The CW has given a straight-to-series order to a reboot of the sci-fi series The 4400.
The network made the announcement on Tuesday, over two years after it first revealed in November 2018 that it was developing a reboot of the USA Network series that aired for four seasons from 2004 to 2007.
The 4400 reboot has a similar premise to the original series. According to the synopsis for the reboot, “4400 overlooked, undervalued, or otherwise marginalized people who vanished without a trace over the last hundred years are all returned in an instant, having not aged a day and with no memory of what happened to them. As the government races to analyze the potential threat and contain the story, the 4400 themselves must grapple with the fact that they’ve been returned with a few upgrades, and the increasing likelihood that they were all brought back now for a specific reason.”
Ariana Jackson, whose TV credits include The CW’s Riverdale, Fox’s Lethal Weapon, and Lifetime’s UnREAL, will write and executive produce The 4400 reboot. Anna Fricke (Walker) and Laura Terry (Relationship Status) will also exec produce the series, with CBS Studios producing.
Craig Sweeny, one of the producers and writers of the original The 4400 series, was spearheading the reboot with Justified producer Taylor Elmor when the news of it first came to light in 2018. However, for some reason, none of their names were mentioned in the recent pick-up announcement.
Created by René Echevarria and Scott Peters, the original The 4400 series starred Joel Gretsch, Jacqueline McKenzie, Mahershala Ali, Patrick Flueger, Conchita Campbell, Chad Faust, and Laura Allen, among many others. Throughout its four-season run, the series earned three Emmy nominations: outstanding miniseries, outstanding writing for a miniseries, and outstanding cinematography for a miniseries.
Aside from the straight-to-series order announcement for The 4400 reboot on Tuesday, The CW also revealed that it has ordered pilots for The Powerpuff Girls live-action reboot, DC project Naomi, and the untitled religious dramedy from Claire Rothrock and Ryann Weir.