Clear eyes, full hearts, new show? A rebooted Friday Night Lights film has been in the works for years, and now it seems that more than just a movie is on the way. The beloved football drama series Friday Night Lights that originally aired on NBC is getting a reboot as well. But unlike the original, this one will actually follow its movie counterpart.
Producer Brian Grazer confirmed to Collider that a new Friday Night Lights movie, set in 2015, is in the works, with hopes to begin filming early next year. The movie is planned to be a starting point for a new TV show, as the film events will carry on into the series and take place in a more recent time.
A new Friday Night Lights movie was first announced back in 2018 with David Gordon Green, director of Halloween Kills, attached to the project. A year later, a filmmaking duo, the Dowdles brothers, took over directing and will also serve as showrunners on the TV show.
Inspired by the 1990 nonfiction book by H.G. Bissinger, the original Friday Night Lights series ran on NBC for five seasons and followed Kyle Chandler as a high school football coach in the town of Dillon, Texas. The series also starred Connie Britton as Chandler’s better half, plus Minka Kelly, Adrianne Palicki, Aimee Teegarden, Michael B. Jordan, Jurnee Smollett, and more.
The reboot will reportedly be a new story featuring all new characters, meaning fans of the original likely won’t be seeing Coach Taylor, Jason Street, Lyla Garrity, Matt Saracen, or Tim Riggins any time soon. The new movie and series will be set in a different town than Dillon.
Although there was a 2004 FNL film that was adapted from the book, the original NBC series had no relation to the film and was all its own. This won’t be the case for the new reboots since there is a clear plan to have the film connect to the new series, which raises new questions about the casting of any high schoolers if the movie is set in 2015 and the show is set more recently.
There is no telling who will be cast in the series or what the full plot is going to be. It could follow the original series or the book, but there’s also the possibility that it could be its own story. Friday Night Lights remains a beloved drama more than a decade after it wrapped in 2011, so hopefully the reboots do justice to the originals. But honestly, nothing can beat Kyle Chandler saying “Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose” to the Dillon Panthers.
It will definitely be interesting to see this new Friday Night Lights series and how it compares to the original. Hopefully at least one or two characters pop up in the reboot, for the sake of nostalgia. During the wait for more reboot news, the OG Friday Night Lights is available to stream on Peacock, Netflix, Hulu and Tubi, because you can never get enough of the Dillon Panthers.
