By Bryce Lawson
For years, fans of the beloved early 1960s anthology series, “The Twilight Zone,” have been looking for a reboot deserving of being put alongside the classic Rod Serling series.
After two failed reboots in 1985 and 2002, it appears fans finally have a savior of the series in the form of Jordan Peele, director of “Get Out” and “Us.” CBS hired Peele to produce and host the reboot for CBS All Access, its streaming service that aims to compete with Netflix and Hulu.
So far, it seems Peele has had tremendous input on the reboot, with many of his themes appearing in the new episodes, despite his absence in the director’s chair.
However, he did bring on a personal favorite of mine, Ana Lily Amirpour, director of “A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night,” to direct the episode titled “A Traveler,” starring Steven Yeun. Each episode features a different director, keeping with the anthology style of the original series.
There is potential to give the original episodes a modern twist. The classic episode “Nightmare at 30,000 Feet” has already been remade for the new series, starring Adam Scott.
A few episodes I would like to see remade are the classics “Eye of the Beholder,” dealing with themes of beauty, and “The Four of Us Are Dying,” about a man that can change his face to anyone he wants.
Stars like William Shatner and Dennis Hopper were given their first big roles in the original series.
Shatner appeared in “Nightmare at 30,000 Feet,” as well as one of my personal favorites, “Nick of Time,” which portrays a superstitious man playing with a fortune teller machine. Hopper starred in an hourlong episode titled “He’s Alive,” which is about a neo-Nazi who finds inspiration in the still-living Adolf Hitler.
After their appearances in the original series, the actors took on bigger roles. Shatner landed the lead role in “Star Trek,” and Hopper directed the New Hollywood classic, “Easy Rider.”
Although it will never be able to capture the magic of Rod Serling’s original series, from the opening music to the host intro, Peele’s reboot will definitely give fans something new to add in with their binge of the original series.
And who knows? Maybe some of the episodes from the new series will be able to take their place along the classics from the past.
