According to an article via Deadline Peacock has successfully secured the rights to reboot the iconic Friday Night Lights series, marking a significant win for the NBCU streamer over Netflix in a recent competitive bidding war.
The new adaptation of the high school football drama will be produced by Universal Television, with the original showrunner Jason Katims (Parenthood, Rise), director Peter Berg (Battleship, Lone Survivor), and producer Brian Grazer (Arrested Development, Genius) at the helm. They will be joined by Kristen Zolner (Friends from College, Big Mouth) from Imagine Entertainment as executive producers.
The upcoming series, currently in development at Peacock, is set in the aftermath of a catastrophic hurricane. It follows a scrappy high school football team and their temporary coach as they embark on an unexpected journey toward the Texas High School State Championship, offering a glimmer of hope to their community in the process. Deadline reports.
Friday Night Lights began as the 1990 book Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, and a Dream by H.G. Bissinger, before being adapted into a 2004 feature film directed by Peter Berg. The film featured a notable cast, including Billy Bob Thornton (Landman, Fargo), Garrett Hedlund (Tulsa King, Mudbound), Jay Hernandez (S.W.A.T., Magnum P.I.), Tim Mcgraw (1883, Country Song), Lucas Black (NCIS: New Orleans, Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift), Derek Luke (Treme, the defenders) and Amber Heard (The Stand, The L Word: Generation Q).
Connie Britton (Nashville, 9-1-1) who starred in the film, also led the television series adaptation, which debuted on NBC in 2006. Set in the fictional town of Dillon, Texas, the show focused on the lives of the residents, with Britton portraying Tami Taylor, wife of Coach Eric Taylor, played by Kyle Chandler (The Bridge, Early Edition) Deadline reports.
The show had many actors a while ago, who have now gone on to obtain even more roles. The former cast included Minka Kelly (Titans, Euphoria), Adrianne Palicki (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Orville), Jurnee Smollett (True Blood, Lovecraft Country), Michael B. Jordan (The wire, Black Panther), Matt Lauria (The Walking Dead), Aimee Teegarden (The Gifted), Scott Porter (Hart of Dixie, The Good Wife), Jesse Plemons (Breaking Bad, El Camino), Taylor Kitsch (True Detective), Gauis Charles (Queens, Taken) and Derek Phillips (Them, Longmire).
Deadline also mentions how Prior to the company’s agreement with DirecTV following the 2007 writers’ strike, it was originally commissioned by NBC, debuted in 2006, and ran on the network for two seasons before co-producing three seasons that aired on the 101 Network before moving to NBC.
Through 2011, Friday Night Lights ran for five seasons and 76 episodes. It lost to Mad Men in the 2011 Emmys, although Katims won Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series and Chandler won Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. It was nominated for Outstanding Drama Series.