When the original Star Trek series ended back in 1969, William Shatner gained a star status, but it took him 13 years for a comeback, this time as a seasoned cop in the procedural series T.J. Hooker. After the series had its 91-episode run from 1982 to 1986, (starting with ABC and then ending on CBS), it became a classic, having a number of reruns on various regular TV channels.
So it is no wonder that after The Naked Gun had its reboot, Shatner's T.J. Hooker will also get a film remake that is projected to have an additional comedy tone added to it. The film will be made under Netflix’s auspices, as the streaming giant secured the rights, tapping experienced writers Jarrad Paul & Andy Mogel as screenwriters. Deadline adds that the project will be produced by Sophie Cassidy and Matt Crespy for 2.0 Entertainment, Adrian Askarieh for Prime Universe Films, and Alex Westmore for Vali Vista Films.
Could William Shatner join the T.J. Hooker reboot?
While other details of this remake are still in the works, it is known that the producers are currently in the talks with Shatner who is now 94 years old, about his involvement in the project in some form of other.
The original storyline had Shatner playing a former plainclothes detective who, after his partner was killed on duty, decided to get back into uniform with a dual goal—train ‘newbies’ and clean the streets of Los Angeles of hardcore criminals in a very hardcore manner. It turned out that Shatner outdid himself as he constantly added a hefty dose of humor to his role, so much so that he reprised his role in a 1986 Saturday Night Live episode he hosted.
While Shatner was in the lead all the way, the involved cast was no lessinterseting with Heather Locklear playing Stacy Sheridan, Adrian Shmed in the role of Vince Roman, and James Darren as Jim Corrigan. The series, which gained a serious pop culture status also had a number of prominent guests, form Shatner’s Star Trek partner Leonard Nimoy to music luminaries like Jerry Lee Lewis and late Beach Boys drummer Carl Wilson, among others.
It is yet to be seen who will be taking on the key roles in T. J. Hooker film reboot project, but there is quite a number of original series fans around who will make sure that the new cast will be on par with the old one.