Third revival’s the charm, and with the mastermind behind ‘Get Out’? Count us in.
Sci-fi classic The Twilight Zone is coming back to screens via CBS All Access, The Hollywood Reporter announces. And here’s something else that’s getting us even more excited: Jordan Peele (Get Out) may be working on it.
CBS CEO Leslie Moonves revealed the plans to reboot The Twilight Zone during the company’s earnings call yesterday, although whether it is a straight-to-series order or simply in development is still up in the air. Peele may be involved through this production company, Monkeypaw. Writer Marco Ramirez (The Defenders, Daredevil) is expected to board as showrunner.
IMDb’s summary of the original Twilight Zone series really encapsulates the spirit of the show in a single sentence: “Ordinary people find themselves in extraordinarily astounding situations, which they each try to solve in a remarkable manner.” An anthology series, The Twilight Zone traverses all creepy genres from sci-fi to suspense to psychological thriller, and episodes usually end with a moral in true fable fashion. The original series used sci-fi and horror to comment on social issues and circumvented networks’ and sponsors’ aversion to such topics.
The CBS All Access reboot of The Twilight Zone has more or less been talked about for years (and will the be the third revival of the franchise as a whole). An initial series was planned back in 2012 with Bryan Singer (X-Men) attached to write and direct. But now more than ever, anthologies are seeing a kind of heyday, particularly with the success of shows like Black Mirror (which also employs sci-fi to deliver social commentary). There couldn’t be a better time for a Twilight Zone comeback.
Furthermore, The Twilight Zone reboot comes hot on the heels of the well-received CBS All Access show, Star Trek: Discovery, which was renewed for a second season last month. CBS is fast-tracking original content to boost its offerings for new viewers as subscriber count continues to grow from Discovery‘s success.
“The programming kind of needs to be more premium than it would be on CBS. … It needs to be more specialized, needs to stand out,” Moonves said. He also stated that the average viewer on CBS All Access falls into an age group 20 years younger than the typical CBS watcher.
No doubt that Peele’s potential attachment to the project ideally fits into the interests of that primarily youthful demographic. Peele’s wildly successful, potentially awards-worthy horror film Get Out already exhibits Twilight-Zone-like themes. In creating something as entertaining and as chilling as Get Out, Peele aptly demonstrated horror’s ability to deliver timely social commentary. It would be just perfect for a revival of The Twilight Zone.
Related Topics: Jordan Peele, Mystery, Reboots, The Twilight Zone
