NBC is looking to reboot one of its most successful procedurals.
The network is teaming with Vin Diesel to develop a Miami Vice revival.
The project, which has been in the works for months, is being driven by Shana Waterman (24: Live Another Day, Wayward Pines), the former Fox Broadcasting executive who now serves as head of television for Diesel’s One Race Television production company. Miami Vice is the first effort to come out of Diesel’s first-look deal with Universal Television. Diesel and Waterman will executive produce alongside Chris Morgan and Ainsley Davies via the former’s overall deal with Universal Television. Peter Macmanus (Spike TV’s The Mist) will pen the script.
Related Stories
The Miami Vice reboot marks a reteaming for Morgan and Diesel, who have worked on all of the Fast and the Furious movies together. Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that it was Diesel who came up with the idea to revive Miami Vice and made a personal appeal to NBC Entertainment president Jennifer Salke. The effort marks Diesel’s largest scripted TV project so far.
Miami Vice ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984-1989. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as undercover detectives James “Sonny” Crockett and Ricardo “Rico” Tubbs, respectively, as they took on challenging cases at Miami’s Metro-Date Police Department. The show was created by Anthony Yerkovich and counted Law & Order mastermind Dick Wolf among its executive producers. Saundra Santiago, Michael Talbott, John Diehl, Olivia Brown and Edward James Olmos co-starred on the drama, which was hailed for its use of New Wave music — including its theme song by Jan Hammer (watch the opening credits, below).
The TV series spawned a 2006 feature film take from Michael Mann that starred Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx, which was produced by Universal Pictures.
Miami Vice is the first major TV reboot to be developed for the 2018-19 television season. Revivals continue to be in high demand as broadcast, cable and streaming outlets look for proven IP in an increasingly crowded landscape of more than 450 scripted originals. Up this season are reboots of Dynasty (The CW), Roseanne (ABC), S.W.A.T. (CBS) and Will & Grace (NBC).
Macmanus is repped by UTA. Morgan and Davies are with ICM Partners. Diesel is repped by CAA and Brillstein Entertainment Partners.
