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Eddie Izzard is in final negotiations to star in and produce NBC’s Munsters reboot Mockingbird Lane. Izzard is the first actor cast in the pilot, written by Bryan Fuller and to be directed by Bryan Singer. Mockingbird Lane is described as a reinvention of the 1960s sitcom about a family of “monsters” that has striking visuals in the vein of Fuller’s ABC dramedy Pushing Daisies. Izzard will play Grandpa, the Munster family patriarch, a powerful, ancient vampire with an irrepressible twinkle in his eye. He can shapeshift into rats, wolves, and other creatures at will, but he’s also dapper and charming in a fedora; he is a Don Juan-type womanizer with penchant for flashy, sexy outfits. Izzard was originally offered the role, 
played by Al Lewis on the original series, in January when he was tied to a drama project he had in development at FX. Facing casting difficulties, NBC rolled the pilot to June and spent the time developing the show’s visual style and settings. Meanwhile, Izzard, repped by UTA and The Collective, became available and, after fielding an offer for another pilot, he was approached again for Mockingbird Lane. Impressed by the Fuller and Singer’s vision for the Munsters world, he came on board the Universal TV-produced project as a star and a producer.
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Love Eddie. Stop with all the remakes please.
Absolutely agree. Have you seen their choice for Lily…her eyes are small and slit shaped, and if you remember right the original Lily (Yvonne DeCarlo) had huge eyes and full lips. This to me was a dealbreaker so I probably won’t even check it out. What a let down, can’t Hollywood get an original idea?
That is AWESOME! Damn where can one go to try out for this? I would Be the perfect Herman……
The Original is the Original, They need to stop remaking it………There is nothing Like the Original Cast that Made that Show…….They made it Awesome so, I don’t need to see remakes it will never be the same!!!!!! Stick with the Original and leave it alone…Please……..BIG FAN OF THE MUNSTERS!!!!!!Nothing like The Greatest Show ever!!!!!
Genius casting choice!
I was a bit uncertain about this project, especially when they announced the title change, but I will definitely check it out now.
Eddie deserves better material — but an even better payday. Good for him.
Totally agree Eddie is great, and this is certainly not an upward movement in his career except for the money.
$$$$$$$
Understand, but truly wish Eddie had better opportunities. He is a talented performer.
I read the headline and was horrified that he’d be playing Herman; but Grandpa is a wonderful choice for Eddie.
Outfrigginstanding!
With Izzard I will at least give it a chance.
Not sure who Eddie Izzard is, Brad Garrett should play Herman Munster
Brad Garret does do a very funny Fred Gwynne impersonation. Not sure if that’s the direction they want to go on this one.
I’m a HUGE Eddie Izzard fan. That being said… he won’t say ANY of the lines that are written for him. You’ve been warned.
I’m not particularly excited for this pilot but I gotta admit, that’s pretty genius casting right there.
“Pushing Daisies” alums Lee Pace and Anna Friel would bake a good Herman and Lilly.
I agree, or Terri Hatcher for Lily (let’s not indulge too much in Daisies nostalgia). Since they’re obviously not going for anything akin to traditional casting (otherwise Danny DeVito would be Grandpa), just throw it wide open.
Great choice, NBC! If “The Manzanis” doesn’t get picked up by ABC, they should get Kirstie Alley to play Lily Munster. She’d be perfect.
Uh, she’s a bit old for the role. But she could be a vampire/old flame of Gramp’s…?
aside from the fact that Kirstie is 10 years older than Eddie…
Uh no. Lily’s supposed to be attractive. How do you go from Demi Moore to Kirstie Alley? lol
Why haven’t I thought about this earlier! Demi Moore would be fabulous as Lily! It’s time for her to do a TV show. From your mouth, to NBC ears.
Having grown up watching “The Munsters” I expect this remake to stay along the lines of the original with respect to it. Your actors should be able to emulate the original characters perfectly as far as their manerisms and reactions were. The house should be just as creepy and don’t forget Spot under the stairwell. I think this is a good opportunity to find new talent, as some of the suggestions I’ve seen comments of are old and washed up in my opinion. Demi Moore and Kirstie Alley were awesome in their day, but they won’t be able to hold a candle to Yvonne DeCarlo in the role of Lilly. Bear in mind, Yvonne DeCarlo was a classical actress who loved macabre roles and before “The Munsters” was found mostly on stage. All I ask is that you handle this project appropriately. I loved “Pushing Daisys” for the quirky off color humor and was highly tee’d off when it was cancelled. But, take your license in the setting and interaction rather than with the characters and resemblance to the original series. As an example, don’t take a good show and turn it into something people can’t relate to for having seen the original for which it is based. One example of such a failure is “Dark Shadows”. The original show starring Johnathan Frid as Barnabas Collins was a serious soap opera. The remake they did in the early 90′s was also very good. The new one is a comical joke and other than the name has no resemblance to the original. I thank you and hope I didn’t bore you too much.
I have to say …since Dark Shadows came up…as far as the movie with Johnny Depp as I see it one thing killed the movie…and that was losing Dan Curtis as a go to for how things would have/could have been done better..when he passed on the hope for the movie looking like and feeling like the original also died.
On, and as for Marilyn Munster I think Amber Heard would be perfect. She already starred on NBC in TPC so getting her shouldn’t be a problem.
I do not wish NBC upon him. I’m looking forward to it, though. I hope tho isn’t another “Rex us not Your Lawyer” letdown.
Make Marilyn Munster into Michael Munster and use Trevor Donovan!
This is the day that Eddie Izzard admits he has Michael Caine’s old agent. Time for him to remake The Hand and Jaws the Revenge.
Fred Gwynne made the Munsters with his ability to be the perfect man-child dad.
I love the idea of Demi Moore for this–hell they should put it opposite 2.5 Men–but if Eddie’s getting a producer credit out of this you can bet the rest of the family will be non-names.
This entire project is so depressing. What is NBC thinking?
I agree. When you get so far from the original in both style and setting, why even call it a remake? Why even call it “The Munsters” or “Mockingbird Lane” for that matter. Why bastardize the originals?
So they take a light-hearted comedy and turn it into something more serious and Tim Burton takes something more serious ie, “Dark Shadows” and does a comedy. I hope and believe BOTH will fail.
OUCH!
Me, too.
Sigh.
I don’t remember Grandpa also being a cross- dresser?
But really, this reboot is just another lazy attempt to harvest old content, rather than taking the time and effort to create something new. There is an acronym for this: WOMBAT (waste of money, brains and talent).
True so true. I think him playing Grandpa is a insult,
Not sure I would have picked this one if I was getting multiple offers, but okay…
And. of course, Paul Ryan as Eddie.
As someone who LOVES Eddie Izzard, this makes me immediately interested (honestly, Bryan Fuller running it made it interesting already; this just made it a weekly appointment). Izzard’s a massively underappreciated actor and I think he could really do something great with a role like this, where it’s obvious he’d get a lot of opportunity to have fun.
This is going to be a disaster and a waste of money and talent on an idea that should never have been greenlighted to begin with. At least they changed the name, which will help, but any comparison to the Munsters will kill it. It will have not have the cheap production quirkiness of the original – which is the only reason why it has endured for nostalgia buffs. The whole point of the show was that it was stupid and everybody involved knew and had fun with it. Without that it will be forced into some achingly hip contemporary take which will fall flat. Does anybody remember the ill-fated attempt to resurrect Fantasy Island? Or Dark Shadows? Some things work when they are supposed to – then never again. This is a big mistake. I give it three episodes before NBC comes to their senses.
This sounds like an April Fools joke.
April Fools.
How about Brad Garret from Every body loves Raymond. As Herman