“MacGyver” is back on the case at CBS.
The Eye is developing a new spin on its 1980s action-adventure series from “NCIS: Los Angeles” exec producer R. Scott Gemmill and director James Wan, helmer of such pics as “Saw” and “Furious 7.” Gemmill and Wan are exec producing with Henry Winkler, who produced the original series, and Michael Clear for CBS TV Studios.
The new version would follow MacGyver in his early years, as a 20-something new recruit to a clandestine organization where he hones his skills at averting disaster.
CBS is high on Gemmill and Wan’s take on the reboot, which is a big priority for the network and studio this development cycle. Gemmill will continue to serve as an EP on “NCIS: Los Angeles” this season.
The original Paramount TV series starred Richard Dean Anderson as a covert operative known for his “Flash Gordon”-like ability to wriggle out of a jam at the last second. It ran from 1985-92 and has endured as a pop culture touchstone — so much so that “to MacGyver” something has become a slang verb.
Wan had been attached to direct a feature rendition of “MacGyver” that has been in development at New Line. The WB Network also took a stab at developing a “Young MacGyver” series in 2003 but it never came to fruition.
