Edward James Olmos Turned ‘So Say We All’ Into a Battle Cry and the Soul of ‘Battlestar Galactica’
A spontaneous moment on set helped define Adama and shaped the spirit of the entire series
Key Takeaways
- Edward James Olmos made Adama the emotional anchor of 'Battlestar Galactica.'
- 'So Say We All' evolved from script line into an iconic battle cry on the series.
- One improvised moment helped define the legacy of 'Battlestar Galactica.'
When Ronald D. Moore and David Eick set out to reinvent Battlestar Galactica, they weren’t interested in simply updating Glen A. Larson’s 1978 space opera with better visual effects. They wanted something rawer, grittier and more emotionally honest—a science-fiction series that felt uncomfortably close to the world audiences were living in.
At the center of that vision was Commander William Adama, the man tasked with leading the last survivors of humanity after the Cylons nearly wipe out civilization. Adama needed to be many things at once: military leader, father figure, warrior, philosopher and, when necessary, the moral compass of a shattered civilization.
Finding the right actor for that role was everything, and they did in the form of Edward James Omos. Already acclaimed for unforgettable performances in Miami Vice, Blade Runner and Stand and Deliver, Olmos elevated the role. From the moment he stepped onto the set, he didn’t just play Adama—in many ways, he became the spiritual center of Battlestar Galactica itself.
That was never clearer than during the filming of the miniseries, when a single line in the script suddenly transformed into something much bigger. Written simply as “So say we all,” the phrase might have remained just another piece of dialogue. Instead, through Olmos’ instincts and sheer force of conviction, it became a battlecry—one that galvanized the cast in the moment and ultimately came to define the spirit of the entire series.
As the cast and creative team recall, that moment wasn’t planned. It wasn’t rehearsed. It simply happened. And once it did, everyone on set understood they were making something special.
RONALD D. MOORE (co-creator): “The first thing I’ve got to say about Eddie is that he was the one who came up with ‘So say we all!’ in the final scene of the miniseries. I had written it into the script as just a line, but in the moment on the set, when Eddie said ‘So say we all’ to the cast, he thought they didn’t give him very much back. So he said it again. You can see it in the take; they all kind of glance at each other and go, ‘So say we all.’ And then he insists. He says it louder and just pushed them and pushed them until it became this big thing on the soundstage. It was just something Eddie came up with on his own in the moment, and then it became a signature line in the series after that.”
MICHAEL HOGAN (actor, “Colonel Saul Tigh”): “If you remember, that was a gigantic scene with hundreds of extras, and Adama gives his speech… and it took forever. We set up for hours, of course, and it was the beginning of Battlestar Galactica’s long dolly shots, Steadicam, shaky cam. It was blocked and Eddie was up at the podium, and then as we were rolling, Eddie walks down and you could see the director of photography and people going, ‘What the frak is happening here?’ We weren’t saying ‘frak’ steadily yet.”
DAVID EICK (co-creator): “[Director] Michael Rymer and I had a different reaction to that scene being shot initially. Eddie says his speech, which ends in the script with ‘So say we all,’ but he says it in a solemn way, and everyone else says it in a solemn way. But Eddie, in the moment, didn’t like it. He just didn’t like it. He thought their performance could be better, so he said it louder and it becomes kind of like a football game of ‘I can’t hear you!’ Michael Rymer is about to cut because he figures Eddie doesn’t like the performance, and I’m going, ‘No, no, no, no.’ Because I can see this is all going to build in real time.”
“That was all improvised and driven by his need to get them into it. It really is a metaphor about Eddie leading the spirit of the show in a way that says, ‘Hey, I’m up here doing this, and I love it, and I’m giving it everything I’ve got, so don’t you guys fail me.’ And they didn’t.”
MICHAEL RYMER (director): “It was written that everyone’s very downtrodden, and so he inspires everybody, right? But Eddie went into a rage and started shouting and attacking, and we’re all, on the day, going, ‘Oh my God, what’s he doing?’ And as soon as he did it, all the cast and extras burst into spontaneous applause at the end. That happened spontaneously as a result of Eddie, the actor in the room, taking a group of people to a place emotionally for real.”
“That’s challenging and exciting stuff to be on set with as a director. That’s what you want. You’ve got a great script. You just want to take it up those extra notches and find the friction and intensity and capture that in a bottle.”
EDWARD JAMES OLMOS (actor, “Commander William Adama”): “You’ve got to remember that was the very first time we all were together. It was frightening. It was very intense and it caught everybody by surprise, because no one knew that I was going to repeat it. When we broke off that scene, I remember David Eick talking to me about it, and I saw him shaking, because it was incredible. We all felt it. We all went there. That was, to me, probably the most penetrating moment, because it really set the whole tone for the rest of the five years.”
MICHAEL HOGAN: “You can watch the scene; you can see people looking around, going, ‘What the?… Oh!’ So we were all on the same page by the end of that. You hear ‘Cut!’ and you’re like, ‘We are in for quite a ride here.’ And that certainly came true.”
MARY MCDONNELL (actor, “President Laura Roslin”): “I want to comment on that moment. First, I found out that my character was dying, and then it’s ‘So say we all,’ and I was, as Laura Roslin, going, ‘This is the man trying to save the rest of the human race? Oh my God.’ Such an interesting revelation as to what that was going to be about. Learning his power. Learning his rage. It’s like, ‘Where have I landed? This paramilitary nightmare.’ Yet it was extraordinary.”
ANGELA MANCUSO (former President of Universal Cable Entertainment): “Eddie brought a seriousness to the part that it needed. We didn’t want to make a joke. The first Battlestar Galactica was a knee-jerk response to Star Wars. That’s all it was. When we hired Ron, we knew we were going to get something more believable. Eddie represents that, and we all agreed on him right off the bat. Everybody wanted him.”
TAHMOH PENIKETT (actor, “Captain Karl ‘Helo’ Agathon”): “He’s one of the first people that ever made me want to act. I remember my father taking me to Blade Runner when I was five or six and being absolutely captivated by his character onscreen. I was always attracted to Edward James Olmos’ projects.”
“To ultimately work on a project with the man, and to call him a dear friend and mentor—I can’t express how much that means to me. He’s family. His work ethic, his loyalty, his character never cease to amaze me.”
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