1980s icon Max Headroom is headed for a reboot, courtesy of AMC Networks.
According to Deadline, a "drama series reboot" of Max Headroom is currently in the works at AMC, with actor Matt Frewer attached to reprise his role as the eponymous artificial intelligence. Christopher Cantwell, creator of AMC's Halt and Catch Fire and writer of such Marvel comic books as Doctor Doom and Iron Man, is attached to write the new Max Headroom series, as well as serve as showrunner. The series is produced by Elijah Wood and Daniel Noah's SpectreVision and All3Media. Cantwell, Frewer and Lisa Whalen are executive producing alongside Wood and Noah.
Created by George Stone, Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton, Max Headroom first appeared in the 1985 television film Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future. Frewer reprised the role for the television series The Max Headroom Show, which aired on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom for three seasons from 1985 to 1987. Frewer later starred on ABC's Max Headroom, which aired for two seasons from 1987 to 1988.
Catch the Wave!
Billed as "the first computer-generated TV presenter," Max Headroom was known for his wit, often offering biting commentary on various topical issues. In addition to his own film and TV shows, the character was an '80s pop culture staple, making appearances in other pieces of media and even acting as the spokesman for Coca-Cola's New Coke.
As time has gone on, Max Headroom has proven to have had a lasting impact on pop culture, being referenced in everything from the ABC series Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to rapper Eminem's "Rap God" music video. Many modern mystery enthusiasts are also familiar with the infamous Max Headroom signal hijacking of 1987.
On the evening of Nov. 22, 1987, the television broadcasts of two Chicago stations -- WGN-TV and WTTW -- were briefly hijacked by a video of an unidentified individual wearing a Max Headroom mask. An FCC investigation was opened, though, to this day, the person or people behind the so-called "Max Headroom incident" have never been identified. Much like the character of Max Headroom himself, this act of broadcast piracy has had an impact on pop culture in its own right, essentially serving as the template for what Motherboard called the "cyberpunk hacking trope" in a 2017 retrospective piece.
Source: Deadline