Dan Aykroyd Teams Up With John Belushi’s Widow For Animated ‘Blues Brothers’ TV Reboot


Dan Aykroyd and the widow of John Belushi have announced plans to reboot The Blues Brothers as a primetime animated television series, according to Deadline. Aykroyd and Judy Belushi Pisano have co-created the series with Saturday Night Live veteran writer Anne Beatts, and they plan to shop the show to networks and other TV platforms later this month.

Longtime fans know all about the past adventures of “Joliet” Jake Blues and Elwood Blues, who were originally portrayed by Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi in the mid-1970s on Saturday Night Live and in a later big screen movie, but they’ve never seen the classic characters like this. The animation will come from Bento Box Entertainment, the team behind the Fox sitcom Bob’s Burgers, and it will feature the famous singing brothers in a modern-day setting, according to Dan Aykroyd’s description of the show.

“[They will be] utilizing all new technology to make and promote their own records, seek out and record new artists and avoid law enforcement — and all while fighting for truth, justice, and a better breakfast sandwich,” Aykroyd said.

Dan Aykroyd also revealed that every episode of the animated reboot will have “a score and soundtrack curated with the soul, blues, and R&B classics and hits performed by the Blues Brothers” in addition to “new performances recorded specifically for the show.”

The Blues Brothers were an iconic part of SNL’s early days. According to Rolling Stone, Aykroyd and Belushi debuted an early version of the characters in a 1976 SNL sketch titled “Howard Shore and His All-Bee Band,” but some fans may not realize that the two comedy legends actually developed the characters several years before they became SNL players.

In an interview with CBS News, Dan Aykroyd revealed that he and Belushi first came up what would become their most iconic characters way back in 1972 — on the very first night they met.

“Around 1972, John came to Toronto to recruit for National Lampoon Radio Hour,” Dan Aykroyd said. “The first time I ever met John, he walked in the back door of Second City… and of course, it was love at first sight. That night we went back to my blues bar and we were listening to the Downchild Blues Band… he loved that blues record. And Howard Shore was there that night and Paul Shaffer and many people who hung at my after-hours club. And he [Shore] said, ‘You guys should form a band and call yourself The Blues Brothers. So, we brought The Blues Brothers already formed to SNL.”

After the characters’ 1976 SNL debut, the duo made a return appearance as Jake and Elwood in a 1978 episode of the of the NBC sketch comedy. They later teamed up with a house band to record the album Briefcase Full of Blues before hitting the big screen with the classic 1980 comedy movie The Blues Brothers two years before Belushi’s death.

Dan Aykroyd came back with a Blues Brothers movie sequel in 2000 with co-star John Goodman, but he has long been working with Belushi’s widow on an animated version of the franchise. In fact, a previous pitch for an animated Blues Brothers series was even given a premiere date on UPN in 1998, but it never came to fruition. A second cartoon series was pitched to networks as recently as 2011, so it remains to be seen if this latest incarnation will actually see the light of day.

Take a look at the video below to see Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi during their Blues Brothers heyday.

[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]

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