Ally McBeal is reportedly joining the ever-growing list of revivals, and yes, it’s planning (trying) to bring back its original star. Calista Flockhart is in talks to reprise her career-defining role in the new-again legal drama that’s in the early stages of development for a “limited series,” according to TVLine. While the revival currently doesn’t have a home, the thinking seems to be that it will join the original series, which is currently streaming on Hulu thanks to Disney acquiring the show and its studio, 2oth Television, during its merger with Fox.
As for Ally McBeal creator David E. Kelley, he’s involved as an executive producer, but TVLine reports a “female auteur” will serve as showrunner. Kelley had hinted at an Ally McBeal revival back in 2018 when he was laying the groundwork for a second season of his HBO hit Big Little Lies. Via The Hollywood Reporter:
I do think because of the gender politics that were so part and parcel of Ally McBeal, it’s become very relevant and ripe. So, I’d be open to the idea of Ally McBeal being done again, but I don’t think it should be done by me. If it were going to be done, it really should be done by a woman. If it’s going to be new, it should be new and different. And I did it: 100 hours.
So far there’s been no talk of bringing back the Dancing Baby and Robert Downey, Jr., who was famously fired from the show in the early 2000s. (Downey was fired, not the baby.) Things worked out okay for RDJ, though, as he pulled off one of the greatest career comebacks of all time by becoming Marvel’s Iron Man. He’s since hung up his armor, though, so who knows? He might have time for a cameo. But if RDJ isn’t available, there is another now-huge leading man who did some time on Ally McBeal: Jon Hamm. In fact, the Mad Men star’s very first acting credit is “Gorgeous Guy at Bar” during the 1997 episode, “Compromising Positions.”
Or, heck, bring them both back. Who doesn’t want to see Don Draper meet Tony Stark?
(Via TVLine)