‘Melrose Place’ Reboot Is Officially in the Works With Heather Locklear and More OG Stars
Melrose Place is coming back to TV screens two decades after the original show came to an end.
The reboot, which reunites Heather Locklear, Laura Leighton and Daphne Zuniga, is currently being shopped to networks and streamers, according to Deadline.
The official description teases that the new series would pick up years after the original. The former residents of Melrose Place — Amanda, Sydney and Jo — will reunite “when one of their dearest friends dies suddenly.” The reunion starts to uncover “old traumas, rekindles old romances, reignites old resentments and reveals new secrets ... throwing our characters into chaotic drama that’s reminiscent of the past, but with a much more modern perspective.”
Melrose Place originally ran on Fox from 1992 to 1999 and was launched as a spinoff of Beverly Hills, 90210. The show followed the hot young residents of a Los Angeles apartment complex with Locklear, 62, Leighton, 55, and Zuniga, 61, starring since the first season. Josie Bissett (Jane Mancini), Andrew Shue (Billy Campbell), Courtney Thorne-Smith (Alison Parker), Grant Show (Jake Hanson), Thomas Calabro (Michael Mancini) and Doug Savant (Matt Fielding) rounded out the cast. (Leighton and Savant are married in real life.)
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Deadline noted that more original cast members are expected to join the show if it comes to fruition.
Melrose Place was previously rebooted by The CW in 2009 with a new cast. Locklear, Leighton and Zuniga all made guest appearances to reprise their roles but the series was canceled after one season.
In 2020, the cast of the OG series reunited for a virtual Melrose Place reunion in support of The Actors Fund. Leighton opened up at the panel about how the costars have remained in touch over the years.
“What I miss most is the working with the group of people and the crew that becomes the family,” Leighton said at the time. “And that was, it was really hard to go from having that family for a number of years to all of a sudden, not on a daily basis. And I think it's sort of why we've all kind of remained in touch even, you know, through long periods of everybody's lives go different ways. But, circling back to that time, I have always, I just have maintained that fond feeling of this group as a family.”
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Shue, 57, meanwhile, took the opportunity to praise Locklear after her past substance abuse struggles and mental health issues.
“Let me just say this, the one question I get from everybody, any time anybody talks about the show, they say, ‘Tell me what Heather's like in real life? Like is she, you know, she got all these rocker guys’ and then I tell them, which I'll tell everybody who's watching, she's the sweetest, nicest, most professional, awesome person I know,” Shue noted. “We’re all really excited to see you.”
Locklear thanked her former costars for supporting her, adding, “It was the cast, it was the crew and it was for the years that we were together and doing so many episodes and two episodes at the same time. We really had to help each other and it was a really nice group.”
