CBS Photo Archive/Getty ImagesMurder, She Wrote will not be getting a reboot at NBC and at least one person is happy about that: Angela Lansbury.
The veteran actress starred in the original Murder, She Wrote for 12 seasons and over 200 episodes. She told the BBC she was "terribly pleased and relieved" to hear NBC isn't going forward with the new version of Murder, She Wrote starring Octavia Spencer.
"I knew it was a terrible mistake," she said. "I didn't want to sully the memory."
Lansbury was outspoken about NBC's plans to revive the Murder, She Wrote brand. The planned reboot had Oscar winner Spencer attached to star as an amateur sleuth and according to Deadline, Lansbury was in talks to also have some kind of presence on the proposed series.
"Octavia Spencer is a superb actress," Lansbury told the BBC. "She had no business being put into a situation that she couldn't win."
Lansbury was nominated for numerous Emmys for playing J.B. Fletcher from 1984-1996.
NBC first announced their Murder, She Wrote reboot plans in October. The pilot hailed from Alexandra Cunningham and producer David Janollari. At the time, Spencer said she had a "love for all things mysterious and Angela Lansbury."
After the project was announced, Lansbury spoke out, saying "I think it's a mistake to call it Murder, She Wrote, because Murder, She Wrote will always be about a Cabot Cove and this wonderful little group of people who told those lovely stories and enjoyed a piece of that place, and also enjoyed Jessica Fletcher, who is a rare and very individual kind of person," Lansbury said, the Washington Post reports. "So I'm sorry that they have to use the title Murder, She Wrote, even though they have access to it and it's their right."
In the proposed reboot, Spencer was to play a hospital administrator who self-publishes her first mystery novel. NBC did not rule out revisiting the project at a later date.
(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)