Get ready to return to Fantasy Island.
The Fox Network has ordered a new reboot of the classic 1980s semi-anthology series Fantasy Island, which they plan to roll out next summer. The series is being overseen by The 100 writer-producers Liz Craft and Sarah Fain.
The original series starred Ricardo Montalban as the mysterious Mr. Roarke. Each week Roarke, along with his assist Tattoo (Hervé Villechaize) would welcome a number of guest stars to the island with the promise of making their fantasies come true. By the end of each episode, these guests may have gotten more than they bargained for, but also have learned lessons about themselves.
There is no word yet as to any cast for the new version.
While the original Fantasy Island series was a hit for ABC during its initial run from 1977 to 1984, Sony has had a tough time of keeping the franchise alive over the years since. A 1998 series revival starring Malcolm McDowell and Mädchen Amick, which also aired on ABC, had a harder edge to it but failed to find an audience. The studio and ABC paired again to develop a new series for the 2018-2019 TV series but couldn’t get it off the ground.
Sony did team-up with Blumhouse for a Fantasy Island feature film with Michael Peña as Mr. Roarke which opened back at the beginning of the year. . Although the film was given a drubbing by critics, it did manage to make $47 million at the box office, nearly seven times its meager $7 million budget.
