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EXCLUSIVE: The Twilight Zone is eying a return to primetime. X-Men director Bryan Singer has closed a deal to develop, executive produce and possibly direct a reboot of Rod Serling’s classic. The drama series project, now in early stages, is set up at CBS TV Studios, which owns the rights to the original series. Search is underway for a writer to pen the new Twilight Zone pending finalizing the deal with the Serling estate. The project has not been pitched to networks yet, but CBS is an obvious destination since CBS TV Studios only supplies CBS and the CW on the broadcast side and CBS carried the original series as well as the first revival. In addition to the TV series project, there has been a feature Twilight Zone remake in the works at Warner Bros. with Matt Reeves attached to direct from a script by Jason Rothenberg.
The original Twilight Zone series ran on CBS from 1959-1964. CBS also aired a remake, which ran from 1985-1989. The most recent series reboot, hosted by Forest Whitaker, premiered on UPN in 2002 and lasted one season. Singer, who directed the pilot for Fox’s long-running medical drama House, which he executive produced, recently helmed and exec produced another reboot of a classic series, NBC’s Munsters-themed Mockingbird Lane pilot, which aired as a Halloween special. On the feature side, Singer is back at the helm of the X-Men franchise with the upcoming X-Men: Days Of Future Past after directing and producing the first two installments in the superhero movie series. He is with WME and attorney Dave Feldman.
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I am excited for this actually. The 80s version is underrated.
Great to see Bryan Singer back in action.
Excellent. Can’t wait.
The Twilight Zone just wouldn’t work in a modern context. We’re too self-aware. Overt moral themes do not service our culture in the way they once did. And the “unknown” was scary because the industry didn’t explore it as much as we have in the last forty years. The idea of a girl falling through a crack of reality into another dimension or a dead grandmother calling a kid on a toy phone shook up the rosy view of reality that entertainment presented. We are offered that at every corner now. It’ll end up being nothing but another boring anthology show.
As long as they keep it as stand alone stories per episode and not try to make some big narrative between them. That was one of the many things great about the original series.
Keeping it in the self contained episodic format also allows a wide variety of actors and writers to play around in the format. CBS also has the added benefit of keeping costs down that way because they dont have to pay a regular cast.
It’s actually more expensive – you’re not paying for a regular cast, but you are paying for entirely different sets and/or locations each week, so there’s that much more pre-production and perhaps location shooting. An expensive show like, say, 24 at least has the luxury of one or two central sets each season where much of the action takes place. Plus the cast you do get, if you manage to get some big names, you may have to pay some big bucks for that stunt casting. Cost is one of the reasons you don’t see many anthologies anymore, the other main reason being we’re now conditioned to want the familiar, recurring cast members we can follow and root for.
While I’m leery of what will be the third reboot of the series (and what other TV property can say that?), I’ll be willing to give it a try if it goes to series because there areN,t any really good genre anthology series right now.
Ples, Bryan Singer. Even his misses are interesting viewing.
I’m interested. I really miss having anthology series on TV. The Outer Limits, Amazing Stories, Tales From the Darkside, Tales From the Crypt and The Hitchhiker.
Now, I love serialized shows, but I also like the concept of having a different sci-fi/fantasy/horror story each week. And I’m not talking about a procedural where the same characters do different things each episode, but a completely new story with completely new characters each week. Just a show you can tune in whenever you want and get a good genre story, without having to follow week to week.
I agree that the 80s version was under rated. Would be awesome if they got George RR Martin to come back to the series and pen a couple episodes.
I just hope they get a better fitting actor for the narrator. Forest Whitaker was woefully miscast in the third iteration of the series.
For some reason none of the reboots have ever captured the eerie menace of the original. Is it because it was black and white? Shot on film? Does Serling’s very presence give the original series it’s uniquely unsettling vibe? Why is it so hard to replicate the basic feeling of the original in all the re-do’s. I hope they figure this out because we could really use a great anthology show.
This is a strange decision. There has been three Twilight Zone TV series and, contrary to popular belief due to its influence, none of them have been hits. Fourth time’s the charm, I guess?
so…Bryan SInger is clearly out of original ideas….
Another reboot!
But at least it’ll have some unique stories that hopefully don’t involve people with special powers or wearing capes.
Why I get the feeling this going sucks
Leave this sci fi show Alone
The Twilight Zone project would be a great addition to the CW Network rather than CBS. CW already has similar series which could be very compatible and the name alone might bring in viewers to the network.
So he couldn’t translate the X-Men to the silver screen without adding dated black “Matrix-like” costumes, he couldn’t reboot Superman without adding a dated Donner storyline continuation, he couldn’t reboot Battlestar Galatica because that ended up getting shelved and done better by others.
X-Men was done better by Vaughn, Superman is being done better by Nolan/Snyder, BSG was done better as well.
Yeah, so this is going to be a mediocre yawn so why don’t they just get someone better!!
Always nice to see those six-figure salaries and overtaxed brains associated with the broadcast nets yielding fresh ideas.
I loved the original Twilight Zone series. Whenever they try doing a reboot-IT’S NOT AS GOOD! I agree with the person who wrote that there was something about the original that made it(at least for me) really creeepy & special. Maybe the black & white,how they shot it,or,perhaps even Rod Serling himself made the original series work so well. They should just leave well enough alone. I’ll take the original series over any reboot anytime. Peace.
Does he know what made Twilight Zone what it was?
The 80s CBS reboot was uneven but had high points.
Let’s see if he can get the Harlan Ellison script for “Nackles” done.
http://nitcentral.philfarrand.com/discus/messages/3241/20206.html?1032271181
A Twilight Zone reboot isn’t, by itself, a bad idea. Rod himself would have embraced the idea of building on what he had done. New creators will stand on the shoulders of a giant and they may see things Rod could not.
The trick, however, is to remember that the Twilight Zone was, as an earlier commenter stated, ground-breaking because that kind of material wasn’t being done at the time, let alone on television. Now, of course, sci-fi concepts abound, audiences are jaded to being scared, and the shock of the new will not exist for this reboot any more than it existed for the previous two versions.
There are three aspects to the success of the Twilight Zone that previous attempts have been a little cavalier about:
1) People love the twist ending. Don’t sell that short. It will still work.
2) A great Twilight Zone episode should make you think about life a little differently after you watch it. Don’t prioritize fear over thought. Ideas win.
3) The host needs to represent more than an actor who has been hired to do the job but should represent the heart and soul of the creativity. Remember that Rod Serling was the writer/producer and when he spoke to audiences, they knew he was all about the content. Let a writer do this again.
Anyway, that’s the view from my soapbox. Others may disagree.
Hands off, Bryan Singer!
You won’t ruin this one!
Stand back!
From the guy who killed the Munster’s reboot, comes his next reboot that will kill the franchise… The Twilight Zone!
I think the Pushing Daisies fiasco broke him!
wrong bryan, sir.
Actually, he had it exactly right the first time. Bryan Singer and the clowns at NBC killed Bryan Fuller’s fantastic script.
Hope this succeeds!
Serling and TZ are major mojos for me and my work. previous reboots failed because they tried to Hollywood-ize what is primarily a very gritty, serious pulp fiction type of story telling. It was never about stars or budgets or ratings. It was about pure storytelling. Find fiction writers, playwrights and teach them howe to write for a tv structure world with commercial breaks. Stay with limited locations; mostly interior. All this focuses you to focus on the story and nothing else. Create it BRYAN…like Serling would’ve; and stay away from the previous reboots for any kind of inspiration…and the odds are in you favor.
I hope this turns out well. A successful reboot would be a treat!
The format definitely works. Heck, it even works without the pictures, as witness the radio-drama version that’s been running for a decade now (adaptations of the original programs, plus some new stories).
Read a sci-fi anthology (of about 12 stories) years back and was shocked to find that two of them would be perfect for TZ episodes.
(As well as a number of Arthur Clark short stories.)
I also grew up thinking I would never be able to write a TZ script as good as the handful of truly amazing episodes of that show. But have recently been toying with such an idea. The problem — I would love to see the shocking reveals play out on a 70 foot screen.
Best of luck to you Brian.
So sad to see CBS falling down to the level of the other networks.
Why another reboot? Has the huge flop of Hawaii 5-0 not taught them anything? Of course, CBS pretended Hawaii 5-0 was a hit in spite of its bad ratings…
The last thing we need is the last well-managed network to sink to the level of irrelevance of the rest of the field.