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Amazon acquires rights to James Gunn’s ‘Starsky and Hutch’ TV reboot

Stephanie Topacio Long
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Starsky and Hutch
ABC Television
James Gunn has a hit superhero film series under his belt, and now he is looking to add a TV series by revamping a classic. The Guardians of the Galaxy writer and director is working on a Starsky and Hutch reboot for Sony Pictures Television, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Variety is reporting today that the series has landed at Amazon, which has given it a script-to-series commitment. Sony Pictures will act as a co-production team for the series, which will stream for all Amazon Prime members and Amazon Video subscribers when it premieres.

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Gunn is set to write the script with his brother Brian Gunn and cousin Mark Gunn. They are all attached to executive produce alongside Original Film’s Neal Moritz and Pavun Shetty. On top of those duties, James Gunn may serve as the director as well; whether or not he does reportedly depends on his availability.

The Gunns have a classic show to use as inspiration. Created by William Blinn, Starsky and Hutch premiered in April 1975 on ABC and ran for four seasons before being canceled in 1979. Throughout its run, it followed David Starsky (Paul Michael Glaser) and Kenneth Hutchinson (David Soul), two police detectives solving crimes in a fictional Southern California city. Their work involved a lot of speeding around town in unique cars and going undercover — with varying degrees of success.

Although the new reboot will be the first revamped Starksy and Hutch series, the show has inspired other adaptations. In 2003, Empire Interactive published a video game based on the cop duo. The following year, Starsky and Hutch the film hit theaters, with Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson in the lead roles and Snoop Dogg playing their informant Huggy Bear, a role played by Antonio Fargas in the original series. The film brought in more than $170.2 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.

Gunn has proven himself at the box office but we will have to see if he can re-create that success with TV ratings. The project is still in the early stages, but his involvement does make it more interesting to us. He is the latest film director to get involved with a TV reboot. Last week, it was reported that Back to the Future helmer Robert Zemeckis is working on a live-action version of The Jetsons for ABC.

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Stephanie Topacio Long
Stephanie Topacio Long
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Stephanie Topacio Long is a writer and editor whose writing interests range from business to books. She also contributes to…
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