‘MacGyver’ Returns On Big And Small Screens


MacGyver was a true classic of 1980s television. Richard Dean Anderson played the iconic character, who managed great ingenuity when getting himself out of difficult situations.

Now, MacGyver is being brought back in both movie and TV format. When it comes to the TV reboot of the classic show, Deadline reported last week that CBS had ordered a pilot episode of the show. According to IndieWire, last year, James Wan was approached with the idea of recreating the popular MacGyver TV show, and he described what he had in mind.

“…my initial concept was I wanted to do a young college MacGyver who went to Boston, one of the great universities, who’s really brilliant, right? He’s a really smart guy but he’s so smart he could never feel like he fit into a construct, or into a world that is an establishment. So he’s always a bit of an outsider… To cut a long story short, the idea here is I wanted to put my MacGyver story around something like a North by Northwest.”

Wan elaborated that “in the context of the story he gets blamed for something that he had designed, something really big that’s something everyone wanted, and now someone has weaponized it and everyone’s coming after him. He’s running for his life and he’s trying to clear his name, not quite unlike the structure of Enemy of the State. So imagine Enemy of the State, if Will Smith had the brains of MacGyver.”

According to Entertainment Weekly, the show’s logline reads as follows.

“A reimagining of the television series of the same name, following a 20-something MacGyver as he gets recruited into a clandestine organization where he uses his knack for solving problems in unconventional ways to help prevent disasters from happening.”

The new show sounds fantastic! But Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer also made the announcement last week, confirming that there would be a new movie as well as the TV show, and Wan will also be heading the movie up.

“I’m also pleased to announce this morning that we’ve joined with our friends at CBS on a development deal to re-envision the MacGyver franchise in film and television, with CBS taking the lead on the TV show and Lionsgate taking the lead on the film.”

Naturally, Twitter had lit up with the news of the reboot.

So what does Richard Dean Anderson have to say about a MacGyver reboot? According to the Stuff.com.nz, Anderson was interviewed by AAP in Sydney, Australia, and said that he would never do it.

“Part of the reason I’m not interested in starting it (MacGyver) up again is that there is so much technology today that every human being on the face of this side of the planet anyway has got a cell phone. So for MacGyver to probably not have one and have to fashion one is kind of iffy. He’s a smart guy, he’d be smart enough to have a cell phone.”

He also said he is a lot older and grayer now, as well, which he would want to see in the MacGyver of today.

“If I’m going to play MacGyver, you have to play up the facts that are obvious: he’s older, he’s got greying hair, he’s overweight by 20 pounds… and also slower and maybe a little more clumsy. These are all things I want to put into the MacGyver of today because time marches on. Not only that but as an actor, that would be fun to play.”

Well, since they are bringing back a young MacGyver, Anderson’s concerns aren’t really an issue. Perhaps he can have a cameo role in the new show or movie.

[Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images]

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