George Clooney to Reboot Buck Rogers — But Will He Also Star in Series?
George Clooney is looking to update Buck Rogers for the 21st century.
The movie star, along with producing partner Grant Heslov, is set to executive-produce for Legendary a limited TV series about the iconic sci-fi character, who — one way or another, depending on which take you’ve read/watched — gets trapped in suspended animation for some 500 years, eventually waking up in the 25th century.
Brian K. Vaughan, whose writing credits include episodes of Lost and Under the Dome, plus the comic book series Y the Last Man, will pen the series. No network is yet attached.
Amid reports that Clooney is considering the project as also a starring vehicle, the actor’s rep told our sister ste Variety that is not the case.
The best known live-action incarnation of the time-displaced hero, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, originated in 1979 as a cinematic release that got ordered to series, and ran from September 1979 to April 1981. The oft-campy series starred Gil Gerard as the titular space captain, while the cast also included Erin Gray as Colonel Wilma Deering [dreamy sigh] and Tim O’Connor as Dr. Elias Huer. The great Mel Blanc, meanwhile, voiced the whimsical robot sidekick Twiki (biddi-biddi-biddi).
What are you wishes and hopes for a new TV take on Buck?
I’m down for this, but wonder which way it goes: campy or serious. I’d love to see a serious take on the story, the same way BSG was revived.
OK, I’m down for this, but not for Clooney as Buck. He could be interesting as baddie general or something like that, though.
Lets hope they don’t have to wear those skin-tight white outfits anymore. LOL
The original was fun and campy. I hope he doesn’t pull a Seth Rogan and ruin it like Seth ruined Green Hornet.
As a Green Hornet fan since Van Williams, I have to respond…
Seth Rogan’s take on the Hornet was, IMO of course, a lot of fun. I would’ve liked to have seen where he would have gone with it.
I have long wanted a new Buck Rogers, but after the Flash Gordon failure a few years back, I have tempered my expectations. Not really sure what direction the show should take, but feel free to reinvent the title like BSG did. Give us something new but use all the Buck Rogers history as a reference point to jump off from. If the show happens, I WILL be there.
Very into this, even without Clooney staring (and, I mean, the lead should be younger anyway. I hope I’m not being ageist by saying that lol), just hope it gets picked up somewhere I can see it! (Not even about pay for 18 different streaming services just so I can see one show.)
I think it’s long overdue for a remake/reimagining of this IP, having grown up watching the Glen A. Larson production of it. Not the worst thing I’ve ever seen, either.
No matter what happens, I think that if the right people are attached to the project, it’ll be a success and with Clooney producing, he should be able to get it done.
I’m with Drew – I’d love to see a reboot do something really serious with the genre material. Even when it’s camp, Buck Rogers is a classic and there’ s no need to lean into the campier bits when there’s so much opportunity to transcend it and draw out all the things it pioneered long before the properties that cribbed it’s notes for source material.
Come on man! Gorge is not much younger than Gil Gerard, so if you go with Bidens pen pal Gorge you can just as well bring Gil back.
And while you at it what about an SJW remake of Kojak, Jada would be perfect