It was a classic show of the 1980s, but attempts to revive the Knight Rider franchise have often been problematic. Will Justin Lin and Machinima have better luck?
Everything old is new again, especially in the ‘shadowy world of a man who does not exist’ and who hunts down people who operate ‘above the law’. Yes, cult 1980s series Knight Rider, looks set for another reboot and re-imagining. The digital network Machinima has revealed that it will be partnering with the likes of producer-director Justin Lin to bring back the series, in digital form, some time next year.
It is not unfamiliar territory for Lin whose name is closely associated with another vehicular franchise, Fast & Furious and will be working on a feature film inspired by the Hot Wheels toys. He has also been linked to several reboots over the years, including being – at one point – a new Highlander film. Lin’s most recent hit was, of course, the latest Star Trek movie ‘Beyond‘.
Machinma will team with NBCUniversal for the project – NBC being the network that originally broadcast the Knight Rider series in its first incarnation (which ran from 1982 -1986) and which famously saw David Hasselhoff as the ex-cop who is given a new face, a new lease of life and a talking, thinking sometimes cantankerous car KITT (voiced by William Daniels) with which he fought crime. Since then there have been various attempts to revive the concept as tv movies and series – the most recently in a 2008 series that kept the continuity of the original run but brought in a raft of new faces. In that case Justin Bruening starred as Mike Traceur, Michael Knight’s estranged son. Val Kilmer voiced ‘KITT’.
“Knight Rider is an iconic franchise whose concepts of AI and autonomous vehicles were science fiction in the 1980s and are now science fact,” Machinma‘s CEO Chad Gutstein said in a statement. “Justin is one of the leading storytellers of his generation and we couldn’t be more excited to work with him on re-invigorating Knight Rider for a new generation of fans.”
