Fans of the original slasherific Starsky and Hutch can rest assured that the reboot will now live on with Amazon… provided the pitched script is good. The new adaptation of the 1970’s television action classic has been the brainchild of direction James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy vol.1 and vol.2), Brian Gunn (his brother), and Mark Gunn (his cousin). Amazon has offered the men a script-to-series commitment, so at this point, all the Gunns need to do is not turn in a bad script and they’ll be granted production. If the series is picked up, it will become a joint endeavor between Amazon Studios and Sony Pictures Television Studios.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, so far, the concept for Starsky and Hutch has been described as a continuation of the 1970’s drama, that is character-driven and a deconstruction of the buddy-cop genre (think what Gunn did with Guardians of the Galaxy.)
The Starsky and Hutch reboot is Gunn’s first television project for his Troll Court Entertainment company. Mark and Brian Gunn are reported to be writing the pitched script based on a concept James developed between writing the script for Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 and production beginning for the film. Mark and Brian have previously worked together as writers for the feature film Journey to the Center of the Earth 2. James and Brian collaborated on the digital series PG Porn.
Sony Pictures Television Studios will lead production (they control the television rights to the original, as well as global distribution for the series). Starsky and Hutch has been in development since 2016 when the company closed deals with the Gunns, and the series was shopped around this summer before finding its potential new home on Amazon. This will not be Amazon’s first newly acquired reboot property, as the company is already developing a reboot of Galaxy Quest with Paul Scheer (The League). Elsewhere, ABC is working on a reboot of the Jetsons, while NBC is working on The Munsters and Miami Vice.
The original Starsky and Hutch began as a 70-minute movie of the week on ABC and continued as a series from 1975 to 1979. The series became a favorite with slash shippers, spawning zines and later web archives dedicated to hosting fanfic written about the two lead characters. One of the more well-known sites, The Starsky & Hutch Archive won a Huggy Award for best website in 1999. A movie was made based on the series, Starsky & Hutch, in 2004 starring Ben Stiller as Starsky and Owen Wilson as Hutch.
