Peacock is about to learn the meaning of “clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.” Per Deadline, Peacock has landed the Friday Night Lights reboot, beating out Netflix for the rights to a new series set against the backdrop of high school football.
The reboot hails from the original Friday Night Lights creative team of showrunner Jason Katims, director Peter Berg, and producer Brian Grazer. All three will executive produce the reboot alongside Imagine Entertainment’s Kristen Zolner, with Katims serving as the showrunner. Universal Television will produce.
The FNL reboot will again feature a school in Texas. The official logline reads, “Following a devastating hurricane, a ragtag high school football team and their damaged, interim coach make an unlikely bid for a Texas high school state championship, becoming a beacon of light for their town.”
H.G. Bissinger’s 1990 book Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team and a Dream inspired the feature film Friday Night Lights. Directed by Peter Berg, 2004’s Friday Night Lights followed Coach Gary Gaines (Billy Bob Thornton) and the 1988 Permian High School football team in Odessa, Texas. Berg’s adaptation is one of the greatest football movies ever made.
In 2006, the TV show Friday Night Lights premiered on NBC. The show followed Coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler) and the Dillon Panthers. Connie Britton, Gaius Charles, Zach Gilford, Minka Kelly, Adrianne Palicki, Taylor Kitsch, Jesse Plemons, Scott Porter, Aimee Teegarden, and Brad Leland also starred.
Friday Night Lights ran for two seasons on NBC before moving to Direct TV’s The 101 Network for the final three seasons. FNL garnered critical acclaim during its five-season run, with Chandler and Katims winning Emmys in 2011 for acting and writing, respectively. Since it last aired in 2011, Friday Night Lights has developed a huge fanbase thanks to streaming on services like Netflix.
