‘Fantasy Island’ Reboot Ordered Straight-to-Series at Fox From ‘The Fix’ Team

Joe Otterson
·2 min read

Fox has given a straight-to-series order to a reboot of “Fantasy Island,” Variety has learned.

The rebooted version of the classic series hails from writers and executive producers Liz Craft and Sarah Fain, with the series being a co-production between Sony Pictures Television, Gemstone Studios, and Fox Entertainment. It is slated to debut in summer 2021.

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“In continuing to develop outside of the traditional broadcast cycle, we’ve been particularly focused on providing viewers with summer series that offer a true escape from everyday life – to be sure, now so more than ever,” said Michael Thorn, president of entertainment for Fox Entertainment. “’Fantasy Island’ is a beloved program, and the world Liz and Sarah have created for this contemporary adaptation is signature Fox and a perfect show for today’s times. After all, who among us wouldn’t take a (safe) trip to Fantasy Island right now?”

The new series is described as a modern semi-anthology series that delves into the “what if” questions, both big and small, that keep us awake at night. Each episode will tell stories about people who walk in with a desire, but end up reborn to themselves through the magical realism of Fantasy Island.

As a writing team, Craft and Fain are known for their work on shows like “Angel,” “The Shield,” “The Vampire Diaries,” and “Lie to Me.” They previously co-created the ABC drama “The Fix” with former Los Angeles prosecutor Marcia Clark as well as the series adaptation of the James Patterson books “Women’s Murder Club.”

They are repped by Industry Entertainment.

“’Fantasy Island’ has always been one of our most popular and iconic series and when we heard Liz and Sarah’s vision of this world, we immediately knew they were onto something special,” added Jeff Frost, president of Sony Pictures Television, and Jason Clodfelter, co-president of Sony Pictures Television. “We can’t think of better partners than Fox to work on this entirely novel take on this classic property— this is truly a wonderful and exciting way to launch our new venture, Gemstone Studios.”

The Fox reboot will not be the first time “Fantasy Island” has been given new life. ABC aired a new version of the show for one season back in 1998, while Blumhouse and Sony’s Columbia Pictures released a horror feature take on the property earlier this year.

The original “Fantasy Island” ran on ABC for seven seasons and 152 episodes from 1978-1984, with two TV movies having been released in early 1977. The show starred Ricardo Montalbán as the island’s proprietor, Mr. Roarke, and Hervé Villechaize as his assistant, Tattoo.

(Pictured: Ricardo Montalbán)

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