14 DAY TRIAL // After so many years, it’s finally official: one of the most successful and time-enduring television series is coming back on the small screen. “Dallas” is getting a follow-up series, with the original JR and Kiefer Sutherland as members of the cast.
According to the Daily Express, TNT has already announced plans for the new series, with Larry Hagman returning as the iconic oil tycoon, the original baddie JR.
At the same time, new faces will be gracing the screen, such as Kiefer Sutherland, who will play JR’s son and Josh Holloway, who will take on Bobby’s son.
Other stars rumored to be on the new show are Ali Larter of “Heroes” and Jennifer Love Hewitt of “The Ghost Whisperer,” while, hopefully, members of the original cast will also put in cameos or special appearances.
Coincidence or not, all the names mentioned above (Sutherland, Larter, Hewitt and Holloway) are fresh off series that have ended their TV run, namely “24,” “Heroes,” “Ghost Whisperer” and “Lost.”
“Larry Hagman, 79, will be back as the villainous JR, while Kiefer Sutherland, star of US terrorist drama 24, and Ghost Whisperer actress Jennifer Love Hewitt are being linked,” Daily Express writes.
“Patrick Duffy, who played JR’s brother Bobby, and Linda Gray, JR’s long-suffering wife Sue Ellen, have both been approached,” says the same publication.
Their participation is yet to be confirmed, though.
“The storyline will again be built around life at Southfork Ranch, this time focusing on John Ross, JR’s son, and Christopher, adopted by Bobby and Pam Ewing, who have yet to be cast,” says the same e-zine.
A pilot for the new “Dallas” will be shot around New Year’s, with an air date yet to be announced.
“This is not a remake as much as a continuation. It takes the next generation of Ewings and continues the battle,” TNT boss Michael Wright said when announcing the new series.
As the Daily Express sees it, the new show can’t but turn out to be a hit, given that the original series ran for no less than 13 seasons (from 1978 to 1991), while the “Who Shot JR?” episode (1980) remains, to this day, one of the most watched in television history.