Peacock‘s much-anticipated reboot of Friday Night Lights is still getting warmed up to tackle high school football and middle America with a new story and a revamped roster. Despite the show leavilng Dillon behind for another town in Texas, however, at least one familiar face has been contacted about returning to the field once more. In an interview with SiriusXM’s The Spotlight with Jessica Shaw promoting the premiere of American Primeval this week, Taylor Kitsch shared that he spoke with the team behind the new Universal Television project about suiting up as troubled former Dillon Panthers fullback Tim Riggins, saying, “I’ve been asked, and we’ll leave it at that.” Though he wouldn’t be following in the footsteps of Kyle Chandler‘s Coach Taylor, he further confirmed that there were discussions for him “to be a part of some kind of reboot.”
Riggins sticking close to the field would make sense given where he left off Friday Night Lights. After briefly heading off to college, the series fan-favorite ultimately settled back in Dillon with his brother Billy, keeping the motto “Texas Forever” alive and trying to chart a course for his future after five seasons. If Kitsch does eventually agree to return in some capacity, he doesn’t plan to stick around for long and make Riggins a main character connecting the original and the reboot. “Never say never, but I would come in and do something, maybe for an episode or something, but I don’t wanna go and do the whole thing,” he continued. “I’d go and have fun, but I don’t want to lead an FNL reboot or anything. I love the continuously challenging roles and to keep pushing.”
Kitsch has also indicated he’d be open to a new role to relive the glory days of the NBC drama, though he admits that “if you saw me as someone else, you’d be like, ‘That’s Riggins.'” He does have ideas about how Riggins could be reintroduced to the universe though. “I would go do maybe play an opposing team’s coach or something and be on-screen for eight seconds. I would do that.” Whatever way he’d be implemented, Kitsch would get to work with plenty of old colleagues who understand his old character better than anyone. The reboot reunites the original Friday Night Lights trio of showrunner Jason Katims, director Peter Berg – who also helmed the 2004 film of the same name based on H. G. Bissinger‘s 1990 book – and producer Brian Grazer. Notably, Kitsch and Berg recently reconnected for Netflix‘s opioid series Painkiller, which Berg directed.
The ‘Friday Night Lights’ Reboot Looks to Recapture the Themes of the Original
It’ll be a while before the reboot hits our screens, but it’s already clear that the new Friday Night Lights will still play with similar themes to its predecessors. The series will center on a small Texas town recovering from the devastation of a hurricane that has left the community in shambles. As everyone tries to pick up the pieces, the local high school football team becomes an unexpected beacon of light when their rag-tag squad makes a miracle run for the Texas High School Championship. At the helm is their damaged interim coach, who becomes the center of the story as the town rallies around their one glimmer of hope in their darkest hour. It’s a story that should be packed with community spirit, high pressure, and drama aplenty for the players and their coach as they band together.
For now, nothing is confirmed other than the mutual interest between Kitsch and the Friday Night Lights reboot team.
via Collider