About recasting beloved 80s original cinematic icons.

[Greg Cox]

Recasting is always possible if you keep an open mind.

Particularly as time goes by. 80s icons only seem sacred to folks who imprinted on them back in the 80s. Future generations will have their own versions of these characters. To assume that any actor "owns" a role forever strikes me as a failure of imagination. All movie and TV characters are fair game for new interpretations.

And, to be clear, changing a character, doing a different take on them, does not necessarily mean ruining them or spoiling them or whatever. Sometimes different isn't "wrong." It's just different.

If we can get a new Samantha Stephens, we can get a new Freddy Krueger.

 

[Qonundrum]

People vote with their wallets and so far that has amounted to doubling down on existing IP and not flocking to attempts to build new franchises.

I mean, what is the newest franchise that made it to the big leagues out there? Harry Potter (books starting from the late 90s)?

So we are kind of heading in a Ready Player One future where culture is sort of frozen in time, only with the addition of endless reboots and reimaginings.

Doubling down on existing shows has been going on for decades, only increasingly so because it's a safer investment and people are more likely to tune in, at least early on - which is all that technically matters when recouping investment.

There is also a plus side to this that is not often talked about and I've typically not mentioned it in favor of "new vs regurgitated": It is that these characters and shows/properties will last a lot longer than entities not remade. As long as the characters and core premise remain true to the originals, which is a lot less frequent. TNG still did it best, tying into the existing universe while making its own while being true to the spirit of the original while finding new avenues to discuss.

After all, Shakespeare's goodies are still redone from time to time, in varying forms, some more creatively successful than others for various reasons.

 

[Nerys Myk]

After all, Shakespeare's goodies are still redone from time to time

And some of his stuff were remakes.