It’s a roller coaster ride of emotions for Battlestar Galactica fans today. Earlier we saw a truly fantastic trailer for the long-in-the-works prequel series Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome cut to Karen O’s cover of “Immigrant Song” that was so expertly used in the Dragon Tattoo trailer. Fans have been waiting in vain for some kind of sign that the series still exists since the two-hour pilot was greenlit in 2010. Soon after the wave of excitement over the trailer peaked, Syfy decided to crush our dreams and announce that they won’t be moving forward with the series after all. Hit the jump for more.

Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome takes place during the 10th year of the first Cylon war and centers on a young William Adama (played by Luke Pasqualino). The show was initially envisioned as a web series and Syfy greenlighted the two-hour TV pilot in late 2010. The project hasn’t exactly been sitting on the shelf since then, as the network didn’t receive the finished pilot until last November due to a lengthy, visual effects-laden post-production process. Now that the network has gotten a look at the pilot, Deadline reports that they’ve decided to pass on the project as a regular series. There is light at the end of the tunnel, however, as Syfy apparently hopes to move forward with the show as a digital web series (as was the original intention). Syfy president of original programming Mark Stern had this to say:

“Though the vision for “Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome” has evolved over the course of the past year, our enthusiasm for this ambitious project has not waned. We are actively pursuing it as was originally intended: a groundbreaking digital series that will launch to audiences beyond the scope of a television screen. The 90-minute pilot movie will air on Syfy in its entirety at a future date.”

Apparently the trailer that hit earlier today was an unofficial demo reel that wasn’t intended for the public. It was shown at WonderCon last weekend, but NBCUniversal has since removed all vestiges of it from YouTube. While I’m disappointed that Blood & Chrome won’t be moving forward on television, I guess a web series is better than nothing. Still, the budget will presumably be miniscule compared to that of a series meant for cable. The project can still be shopped to other networks, but I seriously doubt any majors will bite. The prequel series Caprica was a ratings disappointment and was swiftly cancelled after just one season.