The CW Orders Pilots For Revamped ‘The Lost Boys’ TV Series & Political Drama ‘Maverick’
The CW is determined not to give up on ‘The Lost Boys’ tv series, as the US network hands a pilot order for a revamped version of the potential vampire drama from Heather Mitchell and ‘iZombie’s Rob Thomas, alongside a pilot order for political drama ‘Maverick’.
Based on the 1987 movie cult classic, ‘The Lost Boys’ follows a mother and her Generation Z sons who move to the seaside town where she grew up. They soon discover there is a sinister reason the local cool kids sleep all day, party all night, never grow up and never get old. Family bonds are tested as the brothers find themselves on opposite sides of a mythological struggle.
The original movie starred Jason Patric (‘Narc’, ‘Wayward Pines’), Dianne Wiest (‘Life in Pieces’, ‘In Treatment’), and 80’s icons Corey’s Haim & Feldman, as a family which moves to a small town of Santa Carla, California, which just happens to be infested with vampires… one of whom was Kiefer Sutherland. It also had one of the best soundtrack albums of any 80’s movie!
A tv version of ‘The Lost Boys’ has been kicked around The CW since 2016, when Rob Thomas (‘iZombie’, ‘Veronica Mars’) pitched a widely different take on the drama, which worked more like an anthology series. “The network didn’t want to go that far outside the box,” commented Thomas, and it didn’t make it to a pilot, although the network was still interested in the idea of bringing the property to the small screen. Thomas then got tied up with his ‘Veronica Mars’ reboot, so Heather Mitchell (‘Scandal’, ‘Grey’s Anatomy’) was brought on board for a new take which was closer to the original film, whilst Thomas took an exec producer role. That version did make it to pilot last season, but was not picked up.
This new iteration sees Thomas back on writing duties alongside Mitchell as they rework the script. The new pilot will have an entirely new cast from the previous version. Marcos Siega, the man behind the camera for the ‘Batwoman’ and ‘Vampire Diaries’ pilots is set to direct. Thomas, Mitchell and Siega exec produce along with Dan Etheridge of Spondoolie Productions, and Mike Karz and Bill Bindley of Gulfstream Television.
The other pilot picked up by CW is ‘Maverick’, which is set in a present-day America that finds itself under authoritarian rule. The President’s daughter, who has been raised to believe her father is moral and benevolent, finds her worldview rocked on her first day at Georgetown University. Challenged by her fellow students, and under the watchful eye of Secret Service agents, she’ll have to decide if her loyalties lie with her family or with a growing resistance as she navigates her freshman year.
‘Maverick’ is the first pilot order for writer Merigan Mulhern, who has previously worked on shows such as ‘Jane the Virgin’ and ‘BH90210’. Warren Hsu Leonard (‘Runaways’, ‘How to Get Away with Murder’) serves as showrunner and exec producer alongside Josh Schwartz & Stephanie Savage (Gossip Girl’, ‘Runaways’).
The CW is not short of content at the moment, having given 13 existing shows early renewals, along with picking up the Arrowverse series ‘Superman & Lois’, and the Jared Padalecki led ‘Walker, Texas Ranger’ reboot straight-to-series. In addition, they recently handed pilot orders to a female-led ‘Kung Fu’ remake & comedy ‘The Republic Of Sarah’. Waiting in the wings, they also have the ‘Arrow’ spinoff ‘Green Arrow & The Canaries’ and ‘The 100’ spin-off (now titled ‘Anaconda’) in contention for pick up this season, both of which air as backdoor pilots.
Both ‘The Lost Boys’ and ‘Maverick’ are only pilot orders right now, and may not move forward, but we’ll let you know when we hear more.
