‘Friday Night Lights’ Reboot in the Works

Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t believe the news. According to TheWrap, Universal Television is plotting a reboot of what’s arguably the most beloved football drama series, Friday Night Lights. Attached to the project are original series developer Pete Berg and EP and showrunner Jason Katims. Brian Grazer and Kristen Zolner of Imagine Entertainment are executive producing the reboot, which is once again set in the world of high school football and will focus “on a new story with new characters.” It’s still in early stages of development.

An adaptation of the 2004 film of the same name that was directed by Berg and inspired H.G. Bissinger’s 1990 non-fiction novel Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream, FNL premiered on NBC in 2006. It centered on a high school football team in the fictional and close-night town of Dillon, Texas. The series starred an ensemble cast led by Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton and also included Gaius Charles, Zach Gilford, Minka Kelly, Adrianne Palicki, Taylor Kitsch, Jesse Plemons, Scott Porter, Aimee Teegarden, Michael B. Jordan, Jurnee Smollett, Matt Lauria, Madison Burge, and Grey Damon.

Despite critical acclaim, Friday Night Lights suffered low ratings and was in danger of cancellation after the second season. In order to save the series, NBC struck a deal with DirecTV to co-produce three more seasons. Seasons would premiere on DirecTV’s 101 Network first and rebroadcast on NBC a few months later. The series came to an end in February 2011 after five seasons and 76 episodes, but the passion from fans has been never-ending thanks to streaming.

In 2021, Britton, who played Tami Taylor, was asked by Entertainment Tonight what she thought of the idea of a reunion, saying, “We’ll do a reunion for sure, like a cast reunion, [but] I don’t see them going back into that story, at least with this cast.” With the new series focusing on new characters, it seems like Britton was right. However, there is always the possibility that some of the original cast could show up on the reboot, but it should be interesting to see how it turns out, if it gets ordered to series, that is.

No other details have been revealed for the potential reboot, but it’s likely more information will be announced in the coming months. If it does eventually get ordered, the wait will still be a long one, but it will be worth it. In the meantime, the original Friday Night Lights is streaming on Netflix.