‘RoboCop’: Original Stars Tease Return for TV Reboot!!

Amazon MGM Studios is looking at reviving the classic cyberpunk actioner RoboCop as a TV series. As with many recent revivals, there has been speculation that some of the franchise’s original stars might return. Collider’s Aidan Kelly caught up with Peter Weller (Alex Murphy) and Nancy Allen (Anne Lewis) at the Saturn Awards and discussed the possibility of a comeback. Neither ruled an appearance out, but it was clear that returning to the franchise wasn’t a prime directive for either of them. When asked about returning for the series, Weller was curt, although he did return to voice Murphy in the 2023 video game RoboCop: Rogue City:

“Don’t know, good question. If the stars align.”

Meanwhile, Allen was asked about a return for Anne Lewis; it would necessitate ignoring RoboCop 3, in which Lewis was killed off. She was ambiguous, but did not have a high opinion of the movies and TV spinoffs that followed up the 1987 film:

“I think I’d have to read something first. I think the best movie was the first one, and everything since then has not really lived up to what it should be, so who knows, maybe they’ll figure it out for a TV show.”

Who Are Alex Murphy and Anne Lewis?

In the world of RoboCop, Murphy and Lewis are Detroit cops in the near future; on their first day as partners, they get sent in to bust Detroit crime lord Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith), only to get ambushed by his gang. Murphy is brutally gunned down, only to be rebuilt as the cyborg RoboCop. Lewis is the only person who realizes who RoboCop is, and helps him rediscover his humanity; together, the two go rogue when Boddicker allies himself with the corporation that created RoboCop. Their partnership continues in 1990’s RoboCop 2, which sees them take on a maniacal drug lord, Cain (Tom Noonan) who becomes the titular RoboCop. In 1993’s RoboCop 3, with Weller busy filming David Cronenberg‘s Naked Lunch, Murphy was recast as future Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star Robert John Burke; while Allen stayed on as Lewis, her character was killed off early in the film by corporate thugs attempting to displace the homeless.

The RoboCop TV series is set to be produced by James Wan‘s Atomic Monster production company. The series will be showrun by Peter Ocko, a frequent collaborator with Bryan Fuller who recently served as showrunner for AMC‘s Lodge 49. Michael Clear and Rob Hackett of Atomic Monster will also executive produce the series, and Danielle Bozzone is overseeing the project for Atomic Monster.