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Next stop reboot: The 4400

2004 sci-fi is the latest to get the reworking treatment in the US.

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2004 sci-fi The 4400 is the latest US series in development for a reboot by The CW.

The original series, which featured Aussies Jacqueline McKenzie & Jenni Baird, ran for 4 seasons exploring 4,400 people who vanished across the globe. It also featured Mahershala Ali, Peter Coyote, Billy Campbell & Joel Gretsch.

In Australia the series enjoyed a bumper 1.99m premiere before dropping away quickly, and in its final season was relegated to 4am Saturday timeslots on TEN (yep, you read that correctly).

The new version will be co-written by Craig Sweeny (Elementary) and Taylor Elmore (Justified), who both collaborated on Limitless. The subject matter is one that has been visited by several shows including Taken, The Crossing, People of Earth, and The Kettering Incident.

The premise for the new version echoes the original:

Over the course of recent history, 4,400 young adults in their reproductive prime have gone missing all over the world — some disappearances happened as recently as a few weeks ago, while others date as far back as the infamous day the Soviets launched the Sputnik satellite in 1957. One day in 2019, all 4,400 show up at the sites of their original abductions. None of them have aged a day; none have any memory of where they’ve been. The so called “4400” must grapple with their return to a changed and hostile world… and also contend with the reality that they’ve come back altered in ways that none of them yet understand.

The CW is also reviving Roswell, amongst others.

Source: Collider

9 Responses

  2. I loved The 4400 and felt it ended too soon. IIRC the writers strike might have had some part in the ending of the show. If it’s a total reboot and not a continuation with some of the original cast involved then I’m not interested, as I think other shows like Manifest and The Returned have covered similar storylines now.
    A fan campaign Bring Back the 4400 started a few of years ago with a petition and Facebook page to try to get a return of the series. Most of the cast got involved filming videos, having cast reunions and answering Q&As on the Facebook page. Jacqueline McKenzie and Joel Gretsch were both very supportive of the campaign and in participating in a return of the show in some form.

  5. Interesting. I wouldn’t mind a reboot of this series. I remember my mum and I were pretty hooked to the original series when it first started and I’d been keen to bingewatch the complete series if I could find it anywhere 🙁

    Funnily enough, while watching Manifest the other day with my husband I was saying to him that the show reminded me a little of The 4400.

  6. One rather big difference being that the original 4400 were of varied ages from children to the elderly- if it’s like the reboot of ‘Charmed’, it’ll be pretty dire .

    1. A good point, all these reboots or re-imaginings of 10-15 year old shows really need to benefit from the larger budgets and the higher production standards nowadays, the opportunity is there to improve on a once successful show but having said you have to wonder if the inspiration well is drying up and that all the new original stories are gone, or is it just that the demand for more and more shows to fill a SVOD demand gets more demanding as every year passes.

      1. Indeed, a huge number of shows are being made for various streaming services, but the number of viewers is relatively constant. Therefore you have a greater number of shows all competing for the same amount of viewers. In an attempt to woe viewers, a lot of producers are going for reboots and remakes, aware that the nostalgia factor will draw in a lot of old fans who’ll boost their audiences. This is easier than trying to build an audience from scratch with a brand new idea.

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