'The Lost Boys' TV Show Being Completely Reworked, Ditching All But Two Cast Members
The CW has driven a stake through the heart of their Lost Boys TV show, and will now attempt to revive it with fresh blood. The network originally passed on the TV adaptation of the popular '80s vampire flick, and now plan to retool the show completely. The retooling is so extreme that they've gotten rid of the entire cast – save for two actors.
Deadline has the news about The Lost Boys TV show being reworked. The CW passed on the pilot for the series back in May, while also approving a reworking. Per the Deadline report, "producing studio Warner Bros. TV has released the entire cast of the pilot with the exception of Medalion Rahimi and Dakota Shapiro whose options have been extended. The duo will co-star in the new, reworked pilot, which will likely film by the end of the year."
Replacing actors from pilots isn't uncommon. For instance: actress Riff Regan played the character of Willow in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer pilot, only to later re-cast Alyson Hannigan. But usually it's only one or two actors who get replaced – not the entire cast. The CW must really want to get this right, and are willing to burn everything down and start fresh to make it happen.
In the series, "after the sudden death of their father, brothers Michael and Sam Emerson move to Santa Carla with their mother, Lucy, who hopes to start anew in the town where she grew up. But the brothers soon find themselves being drawn deeper and deeper into the seductive world of Santa Carla's eternally beautiful and youthful undead."
The show is an adaptation of the 1987 film of the same name from director Joel Schumacher. Shapiro plays David, the character played by Kiefer Sutherand in the original movie. Rahimi plays a character inspired by the character of Star, originally played by Jami Gertz. The Lost Boys has plenty of fans, and the film's premise – teen vampires at the beach! – could easily be adapted to TV. So I'm not quite sure what's going on here that's keeping the show from getting off the ground. According to the Deadline story, "the CW brass loved the script" but "not all elements in the pilot came together in the execution, including casting, thus their decision to re-pilot the project." So perhaps this retooling, and re-casting, will finally do the trick.