The CW Is Working on ‘The 4400’ Reboot
Old sci-fi shows never die, they just get rebooted, and ‘The 4400’ is the latest one to be brushed off to attempt a comeback.
Over the course of recent history, four thousand four hundred young adults in their reproductive prime have gone missing all over the world. Some disappearances happened as recently as a few weeks ago, while others date as far back as the day the Soviets launched the Sputnik satellite in 1957.
One day in 2019, all 4,400 show up at the sites of their original abductions. None of them have aged a day and none have any memory of where they’ve been. The so-called “4400” must grapple with their return to a changed and hostile world and also contend with the reality that they’ve come back altered in ways that none of them yet understand.
Created by René Echevarria and Scott Peters, the original series ran for 4 seasons between 2004-2007. It had a huge ensemble cast including Joel Gretsch, Jacqueline McKenzie, Patrick Flueger, Conchita Campbell and was arguably the role which gave Mahershala Ali his big break.
This new version comes from Taylor Elmore and Craig Sweeny, the team behind the cruelly cut short ‘Limitless’. CBS Television Studios serve as the studio, where the duo are under an overall deal. Elmore and Sweeny will co-write the pilot, with Elmore taking on showrunner duties if it goes to series. Sweeny was previously a writer and supervising producer on the original ‘The 4400’ series.
Since the original series aired, a number of shows have dealt with the idea of people returning following a mysterious disappearance. There have been various versions of ‘The Returned’ and most recently NBC’s ‘Manifest’, which has a similar premise.
As of right now, the new series of ‘The 4400’ is only at the development stage, so might not even make it to a pilot, but we’ll let you know when we hear more.
