After the announcement last year that Alan Ritchson could be suiting up as Kevin “Thad” Castle one more time, the news is looking good for the Blue Mountain State sequel series. Ritchson’s Reacher partner Amazon MGM Studios quietly picked up the show shortly after it went up for sale and now, according to Deadline‘s sources, development is in its final phase before the team can start moving full steam ahead. An official greenlight could come in as soon as a month. For his part, Ritchson is working diligently to get the project past the goal line, a process he opened up about during a press conference on Sunday at the Daytona 500.
“We’re actually setting it up with Amazon,” he explained at the event. “We are going to make a fourth season happen; I’m trying to work it into my schedule.” Blue Mountain State formerly aired on Spike and later gained a cult following through Netflix, with Ritchson especially garnering attention for one of his best and most comedic roles. Despite the expectation of what came before, he gushed about what’s already been written for the return of the Mountain Goats, saying “Honestly, I think it’s going to be the best season of BMS we’ve ever had. It is so damn funny, and it’s perfect, the way we resurrect the characters and bring them into the way that things are now.”
Few actors are quite as in-demand as Ritchson lately, after his popularity shot into the stratosphere with Reacher. The Prime Video smash hit returns this week for Season 3, with three episodes on February 20, but the star’s work spans far beyond the turkey-fisted hero. Most recently, Owen Wilson was set to join him in Scott Waugh‘s action thriller Runner, which is expected to begin filming in March. He has a long to-do list included with that though, featuring a team-up with Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Christmas comedy The Man With the Bag, a new actioner with Amber Midthunder titled Painter, and the much-anticipated Playdate with Kevin James, among other things. That inevitably makes finding time for BMS a challenge, but he appears to be making a return to the football field a priority.
What Was the Original ‘Blue Mountain State’ About?
BMS hailed from Chris Romano and Eric Falconer and followed the trials and tribulations of three incoming college freshmen as they adjusted to life at the titular football juggernaut. Balancing girls, classes, college happenings, and endless hazing from their peers, they particularly engrained themselves in the school’s vaunted team, the Mountain Goats. Ritchson‘s Thad was the team’s inspirational captain and, in the 2016 follow-up movie The Rise of Thadland, an NFL draftee with more than a few issues after leaving college. Although little is known at this time about how the series’s beloved characters will return, its star’s vote of confidence is a good sign, especially since both Falconer and Romano are reportedly returning to helm the revival, with Romano also set to co-star with Ritchson once again alongside Darin Brooks.
Stay tuned here at Collider for more on the Blue Mountain State sequel series as work continues. In the meantime, the original three seasons and the follow-up movie can currently be streamed on Prime Video or Netflix.
via Collider