‘Heathers’ Getting an Update

It’s the remake roulette wheel.  Around, around she goes and where she stops, no one knows.  This week, she’s stopping on 1989, where the black teen comedy, ‘Heathers,’ resides.  This time, however, Fox is developing an updated version of the film for TV.  Why not?  Every other movie in the ’80s had its shot at a TV series.  Why not ‘Heathers.’  It’s just that it’s about 20 years too late.

As reported on Variety, the series is being developed by screenwriter Mark Rizzo and “Sex and the City” writer and producer, Jenny Bicks.  The series will be developed in hand with Lakeshore Entertainment, who holds the rights to the original, 1989 film.

The original film followed a clique of snotty, rich girls at a high school.  One of the girls, Veronica, played by Wynona Rider, isn’t so sure she wants to be one of the “popular” girls.  Her dreams are answered when a new kid, JD, played by Christian Slater, comes to the school and the popular kids start turning up dead.  As noted in the Variety article, look for most of the characters to be back for the series.

While the idea of reviving a story set in a high school seems ideal for TV, the fact that the film was so centered on the murders makes it seem like the series is going to be very limited.  Perhaps, like this Summer’s “Harper’s Island,” Fox is only planning on running the series for one season.  We’ll see.