TV Remake Madness Continues: The Latest Adaptations in the Works and Why This Trend Isn't Stopping

The Departed, Get Shorty and Snatch are coming to the small screen

By Chris Harnick Aug 25, 2016 5:36 PMTags
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The Exorcist! Lethal Weapon! MacGyver! Taken! Just when you thought we'd reached peak TV remake and reboots development season strikes again. Yes, even more remakes of your favorite movies are coming down the pike with The Departed, Snatch and Get Shorty all in the works. As the kids say, this trend can't be tamed.

In the last few days, several beloved films were announced as either in development as a new series or already casting leads. It's important to remember, for every Parenthood, there's, well, a Parenthood. Yes the NBC series based on the 1989, but before there was this fan-favorite modern adaptation, TV took a stab at it in 1990 with Leonardo DiCaprio and David Arquette. It didn't last.

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Back to what's in the works:

The Departed
Amazon is at work on a reboot of the Oscar-winning movie from Martin Scorsese. The movie starred Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson and Mark Wahlberg. According to Deadline, Jason Richman is writing the TV treatment. It's set in present-day Chicago and will deal with warring drug gangs, a cop that goes undercover with a gang and a gang member that goes undercover with the cops. Nobody's cast…yet.

Snatch
This one has stars! Ed Westwick of Gossip Girl (most recently Wicked City, but we're all trying to forget that) and Harry Potter film series star Rupert Grint will headline the Crackle series based on the Guy Ritchie movie of the same name. Dougary Scott also stars in the series that will follow new characters and "evoke the spirit of the 2000 film," according to Variety.

Get Shorty
Epix's take on the Danny DeVito and John Travolta flick will likely star Ray Romano and Chris O'Dowd, according to Deadline. The series is a reimagining of the Elmore Leonard novel that became a movie in 1995. Davey Holmes is penning the TV version. O'Dowd is poised to play the Travolta character and Romano would play Gene Hackman's.

I Spy
Fox is working on a new series loosely based on the Bill Cosby series from the 1960s. This one hails from House's David Shore and McG and follows a paired team of a civilian and a professional spy. It's said not to be a straight up remake, so there's that.

Why all the remakes? Well, look at where these shows are in the works: Fox, Amazon, Epix and Crackle. In 2016, there is an insane amount of TV out there, available in a variety of different ways. It's peak TV. One way to get eyeballs during this onslaught of content is to have a familiar brand. Viewers already know these titles. If there's a show called The Exorcist, you know it's going to involve demonic possessions and a quest to stop them. It's hard to get a film to TV adaptation to stick, but you know Hollywood will keep trying.

Click through the gallery below to find out the status of other remakes and reboots in the works and get up to date on all the scoop.

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