Syfy has ordered a pilot episode for a potential TV series based on the monster movie franchise Tremors. The series, as we learned when its development was first announced a couple of years back, comes from Universal Cable Productions and Blumhouse Television.
The news was confirmed by Kevin Bacon, who’s set to executive produce and star in the series, reprising his role as Valentine McKee. Bacon played the role in the 1990 original movie, but did not return for any of the four sequels that have been produced since then.
Bacon first shared the news with ScreenDaily at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, where he was attending a screening of Story of a Girl, which is directed by his wife Kyra Sedwick and he also stars in. Of the Tremors news, Bacon said:
“It’s the only character I’ve ever played that I was interested in exploring 25 years later. It 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.”
Becoming that momentary hero will play into the new series, as Bacon says Val will have to overcome “age, alcohol, and a delusional hero complex” in addition to the monsters, called Graboids.
But that interest in re-visiting the character is fairly new. One of the reasons Bacon never returned to the franchise for any of the sequels, is because the original Tremors was a box office failure. It was only later, as was the case for many great titles, that the movie found its following on home video.
As for not appearing in the sequels, Bacon said:
“I was like – why would I make a sequel of a bomb? That makes no sense to me. I am not going to make another movie that’s not going to do well at the box office. That is not a good career move.”
After interest in the character was re-ignited, Bacon first approached Blumhouse’s Jason Blum about a new movie. That has since evolved into the TV project now heading toward a pilot episode. If all goes well with said pilot, the hope is to kick things off with eight episodes.
This isn’t the first time a Tremors TV series has been in the works. Tremors: The Series premiered in 2003, and was also on Syfy (then called Sci-Fi Channel). It starred Michael Gross, who in addition to the series has starred in all five of the movies. It was canceled after only 13 episodes.
The most recent movie was Tremors 5: Bloodlines in 2015, and Gross has said that a sixth movie is currently being developed. It’s not yet clear if Gross or any of the other stars of the franchise will be joining Bacon for this latest TV series endeavor.
Andrew Miller (The Secret Circle) is set to take on showrunner duties for the new Tremors TV series, and he will also be an executive producer.
[Source: ScreenDaily l Syfy Wire]
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