Lethal Weapon will soon head to television as Fox has ordered a series reboot of the film franchise. Fox has given the TV series based on the Mel Gibson and Danny Glover buddy cop films a put pilot, which all but guarantees that the show will air in some capacity on the network or face substantial penalties to Warner Bros TV, the studio producing the reboot. While the franchises original producers will not be involved in the TV reboot, they have reportedly given the project their blessing, The Hollywood Reporter writes.
Like the film franchise, which spawned four movies and raked in nearly a billion dollars at the box office, the series will revolve around Roger Murtaugh (originally played by Glover), a homicide detective whos getting too old for this shit, and his partner MartinRiggs (Gibson), an unstable, risk-taking narcotics officer.
Deadline writesthat the original narrative will change slightly for TV, with Riggs now a former Texas cop and Navy SEAL who moves to Los Angeles following the loss of his wife and baby. Hes then partnered with Murtaugh, who must avoid stress in his life after suffering a minor heart attack. Chuck writer Matt Miller will write and co-executive produce the reboot. No word yet which actors will assume the Murtaugh and Riggs roles.
Rebooting popular films as TV series has become a trend in recent years, with shows like Syfys 12 Monkeys, MTVs Scream, CBS Limitless, Foxs Minority Report, FXs Fargoand A&Es Psycho-based Bates Motel just a handful of television shows that have roots on the big screen.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, plenty more movie-to-TV reboots are also in the pipeline: Fox is prepping a Behind Enemy Lines series, CBS has Training Day and Rush Hour shows in development, ABCs Uncle Buck will arrive in the coming months and the CW has plans for bothFriday the 13th and The Notebook series.