Shortly after Ron Moore's dark, engaging remake of Battlestar Galactica helped raise the bar for all of sci-fi TV, the network it aired on - the appropriately named Sci-Fi Channel - rebranded and went broader with its content. Because while BSG drew raves from critics and fans, the audience was still relatively small. Enter the "Syfy" rebranding and the introduction of lighter, Earth-based procedural shows like Eureka, Haven, and Warehouse 13.

Tricia Helfer in the space voyage series, Ascension.

"In terms of where it was before with original content and some of the series that were on the air, maybe they were more procedural, more lighthearted in tone - and by the way, those shows worked really well for a long time. I’m referring to the Warehouses and the Eurekas. What we have in development now is more of a serious tone, more back to our roots. You’ve seen and probably heard about our desire to get back up to space. We have a couple really big shows that are trying to accomplish that—Ascension, The Expanse in particular, which play more toward I think the harder core sci-fi fan who used to be perceived as niche but is now mainstream and commercial in a way they have never been before. That’s what we’re trying to accomplish."

"We could absolutely do that. I think if you really looked at Defiance, Dominion and some of the content we’ve already done, there’s some pretty rough stuff in those shows. I think sci-fi can be more provocative than any other genre. We will push it wherever we think is appropriate."

"Battlestar and Stargate had their spinoffs. I think now it’s about giving our audience some fresh stuff. But I would never close the door completely on any of those that you mentioned."

Now things are changing once again. With the overwhelming success of genre mega-hits The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones, Syfy's head of original programming, Bill McGoldrick, thinks its time to return back to quality serialization. And that audiences nowadays have proven to be hungry for good, thought-provking TV perhaps in a way they weren't back in 2004.With new shows 12 Monkeys (with Nikita's Aaron Standford), Ascension (starring BSG's Tricia Helfer), The Expanse (with Thomas Jane), and Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood's End (starring GOT's Charles Dance), Syfy is looking to hit a genre ratings jackpot and tap into the new Golden Age of Television. But are people willing to invest in sci-fi the way they are with fantasy and horror?McGoldrick spoke to EW.com about the network's new plan.Furthermore, McGoldrick said that, tonally, Syfy could definitely do with Walking Dead what AMC has done with it.But does this new shift back to darker, more serious content mean that we could see BSG or Stargate return?

Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/Showrenity