It’s been way too long since The Twilight Zone‘s iconic theme song ushered in a new episode of the classic creepy series, but that hiatus is about to end. A new reboot of The Twilight Zone is on the way from Get Out director Jordan Peele, and it’s coming way sooner than we expected.
In an interview with Deadline, CBS All Access EVP of Original Content Julie McNamara revealed that the new series will air next year on the streaming platform, while also updating just how far along the ten-episode first season is in its production. “We have a (writers’) room, we have a first season of concepts, outlines, scripts — various stages of all these things — of that 10 eps a season. We are well on our way, and we are going to start production in the next couple of months.” McNamara also revealed that, although Peele and X-Men producer Simon Kinberg are the biggest names attached to the series, longtime producer/director Greg Yaitanes will effectively serve as the series’ showrunner.
The Twilight Zone is coming back at a time when horror/sci-fi anthology series are particularly popular. From Amazon’s Lore and Electric Dreams to Netflix’s Black Mirror and HBO’s Room 104, the genre hasn’t been this hot since the time of the original Twilight Zone when that series shared the airwaves with such contemporaries as The Outer Limits and One Step Beyond. It will be interesting to see if this new version of The Twilight Zone can stand out among a crowded field of similar shows that, let’s be honest, would not exist if it weren’t for the original series.
It will have to do better than the two previous reboots of the series, though, if it wants to survive in this market. The first Twilight Zone revival, which premiered in 1985 to great fanfare and received strong accolades from critics throughout its run, floundered in the ratings and lasted just two seasons before moving to syndication for a third and final season in 1989. A 2002 reboot hosted by Forest Whitaker fared even worse, lasting just one season on the now-defunct UPN, and was thoroughly trashed by critics and fans alike.
But given Peele’s involvement, we have faith that the newest reboot will come the closest yet to replicating the magic and mystery of Rod Serling’s original, and frankly we can’t wait to take another trip to… The Twilight Zone. Cue music.
