The remake is part of Hollywood like lying is part of Politics… they just go together.
So when I heard this plan my first thought was “obviously they will try that” but then the more I heard the more I thought it was, to say the least, ambitious and maybe a bit nuts!
Remake The A-Team, Knight Rider and Airwolf.. in a single universe?
Now this is not just a theory, this has actually been pitched as an idea to the Peacock network. NBC own the rights to Knight Rider and Airwolf (as well as the 6 million dollar man but I will come back to him in a bit) and the A-team was first shown on NBC, produced by Universal even though it is now a property of Fox and therefore Disney.
The source that has shared this information with me has stated that NBC have already put the word out to writers, showrunners, Producers etc to see if anyone would be interested in this idea and have even gone as far as trying to find an international distributor for the following franchise… Netflix have apparently expressed an interest.
So just put all the ducks in a row let me explain what exactly the plan is!
NBC in partnership with Fox will produce remakes of The A-Team, Knight Rider and Airwolf.
These shows will then appear on Peacock in the United States and possibly Netflix everywhere else.
These shows will exist within the same universe and will have a story line that effects them all… Think Marvel and different phases building towards crossovers and perhaps even TV movies with them all appearing together.
It’s a 40 somethings wet dream? Or is it just crazy?
I am 45 years old… I know it’s hard to believe so don’t jump into the comments with your expressions of disbelief.. So I grew up on these shows. I used to build a model of the Airwolf out of Lego every Saturday morning after watching the show or the A-Team van. I wanted to be Michael Knight, but could maybe skip the perm. I do think my obsession with Leather Jackets started thanks to the Hoff though.
So on the surface I think this plan could be totally genius. Maybe. If done right.
I’m not confident.
So where does the 6 million dollar man come into this. Well there was initially idea to have a new remake of this series too but during discussion between executives it was decided that it would be a character that is there but that comes in and out of the series. This in part is because of Movie plans, The Six Billion Dollar man with Mark Wahlberg has been bouncing around development hell for years now but there is still hope for it. For me though I suspect another reason. The Bionic man is a little over powered to appear along side the A-Team and Knight Rider but as the character was always supposed to be a Super Spy I can see how he would be a useful character for writers to have in their back pocket when needed.
I can see how this could work though!
Honestly I can imagine a hundred different story lines that could bring these iconic characters together. The A-Team is a band of soldiers betrayed by their Government, perhaps by a shadowy element within the Industrial Military Complex. The same people that want the Airwolf and KITT for themselves. I could see a change in canon where perhaps the Airwolf and KITT share technology or perhaps were even built originally by the same team to work together? KITT on land with Airwolf in the air.
If it is going to work though it needs to build slowly. Again think Marvel and not DC. They have to start with their own story lines, stories that we slowly come to realise are all really linked. Any crossovers need to then be done carefully and not too often. We need to be teased a little, we need to be begging for it but they finally give us what we want.
It comes down to a simple truth though. Like every idea it really only matters how it is then brought into life. If they do this well we could get a series of shows that will excite us for the next decade. Maybe some very cool movies too and NBC will sell an absolute shed load of merchandise. If they do it badly though or rush it? Then it will be one more example of how Hollywood takes the things we love and ruins them.
I hope for the former.