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New Adaptation of Friday Night Lights in Development at Peacock: First Details
Get ready to head back to Texas for more high school football drama.
Clear eyes. Full heart. Can’t lose. A new adaptation of the acclaimed sports drama Friday Night Lights is in development at Peacock, as part of a highly competitive development deal.
The original Friday Night Lights series focused on a small-town high school football program that rallies a town together after a star player is injured. The series ran from 2006-2011 for 76 episodes, launching on NBC and eventually ending its run on the 101 Network. The series was a critical darling, earning multiple Emmy nominations and wins along the way.
The series was a rare exploration of small-town America and how high school football can weave its way into the lifeblood of a community and inspire and affect the kids and families around it.
What is the new Friday Night Lights about?
This fresh take on the story will be set in the wake of a devastating hurricane, following a rag-tag high school football team and their damaged, interim coach as they make an unlikely bid for a Texas High School State Championship, helping inspire a small town in the process.
Who is making Peacock's new Friday Night Lights?
Jason Katims, who served as the original series’ showrunner and executive producer, is set to return and take the helm of the new adaptation alongside original director and executive producer Peter Berg, plus producer Brian Grazer. Kristen Zolner will also join as executive producer for Imagine Entertainment. Universal Television, after producing the original series, will also serve as the studio on the new version.
Is the new Friday Night Lights series connected to the original?
This new Peacock series is being billed as a “new adaptation” of Friday Night Lights, with no apparent connection to the prior series.
The story of Friday Night Lights was inspired by the 1990 non-fiction novel Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream, written by H. G. Bissinger, which followed a real-life state championship run in the football-loving state of Texas. The story was also adapted into a 2004 film, which was produced by Grazer and directed by Berg.
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The previous 2006 TV adaptation starred Kyle Chandler as Coach Eric Taylor and Connie Britton as his wife, Tami Taylor (Britton also played the coach’s wife in the film adaptation, though it was a different character. The coach in the film version was played by Billy Bob Thornton). The two were joined by a rotating cast of students and players who become entangled in the small town and high-stakes drama of football in the state of Texas. The original series helped launch young stars including Michael B. Jordan, Jesse Plemons, Adrianne Palicki, Taylor Kitsch, Zach Gilford, and more.
