Iconic TV show is finally being rebooted after 50 years-Robert Oliver-Entertainment – Metro

Is The Avengers making its way back to TV? (Picture: Scope)

A reboot of The Avengers is reportedly a top priority for several TV studios, with a revamp of the classic series apparently under way.

The 1960s espionage TV show originally aired between 1961 and 1969 and made stars of the likes of Diana Rigg, Honor Blackman, and Patrick Macnee.

It followed the adventures of Macnee’s John Steed and his string of crime-fighting assistants as they attempted to solve cases and avenge the victims of the wrongdoings they encountered.

Several of the series’ early episodes are missing and haven’t been seen since their live broadcasts, but The Avengers still became a huge TV hit and spawned one sequel show and numerous spin-offs in other forms of media.

Now it appears that StudioCanal, which owns the rights to the series, is progressing plans to revive it, with a pilot said to have already been written.

Diana Rigg was a star of the original series in the 1960s (Picture: StudioCanal)

According to Deadline, Mickey Down and Konrad Kay, who both work on the HBO series Industry, have been working on a script to bring the series back with John Steed and his assistants Cathy Gale, Emma Peel, and Tara King.

Sex Education director Ben Taylor, who oversaw a dozen episodes during the first three seasons of the Netflix series, is said to be attached to the project.

Thus far, no actors have been linked with potential reboot, with production still at a very early stage – a pilot script is said to have been written, but little else has been worked on.

The original series ran for six seasons in the UK and US, with ITV launching the show before it was picked up in the States by ABC – it was one of the first British TV shows to be selected for primetime broadcast in America.

Since its original broadcast, the series has been praised for giving Steed and his female assistants equal footing when it came to fight scenes and detective work.

The classic series made a star of Honor Blackman (right) (Picture: ABC/Getty)

Diana Rigg, who played Emma Peel in over 50 episodes, went on to be a Bond girl in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and played Olenna Tyrell in five seasons of Game of Thrones.

There have been several attempts over the years to revamp the series and bring it back to audiences, but it was often the case that the project didn’t get off the ground or didn’t go over well with audiences.

Despite being successfully adapted into comic books, radio plays, and novels, a feature-length film starring Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman bombed at the box office, failing to make back its $60m (£47m) budget.

Film director Shane Black, who oversaw production on Iron Man 3, The Predator, and The Nice Guys, had apparently been part of a bid to bring The Avengers back to TV with a script said to have been penned in 2018.

The Avengers is available to stream on Britbox and Amazon Prime Video.

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