Three decades ago, Steven Spielberg created the Amazing Stories anthology series for television, and he even wrote the stories for several episodes alongside Brad Bird, and directors Robert Zemeckis, Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, and many other guest collaborators. After a previous attempt to reboot the series at NBC failed to take flight, Apple has stepped up to give Amazing Stories a new home.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple has reached a deal with Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment to produce a ten episode season of Amazing Stories, with American Gods and Hannibal veteran Bryan Fuller as the showrunner and executive producer. Like the original series, each episode of Amazing Stories will be a new tale that can range from sci-fi and fantasy to horror and comedy. Hopefully the new series keeps John Williams‘ Amazing Stories theme!
Apple’s plans to distribute the new Amazing Stories series are surprisingly vague, but it seems to represent a major commitment to becoming a player in the original programming field. Apple has reportedly set a $5 million budget per episode, which is on par with many shows produced for cable networks and streaming services. There’s currently no release date for the revival, but a 2018 or 2019 debut seems likely.
Amazing Stories shares its name with the first magazine dedicated to publishing science fiction adventures. One of the ways that the original Amazing Stories stands out from The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, and even modern anthologies like Black Mirror is that the series offered a more hopeful take on the genre. There were definitely some dark episodes, but it wasn’t unrelentingly bleak. Frankly, we could always use a little more hope in this world, and this may prove to be a very timely return.
Are you excited to see Amazing Stories get a reboot? Let us know in the comment section below.
Image: NBC Universal
Read more about Fuller and Spielberg!
- How Spielberg’s A.I. was a tribute to Kubrick.
- Bryan Fuller’s in for a Pushing Daisies musical.
- The evolution of Spielberg’s career.
