Kevin Bacon has confirmed that the rebooted TV series for Tremors has taken an important step forward. The actor has been linked with the project for several years, but has now stated that a pilot for the show is due to be made for the Syfy channel.
A franchise that simply refuses to die, Tremors has been around in one form or another, ever since the 1990 original film became a belated cult movie. That was directed by Ron Underwood (City Slickers), and starred Fred Ward and Bacon as two unlikely heroes saving a prairie town from the huge burrowing worms of unknown origin. Clever effects, sly humor, and cool set-pieces ensured its long-term shelf-life on home media and TV screenings. Since then, there have been four direct-to-home-media follow-ups, consisting of three sequels and one prequel. Fred Ward returned to play his character again (Earl Bassett) in Tremors 2: Aftershocks, and Michael Gross is the only cast member to appear in all the movies as Burt Gummer. Tremors 6 is currently shooting and will be released in January 2018, starring Gross again and apparently set in Canada. However, Bacon has never reprised his character (Valentine McKee) from the first film in any of the entries. That looks to be about to change though...
Screen Daily reports that Bacon spoke of developments with the new Tremors project, whilst promoting at the Edinburgh International Film Festival over the past weekend. According to the Footloose star, a brand new pilot is being made which will air on the Syfy channel. It's hoped that this will lead to an eight-episode TV series, which Bacon will star in and produce. Up until recently, the actor has always been unwilling to play McKee again and has distanced himself from the movie sequels. But he now seems to have changed his stance, saying:
"It’s the only character I’ve ever played that I was interested in exploring 25 years later ... It (Tremors) is a really good movie. I don’t go back and watch my movies but because we were doing this one, I had to go back and look at it. It’s just the idea of this loser who is living a very ordinary life and has an extraordinary experience with these monsters and becomes, for a moment, a hero.”
Rumors of a TV series starring Bacon have been circulating since late 2015, but this is the first time the project has been confirmed for a pilot show and a channel. Originally the actor had approached Blumhouse CEO Jason Blum, with the idea of reviving the reboot as a full feature film and cinematic release. This has gradually changed into the idea of a Syfy series, and will focus on Val McKee a number of years after his worm-fighting days. Some may remember that there has already been a Tremors series on the Sci-Fi channel (as it was known back then), which aired briefly (and out of order) in 2003. That also featured Gross, but was cancelled pretty quickly after 13 episodes. Hopefully, this version will be made of sterner stuff.
If the project takes off as Bacon hopes (and the involvement of Blumhouse is encouraging to say the least), then it could be a real fun TV show, especially if it captures the B-movie feel of the first. That said, the existence of so many sequels and the previous cancelled TV series, makes you wonder how the "reboot" aspect will work, and whether the timelines of the characters of Gummer and McKee should intersect or not. However, Gross has previously indicated that he's not involved with the Tremors show in any way, and only time and further details will reveal the full plot of the series.
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We'll keep you up to date on any further Tremors TV series news as we get it.
Source: Screen Daily