This revival of the cult franchise would have seen Kevin Bacon reprise his role as Valentine McKee and return to the town of Perfection to fight the Graboids, but Syfy chose not to move forward with the show.
What Is It?
The giant underground worms known as “Graboids” terrorized the isolated Nevada town of Perfection in 1990, but they have not been seen since then. When they do make an unexpected return many years later, the one-time monster hunter Valentine McKee may be the best hope to save the town from destruction.
Aired: Never Aired
Starring: Kevin Bacon, Hunter Parrish, Toks Olagundoye, P.J. Byrne
Credits: Vincenzo Natali (Director), Andrew Miller (Writer)
Why Didn’t it Fly?
This project got started back in 2015 when Bacon showed an interest in returning to the franchise that started with the 1990 film and has since turned into a cult favorite (it has produced six additional movies plus a short-lived TV series). Bacon starred with Fred Ward, Michael Gross, and Reba McEntire in the orgiinal film and had said about the role of Val McKee: “This is the only character I’ve played that I’ve ever thought about revisiting. I just got to thinking, where would this guy end up after 25 years?”
Plans for the reboot series started with Universal Television and Blumhouse Productions, and at one point it was headed to Amazon Prime. In 2017, the project moved to Syfy and a pilot was filmed. The network chose to pass on the series, however, and no specific reason was given. Bacon thanked all of those involved with the production on his Instagram account:
Sad to report that my dream of revisiting the world of Perfection will not become a reality. Although we made a fantastic pilot (IMHO) the network has decided not to move forward. Thanks to our killer cast and everyone behind the scenes who worked so hard. And always keep one eye out for GRABOIDS!
Would It Have Worked as a Series?
This would actually have been the second Tremors television series, as a short-lived small screen version aired on the Sci Fi Channel (the previous name for Syfy) in 2003. Whether the new pilot would have worked is uncertain because it appears to have ignored the subsequent movies and it did not include Michael Gross who has become the face of the franchise since Bacon’s departure after the first film. He reprised his survivalist character Burt Gummer in every incarnation, including the 2003 series, with the exception of the 2004 prequel The Legend Begins in which he played Burt’s ancestor Hiram Gummer. Gross has been the franchise lead since the third movie (he shared lead duties with Fred Ward in the first sequel) and it seemed odd that he was left out of the pilot that Bacon worked on (it was also odd that most of the entertainment news sites made no mention of it).
Allegedly the pilot tested well and it was directed by Vincenzo Natali (Cube, Splice). But if Syfy had gone forward with the series, it may have generated a backlash from long-time fans who would be unhappy that the sequels had been retconned out of existence and that Burt Gummer was no longer part of the story. It’s possible the Syfy series could have left the door open for Gross to return to his long-time role, but ignoring the other installments in the franchise would almost certainly have been unpopular with its followers. And that could have impacted the show’s audience especially since the original movie is not well-known these days beyond its cult following. Perhaps it was for the best that the series did not move forward, but I for one would have at least liked to have seen Val chasing down Graboids one more time, even if it meant he would be doing it without the help of Burt Gummer and possibly Earl Bassett (Fred Ward is listed on IMDb as reprising his role, but he does not appear in the trailer).
Where Can You Watch It?
Syfy chose not to air the pilot, and it has not been released on home video yet. Perhaps it will find its way onto a Tremors boxed-set at some point maybe it will sneak out onto YouTube for a while (before getting yanked for copyright reasons). In the meantime, you will have to seek out bootleg copies on the internet.
Read about more Sci Fi TV pilots that did not fly at this link.
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