San Diego Comic Con has just ended for another year.  During the convention, announcements were made, rumors were confirmed or denied, and more merchandise than you could fit in your Gringotts vault was offered for sale.  One of those rumors was that CBS is bringing back The Twilight Zone.

Yes, The Twilight Zone is coming back, and with a far more diverse production crew.  The executive producers will be the creative troika of Jordan Peele, Marco Ramirez, and Simon Kinberg.  The show will be on CBS’s streaming service, CBS All Access, along with Star Trek: Discovery.

Twilight-Zone jordan peele

Jordan Peele, the award-winning director, writer, and producer of the horror film Get Outwill be producing this reboot of Rod Serling’s classic TV show.  He will certainly be writing some of the episodes.  He may also be acting in or directing some episodes.  Whether or not he will follow in Serling’s footsteps as the show’s host has not yet been announced.

Peele stated that given the current sociopolitical situation, it was the perfect time to revive Twilight Zone.

Too many times this year it’s felt we were living in a twilight zone, and I can’t think of a better moment to reintroduce it to modern audiences.

Marco Ramirez has produced and written for The Defenders, Daredevil, Fear the Walking Dead, and Da Vinci’s Demons.

Jordan Peele portrayed Dr. Percy Julian in “Drunk History.”

Simon Kinberg, the scriptwriter for four of the X-Men films and co-creator/producer of the popular Star Wars Rebels cartoon will be working with Ramirez and Peele as both a writer and a producer.  He directed, wrote, and produced X-Men: Dark Phoenix, which is currently in post-production.

This is not the first time that Twilight Zone has been rebooted.  The original show was on CBS from 1959 to 1964.  For 156 episodes, Rod Serling led viewers on a journey into the imagination.  The show combined science fiction, horror, fantasy, and psychological thrillers.  In 1985 the show was rebooted, this time in color.  The first two seasons were on CBS, with Charles Aidman as narrator.  Aidman appeared in two episodes of the original Twilight Zone, as well as playing a werewolf on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.  The third season, narrated by Robin Ward (Garth on The Starlost), ran only in syndication.  Twilight Zone was revived again in 2002, this time with Forest Whitaker (Saw Gerrera in Rogue One: A Star Wars,  Zuri in Black Panther) as the narrator.  This version lasted only a single season.

Steven Spielberg produced a movie version in 1983.  It is best remembered for the death of Vic Morrow (General Garuda in Message from Space, Sgt. Saunders in Combat!), Renee Shin-Yi Chen, and Myca Dinh Le during filming.  A second movie version has been discussed as a possibility for years.  Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, War for the Planet of the Apes) and Joseph Kosinski (TRON: Legacy) have both been considered as directors.  Aron Eli Coleite  (Star Trek: Discovery, Heroes) and Christine Lavaf  (Fringe, Falling Skies) have been mentioned as scriptwriters.

Will you watch the reboot of The Twilight Zone or do you prefer to watch the reruns and DVDs of the original?  Is CBS making a mistake putting this on their streaming service instead of on “real” TV?  Will this version, like the new, more diverse Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot, more accurately represent modern America or merely give lip service to political correctness through tokenism?  Sound off in the comments section below.  We want to hear your opinions.

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Susan Macdonald
Susan Macdonald

Susan Macdonald is the author of the children’s book “R is for Renaissance Faire”, as well as 26 short stories, mostly fantasy in “Alternative Truths”, “Swords and Sorceress ”, Swords &Sorceries Vols. 1, 2, & 5, “Cat Tails” “Under Western Stars”, and “Knee-High Drummond and the Durango Kid”. Her articles have appeared on SCIFI.radio’s web site, in The Inquisitr, and in The Millington Star. She enjoys Renaissance Faires (see book above), science fiction conventions,  Highland Games, and Native American pow-wows.