It looks like Kevin Smith’s ‘Buckaroo Banzai’ series may have found a home. Word has it, he is close to closing a deal with Amazon to adapt the cult classic sci-fi romp into a TV series.
Back in May, Smith explained his intentions for the series:
“Basically you just do the entire movie for season one, then season two you finally do the sequel we’ve all dreamed about, ‘Buckaroo Banzai against the World Crime League’.”
Smith annually holds a panel at San Diego Comic Con. Not only that, but Amazon will be present this year as well to promote ‘Thunderbirds Are Go!’ and ‘The Man In The High Castle,’ so perhaps an official confirmation will come this weekend. Smith developed the series with MGM who are producing it. Smith expressed his desire to include as many cast members from the original movie as possible. ‘The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eight Dimension’, released in 1984, starred a pre-‘Robocop’ Peter Weller as the titular hero, a scientist/surgeon/rock star. Also among the cast were John Lithgow, Christopher Lloyd, and Jeff Goldblum. Presumably, they wouldn’t be playing the same roles… but I guess you never know.
The original screenplay was written by Earl Mac Rauch, who also hoped to create a sequel, the ‘Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League’, that Smith mentioned. But the first movie was simply too bizarre for audiences in 1984 and flopped, killing any chance of a sequel. In 1998, FOX began developing a TV series based on ‘Buckaroo Banzai’ which never went anywhere. Rauch has written several comic books which continue the adventures of Buckaroo Banzai and his team of adventurers/rock band. I’m not sure if these were based on the ‘World Crime League’ story or if they were new stories, but either way, these may give Smith some additional fodder for his series.
Are you excited that this series is getting closer to reality?
Source: Deadline
