Shannen Doherty Confirms ‘Heathers’ TV Land Role, Will Winona Ryder Join In?


Shannen Doherty just confirmed her involvement in the television series reboot of the cult classic movie Heathers by sharing a photo of herself on Instagram. Doherty played Heather Duke in the original film.

Heathers was a 1988 dark comedy starring Shannen Doherty, Winona Ryder, and Christian Slater. The film centered around a well-to-do clique comprised of four girls, three of the four named Heather, who run the social circles of the fictional Westerburg High School. When the new kid JD, played by Christian Slater, arrives in town, Veronica (played by Winona Ryder) comes to the realization that she wants to break away from the snotty group of Heathers but doesn’t want to commit social suicide in doing so. As a result, JD coaxes Veronica into several unwitting murder plots of the school bullies including the lead Heather and two football players, all while making the murders look like suicides.

The purported suicides of Westerburg’s elite causes a chain reaction and meltdown in the social food chain. Another Heather attempts suicide while Shannen Doherty’s Heather assumes the red hair scrunchie of power. It’s that scrunchie that has Doherty’s fans buzzing about Shannen’s appearance on the TV series’ set.

Shannen Doherty’s revelation is one of the few details that have been provided about the show since TV Land announced they would be turning the iconic late ’80s film into a television series back in March. While TV Land continues to be mum on what exactly Shannen will be doing, especially since they announced they had cast a brand new set of Heathers for the television show, Doherty’s red scrunchie suggests she’ll be reprising her role as Heather Duke.

Heathers, though not a box office success, found its niche in video sales to make it a cult classic. Fans of the film note the inspiration it gave to other projects like Mean Girls and Glee.

According to AV Club, a Heathers series had been pitched previously to A&E starring Winona Ryder as a grown-up version of her character Veronica. That version never came to fruition but now that Heathers fans know that Shannen Doherty is involved, could this mean a Winona Ryder could return to Westerburg High School for a cameo as well?

Winona Ryder hangs out with ‘Stranger Things’ co-star Millie Bobby Brown. Could Winona be all in for the ‘Heathers’ television reboot too? [Image by Chance Yeh/Getty Images for Coach.]

Ryder is currently experiencing a reboot of her own. After staying out of the limelight for several years following a shoplifting scandal, Winona has found new success in the Netflix series Stranger Things. According to Entertainment Weekly, Ryder has committed to coming back to Season 2 of that show. But just because Winona has her Netflix commitment doesn’t mean we should rule out a reunion between Ryder and Doherty on the Heathers set.

Firstly, Ryder was on board for the previous television adaptation of Heathers. Though TV Land tells us that all of the previous roles of Heathers, Veronica, and JD have been recast and she may not be the star, Winona might see it fit to pay homage to one of her pivotal roles like Shannen Doherty is.

Secondly, Winona has been requesting a Beetlejuice sequel for years. According to Variety, just last year, Ryder blurted out on Late Night with Seth Meyers that she was getting back with Tim Burton and Michael Keaton to make the sequel happen, so Winona clearly doesn’t have an aversion to revisiting past roles.

Finally, retro is in. Everyone is jumping back on the train to the 1980s and early ’90s. Multiple ’80s musical acts are hitting the road together and selling out–Cyndi Lauper and Blondie, Joan Jett and Heart, The Pretenders and Stevie Nicks. Shannen Doherty isn’t just returning to Heathers, as previously reported by the Inquisitr, Shannen’s also reprising her role in Mallrats. And Shannen’s doing all of this while fighting breast cancer!

As with any industry, one has to strike when the iron is hot. It would be hard to imagine Winona Ryder passing up the opportunity to return to her Heathers roots. In the words of Heather Chandler prior to her infamous last line of “corn nuts” before Heathers, Winona was “just a Girl Scout cookie.” The people of Westerburg are counting on Winona Ryder to save Martha Dumptruck from the likes of Shannen Doherty.

But since Winona Ryder doesn’t appear to have any active social media accounts and TV Land is being super secretive with the exception of Shannen Doherty’s big reveal, it seems Heathers fans will just have to sit back and wait.

Are you excited about a Heathers reboot and the return of Shannen Doherty and possibly Winona Ryder? Tell us what you think!

[Featured Image by Brad Barket/Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images]

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