Just one week afterChris Morganteamed up with 20th Century Fox to develop anA-Teamremake, hisFurious 7director,James Wan, is tackling a TV remake of his own.Deadlinereports thatJames Wanis teaming up withHenry Winklerand CBS to produce a remake ofMacGyver. Theremakewill feature a protagonist that is much younger than in the original series.
The plot will follow a “twentysomething” Angus MacGyver, who is recruited into the clandestine organization from the original series, known as the Department of External Services (DXS). The title character uses his unique skill set for solving problems with bizarre and unconventional methods, to help prevent disasters before they happen. The newMacGyverwill be roughly 10 years younger than Richard Dean Anderson was on the original MacGyver series, with this new version expected to shed light on howMacGyveracquired some of these infamous skills.
R. Scott Gemmill (NCIS: Los Angeles) is writing the pilot script and will serve as executive producer withJames Wan,Henry Winkler, who produced the original series, and Michael Clear.James Wanhad actually developed aMacGyvermoviereboot, which focused on the title character’s college years. We haven’t heard anything about the movie in quite some time, so it seems the filmmaker is focusing his efforts on bringing the character to the small screen instead.
The original series aired on ABC for seven seasons between 1985 to 1992, following Richard Dean Anderson’s title character, who steered clear of guns following a traumatic accident, and instead uses his ingenuity to get out of trouble. The remake comes from CBS TV Studios, which owns the rights to the original series, produced by its predecessor, Paramount Network Television. The series was often spoofed onSaturday Night Livein a recurring sketch that was eventually adapted into the 2010 movieMacGruber, starringWill ForteandKristen Wiig.
James Wanis coming off thebox officeblockbusterFurious 7, which took in more than $1.5 billion worldwide. He is currently filmingThe Conjuring: The Enfield Poltergeist, and he is also set to directAquamanfor Warner Bros. It isn’t known if the filmmaker will also come aboard to direct theMacGyverpilot, but we’ll keep you posted.
