The Big Bang Theory's Johnny Galecki is looking to bring National Lampoon's Vacation franchise to HBO Max as a half-hour comedy series.
According to THR, Galecki will executive produce The Griswolds, a spinoff that explores "what happens when the disaster-prone family returns home from vacation." Tim Hobert is writing the series and will also executive produce the project, which is currently under a script development deal.
Based on John Hughes' short story "Vacation '58" from National Lampoon magazine, the Chevy Chase-starring Vacation franchise launched in 1983 with National Lampoon's Vacation. The film centered on the Griswolds (Clark, Ellen, Rusty and Audrey), a Chicago family that embarked on a cross-country trip to the Walley World theme park, facing countless hilarious setbacks along the way. It was followed by European Vacation in '85, Christmas Vacation in '89 and Vegas Vacation in '97.
In 2015, the franchise was given a soft-reboot/sequel simply called Vacation, which featured an entirely new cast as an adult Rusty and his wife Debbie attempted to take their sons James and Kevin to Walley World.
At the time of this writing, no expected release date or casting information is available for The Griswolds. However, HBO Max arrives in May 2020.