By Nardine SaadLos Angeles Times
Thu., Sept. 20, 2018
Veronica Mars is coming back —again —this time by way of Hulu.
The streaming service and Warner Bros. have revived the Kristen Bell-starring mystery series about a teenage private eye, making it the latest cult favourite to get new life during the current TV-revival craze.
The subscription streaming service made the announcement Thursday and confirmed that it has also acquired the rights to the old episodes of the young-adult series, which, according to its star Thursday on Instagram “is great because you’ll need to brush up since we’re making another one.”
Seasons 1 through 3 of the original Veronica Mars will being streaming next summer, along with the 2014 feature film.
Hulu has ordered eight one-hour episodes direct to series, and the show will join Hulu’s 2019 original programming slate, which includes Ramy, Shrill, Four Weddings and a Funeral and Catch-22.
Article Continued Below
Original showrunner Rob Thomas has reteamed with Bell on the revival, which will work around the indefatigable actress’ obligations to NBC’s The Good Place, The Times has confirmed.
Thomas, Diane Ruggiero-Wright and Dan Etheridge will produce and Bell will serve as an executive producer.
The new season will see Veronica return to the seaside town of Neptune where spring breakers have been murdered, decimating her hometown’s lifeblood tourist industry, Hulu said.
“After Mars Investigations is hired by the parents of one of the victims to find their son’s killer, Veronica is drawn into an epic eight-episode mystery that pits the enclave’s wealthy elites, who would rather put an end to the month-long bacchanalia, against a working class that relies on the cash influx that comes with being the West Coast’s answer to Daytona Beach,” the official logline said.
The original series ran on UPN and the CW from 2004 to 2007. It was revived for the first time in 2014 by a Kickstarter campaign that saw fans crowdfund the feature film with $5.7 million. Veronica, by then a law-school grad, got back together with her Neptune gang for their 10-year high school reunion.
Despite the fan-driven narrative, the movie, which had a limited big-screen run and was downloadable by its Kickstarter financiers, earned a meagre $3.3 million at the box office and became a cautionary tale for crowd-funded Hollywood efforts.
Reports that the deal was being finalized began circulating last month.
TOP STORIES, DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX.
NEW NEWSLETTERHEADLINES