The 4400, Breaking Bad, and Deadwood Among Planned Reboots, Movies and Adaptations

The 4400, Breaking Bad, Deadwood, and a trio of Rick Grimes-centered Walking Dead installments are among the latest planned reboots, revivals and TV movies in the pipeline.

A planned reboot of USA Network’s The 4400 is a go at the CW, according to Variety, who report that CBS Television Studios are producing with an eye to landing the potential new series on the CW.

The project is being overseen by Taylor Elmore and Craig Sweeny, who will co-write and executive produce the pilot, with Elmore serving as showrunner should the pilot be well received, and the series picked up. 

The original show was created and written by Scott Peters and René Echevarria, and starred Joel Gretsch and Jacqueline McKenzie. The 4400 ran for four seasons from 2004 until its cancellation in 2007.

Meanwhile, more-than-just-rumors of a Breaking Bad movie from creator Vince Gilligan appear to be true. A source tells THR that Gilligan is working on a 2 hour movie set in the existing Breaking Bad universe, and with Gilligan writing, executive producing, and possibly even directing.

Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul executive producers Mark Johnson and Melissa Bernstein are also attached to the project which is said to follow “the escape of a kidnapped man and his quest for freedom.” Although the loglines appear to reference the final episode of Breaking Bad in which Jesse Pinkman earns his freedom from indentured servitude, it is as yet unknown if original Breaking Bad series stars Aaron Paul or Bryan Cranston are linked to the project. Also unknown at this point is whether the 2 hour movie is destined for theatrical or TV release. 

Production is expected to begin this month in New Mexico.

Ian McShane as Al Swearengen on the HBO series Deadwood

HBO announced its own plans for a feature-length presentation of Deadwood. Continuing the story begun in David Milch’s Emmy-winning HBO series, the movie is also written by Milch, directed by Daniel Minahan and will feature original cast members from the series.

HBO describes the Deadwood film as reuniting “the indelible characters of the series after ten years to celebrate South Dakota’s statehood. Former rivalries are reignited, alliances are tested and old wounds are reopened, as all are left to navigate the inevitable changes that modernity and time have wrought.”

Returning cast members include: Ian McShane (Al Swearengen), Timothy Olyphant (Seth Bullock), Molly Parker (Alma Ellsworth), Paula Malcomson (Trixie), John Hawkes (Sol Star), Anna Gunn (Martha Bullock), Dayton Callie (Charlie Utter), Brad Dourif (Doc Cochran), Robin Weigert (“Calamity” Jane Canary), William Sanderson (E.B. Farnum), Kim Dickens (Joanie Stubbs) and Gerald McRaney (George Hearst).

The film will also feature new cast member Jade Pettyjohn (Caroline). 

And in revival news of another sort, Walking Dead star Andrew Lincoln officially lives to fight another day, with the revelation that 3 TV movies are being planned by AMC Studios that will aim to focus on Rick’s experiences right after he was saved by a mysterious technology-wielding group in desperate need of a “B” in Sunday’s big exit episode.

The trilogy, starring Lincoln and penned by Walking Dead’s Scott M Gimple, will begin production as early as 2019.

“It’s not the beginning of the end, it’s the end of the beginning,” Lincoln teased during an exit interview on Walking Dead aftershow The Talking Dead. “And I like the idea that we get to tell a bigger story, maybe with a sort of wider vista. I’ve always been interested in what’s going on out there, you know, whether or not there is contact with the wider world. I want to know the meta of it all. And I suppose to be able to kind of touch upon that in a contained story for me is a very exciting proposition.”

More on these stories as they emerge.