Everything Old Is New Again: TV & Movie Reboots and Prequels on the Way

Amazing Stories (TV Series Reboot)

Steven Spielberg's fantasy anthology series from the 1980s is coming back to television via Apple, with Mr. Spielberg himself and Bryan Fuller (Hannibal, American Gods) serving as executive producers. Not much else is known except that they are expected to seek stories out from top writers, with the biggest directorial names coming aboard. And with that pedigree, it seems likely that they'll be getting some pretty big names in terms of acting as well.

Animaniacs (TV Series Reboot)

Let the musical history and geography lessons continue, as well as all of the insane humor from The Warners, Yakko, Wakko, and Dot. We know that Pinky & The Brain will be a part of the show, but no word yet on whether or not we'll be getting the brilliant spoof of Goodfellas starring pigeons, Goodfeathers. No doubt the subversive humor disguised as a kid show will continue to be a hallmark of the show that originally ran from 1993-95.

Charlie's Angels (Movie Reboot)

The three ladies of action (who carry out missions assigned to them by the mysterious Charlie, who they hear but don't see) will be returning to movie screens in 2019 as a reboot, with Elizabeth Banks serving as director. The concept originally ran as an ABC TV series from 1976 to 1981, the early years starring Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith (with Cheryl Ladd replacing Farrah beginning in season two). It became a feature film with Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu and and Cameron Diaz in 2000, followed by the 2003 sequel, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. And, finally, it returned to television in 2011 starring Annie Llonzeh, Minka Kelly, Rachael Taylor.

Charmed (TV Series Prequel)

Twelve years after it its last episode, this show remains enormously popular as it focuses on three sisters — played by Shannen Doherty, Alyssa Milano and Holly Marie Combs, later followed by Rose McGowan — who discover that they're witches. Word of a complete reboot was met with controversy, so now the idea is that it will be a prequel series taking place in 1976 and deal with a trio of different witches.

Cleopatra Jones (Movie Reboot)

Made at the height of the "Blaxploitation" movie craze of the 1970s, this action-adventure stars Tamara Dobson as the title character, who poses as a supermodel by day and undercover agent by night (or during the day when she's not playing supermodel…or whenever she feels like it). Forty-five years ago Cleopatra Jones was heralded as a black female James Bond, and that's the approach that's definitely being taken now. It's being written by Misha Green, co-creator of the TV series Underground.

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (TV Series Prequel)

Muppet creator Jim Henson came up with the concept for this fantasy world largely using puppets in 1982's The Dark Crystal. Now there's going to be a 10-episode prequel series produced for Netflix that will explore how this world originally came together. No word on when it will debut.

Death Wish (Movie Reboot)

If Bruce Willis has his way, when you think of his movies it won't just be Die Hard that comes to mind, but Death Wish as well. A remake of the 1974 Charles Bronson classic, it sees Willis in the role of Dr. Paul Kersey, an experienced trauma surgeon and someone who has spent his life saving the people who are on the verge of death. But, after a home invasion leaves his wife being killed and his daughter plunging into a coma, his world gets turned upside down. Needing retribution, Kersey gradually takes to the streets, armed, seeking some vigilante justice, eventually being dubbed “The Grim Reaper” by the media. The big question is whether or not he’ll actually find those responsible, or go all Batman on society’s ass and just seek out evildoers for the rest of his life.

Dracul (Movie Prequel)

A couple of years ago an attempt was made to look at the origin of the most famous vampire ever, Dracula, in the form of Dracula Untold. That didn't necessarily connect with the audience, but another attempt is getting made with Dracul. Written by Bram Stoker's great-grandnewphew Dacre Stoker and J.D. Barker, and to be directed by It's Andy Muschietti, the story is described as an exploration of the events in Bram Stoker's life that ultimately led him to write Dracula, including, according to a statement, "an encounter with an ungodly evil, which he traps in an ancient tower." Let's hope it doesn't suck.

First Wives Club (Movie to TV Adaptation)

Three old college friends come together for the funeral of a newly-divorced woman who has killed herself. It's the first time they've seen each other in 30 years, and when they learn of the divorce that led to the woman's suicide, they realize that all of their ex-husbands had taken them for granted, and want a little payback. The original film was released in 1996 and stars Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, and Diane Keaton. The pilot script for the show is being written by Girl's Trip's Tracy Oliver.

Get Christie Love (TV Series Reboot)

Taking its cue from feature films like Cleopatra Jones, this 1974-75 ABC series starred Teresa Graves as undercover cop Christie Love, whose mission is to take down a New York drug ring. The new version is being produced by Vin Diesel and Courtney Kemp (The Good Wife, Beauty and the Beast, Power).

Game of Thrones (TV Series Prequel)

HBO has certainly taken a unique approach to this idea. As the days are winding down (admittedly those days can spread out over a couple of years) for GoT, they're determined to stay in this world and have put into motion the writing of five scripts for potential prequel series. Author/Series Creator George R.R. Martin is reportedly writing two of them.

The Greatest American Hero (TV Series Reboot)

In the 1981 series, William Katt played schoolteacher Ralph Hinkley, who is given a red flying suit by aliens that gives him a variety of powers and then they depart — neglecting to give him an instruction manual. A light-hearted show, it had Ralph donning the outfit to fight crime while figuring out how to control it. The show ended its run in 1983, but three years later a pilot was produced called The Greatest American Heroine, in which Holly Hathaway (Mary Ellen Stuart) donned the red costume. It didn't go to series, but now the concept is coming back, with Indian-American actress Meera clumsily taking to the sky.

Halloween (Movie Reboot)

It's very odd to think of this as a reboot, because it kind of feels like there's been a couple of hundred reboots in the series already. In this case what a "reboot" actually means is that the ending of the original 1978 film will be slightly altered, and that the nine subsequent films will be completely ignored. The new film — which once again pits Jamie Lee Curtis against Michael Myers — just take place 40 years after the events of the first movie.

The Jetsons (TV Series Reboot)

TV's first space-age family had a short original run from 1962-63, Hanna-Barbera hoping to duplicate the success of The Flintstones by projecting into the future rather than the prehistoric past. It didn't work, but the Jetsons (George Jetson, his boy Elroy, daughter Judy, Jane his wife) absolutely had an afterlife. Two additional seasons were produced between 1985 and 1987, TV movies in the form of The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones (1987) and Rockin' With Judy Jetson (1988), and it spawned an animated feature film in 1990. Over the years there was talk of a live action film, but that never materialized. What we are going to get is a live action TV remake for ABC produced by Back to the Future's Robert Zemeckis. Jane, don't stop this crazy thing!

Krypton (TV Series Prequel)

A Superman TV show without Superman? What a ridiculous idea! Of course, we said the same thing when we heard the premise of Smallville back in 2001 and that show went on to a 10-year run. And this one definitely has some potential. It takes place a couple of centuries before the Man of Steel's home world explodes and he is sent to Earth. The focus is on his great-grandfather Seg-El (Cameron Cuffe), who must deal with personal struggles while characters from the future wrn him that ultimately Krypton must die so that Superman will fulfill his destiny. Heavy burden, but we can't wait.

Kung Fu (TV Series Reboot)

Set in the Old West, David Carradine stars as martial artist Kwai Chang Caine, who is moving from town to town in pursuit of his missing half-brother. Along the way, of course, he finds himself in conflict with the bad guys almost everywhere he goes. It was an odd (but successful) mix of a show with martial arts, philosophy, and ass-whuppings. It ran from 1972 to 1975, and spawned the TV film Kung Fu: The Movie (1986), the TV series Kung Fu: The Next Generation (1987), and *Kung Fu: The Legend Continues_ (1993). Currently in the works is a reboot which will feature a woman as Caine, and be produced by Greg Berlanti, who's all over television right now with Blindspot, Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Riverdale, Black Lightning, and the soon to arrive Titans and Deception. Sounds like he's got plenty of down time to mount the new Kung Fu. Not.

Lord of the Rings (TV Series Prequel)

If you haven't had your full of Middle Earth with the extended editions of the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, then Amazon wants you. The streaming service has struck a deal for a television series that will serve as a prequel to the first film of LOTR, The Fellowship of the Ring. Beyond that, virtually nothing is known beyond the belief that this will likely be the most expensive and lavish television series ever produced. Let's hope they manage to work Gollum and his precious in there somehow!

Mad About You (TV Series Reboot)

Given how well the revival of Will and Grace has gone, hopes are high that the return of Mad About You will meet with the same kind of success. That '90s series followed the first few years of marriage between Paul and Jamie Buchman (Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt). Recently Reiser has suggested what the revival would be like and it sounds great. Nearly 20 years after the original went off the air, it will have Paul and Jamie coping with empty nest syndrome as their daughter, Mabel, heads off to college and they have to adjust to the next chapter in their lives.

Magnum, P.I. (TV Series Reboot)

If you're a fan of the original 1980-88 series about Hawaiian-set private eye Thomas Magnum….well, don't expect to see Tom Selleck back in his flowered shirts. He's busy with Blue Bloods, plus the show's been off the air for 20 years. In the reimagined version (coming from Peter Lenkov (who revived both Hawaii Five-0 and MacGyver), the set-up will be pretty similar to the original, except that Higgins (played by John Hillerman) will be a woman this time out. Potential romance for Thomas? We'll see.

The Munsters (TV Series Reboot)

After a couple of attempts that didn't go to series, things are looking much more positive for a series return of the residents of 1313 Mockingbird Lane, the Munsters. Check out this family line-up: The grandfather (“Grandpa”) is a vampire, as is his daughter, Lily, who is married to a variation of the Frankenstein monster, Herman. Their son, Eddie “Wolfgang” Munster, is a werewolf, and they have a beautiful, perfectly normal niece named Marilyn, who is considered the freak of the family. Odd Mom Out creator Jill Kargman and Late Night host Seth Meyers are currently developing this new take that will see the Munsters clan actually relocate from 1313 Mockingbird Lane in California to “hipster” Brooklyn, New York. It will be interesting to see that culture clash. The original show ran from 1964-66, yet with just two years worth of episodes it has entertained a couple of generations of fans.

Nursed Ratched (TV Series Prequel)

Watching the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Next, you can't help but walk away thinking "What a biotch" when it comes to Louise Fletcher's Nurse Ratched. So why exactly was she that way? Well, we're going to find out in this prequel TV series that puts American Horror Story's Sarah Paulson in the title role. Things will begin in 1947 and follow her as she gradually becomes the monster we meet in the film. Ryan Murphy serves as executive producer for the show, which has a commitment from Netflix for two seasons and a total of 18 episodes.

The Office (TV Series Reboot)

This reboot is in the earliest days of development, with NBC expressing interest in possibly reviving this mockumentary show that ran for nine seasons and dealt with a group of workers in their everyday work life. Rainn Wilson (Dwight Schrute) has expressed interest in returning, while Steve Carell (office manager Michael Scott) will not be a part of it.

Perry Mason (TV Series Reboot)

Created by writer Erle Stanley Gardner, the character of lawyer Perry Mason was made famous by Raymond Burr in the 1957-66 TV series and was played by Monte Markham in 1973's The New Perry Mason, only to see Burr return for the role in 30 TV movies between 1985 and 1995. Now Robert Downey, Jr. is planning on bringing the character back in a new HBO series that's in development. The actor's most recent non-Iron Man role was as a lawyer in 2014's The Judge.

Roseanne (TV Series Reboot)

There's a lot of excitement for this reboot, but some concern as well. Roseanne worked best when it was a blue-collar sitcom about a family struggling to make ends meet. In its final season, the Connors won the lottery and became rich. What should have been a clever updating of The Beverly Hillbillies (oh, go look it up on Wikipedia. We'll wait), instead was a creative mess with virtually no one satisfied with the way the show ended. Encouraging is that from everything we've seen and heard so far, the show gets back to its roots and more or less ignores the ending of the series, which revealed that much of it had been a work of fiction written by widower Roseanne Connor. Pretty much the whole cast returns for the show, which premieres March 27th on ABC.

Roswell (TV Series Reboot)

Based on the Roswell High book series, this 1999-2002 show focuses on a trio of seeming high school students who are actually aliens endowed with a variety of powers. They desperately try to fit in, but who and what they are brings an ever-increasing threat to the people around them. The cast includes Shiri Appleby (Unreal) and Katherine Heigl (Gray's Anatomy, numerous films). The CW is developing the reboot, which Deadline describes as follows: "After reluctantly returning to her tourist-trap hometown of Roswell, NM, the daughter of undocumented immigrants discovers a shocking truth about her teenage crush who is now a police officer: He’s an alien who has kept his unearthly abilities hidden his entire life. She protects his secret as the two reconnect and begin to investigate his origins, but when a violent attack and long-standing government cover-up point to a greater alien presence on Earth, the politics of fear and hatred threaten to expose him and destroy their deepening romance." Sounds good to us!

Sabrina (TV Series Reboot)

Despite expectations that it would become a CW spin-off of Riverdale, Netflix is actually the one that has picked up the new Sabrina the Teenage Witch series for two seasons, consisting of 10 episodes each. This take on Sabrina is going to be extremely different from any that came before. It’s based on the comic of the same name and is described as being a reimagination of the origin and adventures of Sabrina “as a dark coming-of-age story that traffics in horror, the occult, and witchcraft". The series is described as being totally in the vein of horror classics like Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist, and will see Sabrina wrestling to reconcile her dual nature as a half-witch, half-mortal while standing against the evil forces that threaten her, her family, and the world of humans. Riverdale’s Robert Aguirre-Sacasa will write the pilot and serve as executive producer.

Starsky & Hutch (TV Series Reboot)

In the 1975-79 TV series, Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul played the title characters, a pair of cops in Southern California made as famous for their red Ford Gran Torino as for their crime-solving. Oftentimes helping them was informant Huggy Bear, played by Antonio Fargas. The film inspired the 2004 big screen comedy adventure that starred Ben Stiller as Starsky, Owen Wilson as Hutch and Snoop Dogg as Huggy Bear. The new version is coming from Guardians of the Galaxy's James Gunn, and will be airing on Amazon.

True Lies (Movie to TV Adaptation)

In the 1994 film, Arnold Schwarzenegger plays fearless, globe-trotting, terrorist-battling secret agent Harry Tasker. His life is turned upside down when he discovers his wife (Jamie Lee Curtis) might be having an affair with a used car salesman, while terrorists smuggle nuclear warheads into the United States. The film was directed by James Cameron, who serves as executive producer of the in-development TV series. Nothing is known about the approach the show is taking, though we assume it will continue Harry's adventures.

Tomb Raider (Movie Reboot)

This reboot film featuring the adventurer, directed by Roar Uthaug, stars Swedish actress Alicia Vikander in the role of Lara Croft. Her film roles include Ex Machina, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Jason Bourne, and The Light Between Oceans. In speaking to Hitfixx last year, Alicia commented, “They told me they were doing the film based on the reboot of the game from 2013. That is more of an origin story. You get into an emotional aspect of getting to know Lara hopefully in an in-depth way. So I hope that doing a film of that rebooted game will bring something new and fresh that’ll stand on its own two legs.”

This one has had a surprisingly long life, beginning as a 1990 feature film in which natives of a small isolated town defend themselves against strange underground creatures which are killing them one by one. It inspired four made-for-DVD sequels, and a 2003 television series. The new show, like the original, will air on Syfy, and the expectation is that Kevin Bacon, who starred in the first film, will reprise his role of Valentine McKee (how's that for a character name?) in some capacity.

The Twilight Zone (TV Series Reboot)

Coming off of the success of Star Trek: Discovery, the CBS All Access streaming service has announced that it will be reviving Rod Serling's classic anthology series The Twilight Zone. The original show — made famous by its twist endings — which still enjoys marathons to this day, ran from 1959-64, spawned a 1985 reboot that is extremely underrated, and a third in 2002. We cannot wait to return to that dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind.