboot universe, but it leaves the fate of Anna Sheridan unclear. This might seem unimportant, as John Sheridan's second wife was a relatively minor character in the Babylon 5 saga. However, one key detail regarding the reboot reality raises several questions about Anna Sheridan, whom the movie completely ignores.
Babylon 5: The Road Home sends John Sheridan on a journey across reality after he becomes unstuck in time and space. Sheridan ultimately winds up in a parallel universe and meets a younger version of himself, two years after the variant became the commanding officer of Babylon 5. To Sheridan's surprise, and in a major change from the original Babylon 5 series, the Shadow War has not begun in the new universe, and his younger self has never heard of the sinister race called the Shadows. While this has major implications for the Babylon 5 reboot universe, it also raises questions regarding Anna Sheridan.
Anna Sheridan's Fate In Babylon 5's Reboot Timeline Is Unclear
While trying to learn about the history of the new universe, the original John Sheridan begins to describe how the Shadow War started: the Icarus, an exploratory ship sponsored by Interplanetary Expeditions (IPX), landed on the Shadow homeworld of Z'ha'dum. However, according to Security Chief Garibaldi, IPX went out of business 10 years earlier in the new timeline. This is notable, as the Icarus and IPX both had a major role in Anna Sheridan's life and death in Babylon 5. However, Anna Sheridan is not mentioned once in Babylon 5: The Road Home.
In the original Babylon 5 timeline, Anna Sheridan was an archeologist employed by IPX and part of the crew of the Icarus. Anna and most of that crew were enslaved by the Shadows, who used sentient beings as living processors for their spaceships. While Anna's body survived, her personality was destroyed. After learning who she was years later, the Shadows imprinted a new personality on Anna's body, as part of a scheme to recruit John Sheridan to their side. But if IPX went out of business before they could send the Icarus to Z'ha'dum in the reboot reality, Anna Sheridan should still be alive in that universe.
Could John Sheridan Have Never Married Anna In The Reboot Reality?
There's a possibility that John and Anna Sheridan are still married in the reboot reality introduced by Babylon 5: The Road Home. However, the younger Sheridan's behavior suggests that is not the case, as he speaks with the Minbari Ambassador Delenn about how the elder Sheridan was taken back to his home universe through the actions of the woman he loved. The young Sheridan speculates as to the identity of this woman, saying she seemed "like someone I'd like to meet someday." If Sheridan had married Anna, whether he was a widower or not, it seems likely he'd presume the mystery woman was her.
