Back in 2021, Michael Schur was attached to a series adaptation of one of the most beloved sports movies ever made — Field of Dreams. Peacock had issued a straight-to-series order for the project, believing that his experience in mixing the “whimsical” with more grounded, relatable elements in shows like The Good Place would be the perfect match for rebuilding the Kevin Costner classic. Progress was far enough along that cameras were preparing to roll in the summer of 2022, but, according to Schur in a conversation with Vulture in 2023, “They just changed their mind” and “didn’t want to spend the money anymore,” leading to the cancellation. Now, the creator has opened up in a larger interview with Variety about his plans for the series and why he wanted to take on Field of Dreams.
Released in 1989, the original Field of Dreams was based on the novel Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella and followed Ray Kinsella (Costner), an Iowa farmer who one day hears a mysterious voice telling him, “If you build it, he will come,” and witnesses a vision of a ball diamond. Compelled to act, he constructs a baseball field on his property, which attracts the ghosts of the sport’s past from the crops, led by “Shoeless” Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta) of the infamous Black Sox. As the legendary players play ball once again, the life-changing supernatural experience ultimately helps Ray come to terms with his past and his relationship with his late father. An in-depth ballpark had already been built in Iowa for the Schur‘s series and, as he revealed in an episode of the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast, multiple regulars from his past projects were ready to star, including The Good Place‘s Kristen Bell and William Jackson Harper, Parks and Recreation‘s Chris Pratt and Nick Offerman, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine‘s Andre Braugher.
Schur told Variety that “As of now, nothing’s happening with it,” at Peacock or elsewhere, though that’s not for a lack of trying. He revealed that he had penned two versions of the script in hopes that, one day, someone would come with an interest in making the series a reality:
“I actually have two whole different versions of it. There was the original one that I did with the writers who worked on it. That was a seven-episode series. Once Peacock decided not to make it, I did a second version that was shorter. It was five episodes, to see if someone else would jump in. So the scripts exist in both of those forms. Maybe someday the world will turn in a way that allows it to come to fruition. I’m not sure.”
Michael Schur Was Intrigued By the Challenge of Reimagining ‘Field of Dreams’
Tackling a stone-cold sports classic like Field of Dreams might seem like a foolish endeavor, considering its almost mythical status at this point. The Oscar-nominated movie is so beloved that it has quite literally become ingrained in the sport of baseball itself, with MLB even bringing the concept to life with its MLB at Field of Dreams games starting with 2021’s all-time classic match-up featuring the real Yankees and White Sox emerging from the corn. Schur‘s take on it was billed as a reimagining, with the creator himself confirming in the aforementioned conversation with Torre that new players would’ve been featured, like Jackie Robinson, who would’ve been played by Harper.
Yet, taking viewers out of their comfort zone and exploring Field of Dreams in a new way was part of the reason why Schur liked the idea so much. He compared it to The Good Place in the sense that it was a real challenge to pull off, only instead of being very research-intensive like the former, he knew he’d be up against a lot of people who believe the original film should just be left as is:
“The Good Place was easily the hardest idea that I’ve had for shows. It required the most thought and research and work. It’s a really fun job, but you shouldn’t confuse easy and fun. The fun of it is the creative challenge and the struggle and pulling out your hair, trying to figure out how to make something work. The same was true with Field of Dreams. I understood that there were people out in the world who were going to think it was a really bad idea. That made it more intriguing to me.”
Although Schur will leave the door open for Field of Dreams, he’s currently more focused on other projects, like the second season of his new Netflix hit, A Man on the Inside, which is currently in production.
via Collider