Whether you remember the theme song, the unbuttoned collar, or the amazing talking car, Knight Rider is legendary. And now, the show launched by David Hasselhoff in 1982 (and created by Glen A. Larson) is coming back. But this time, as a movie. Will this reboot be decent? There’s one good reason to think so: Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg, and Josh Heald, the folks behind Cobra Kai, are attached to write a rebooted screenplay for Knight Rider, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“A feature take has been in development for a while,” notesBorys Kit, writing for THR. But what will this reboot actually be about?
The premise of Knight Rider is actually weirder than you remember
Although the talking car, K.I.T.T., a slick black 1982 Pontiac Trans Am, was the most famous feature of the show, what casual fans might not remember is just how deeply strange the setup of Knight Rider was. Before Michael Knight was recruited by a top-secret government organization, he was a cop who was shot in the face in the very first episode. This character was not even called “Michael Knight” in the first episode, but instead “Michael Long,” and briefly, at the beginning, was played by actor Larry Anderson. The premise was that after Michael Long was shot in the face, he underwent reconstructive surgery and emerged as “Michael Knight,” a sexy agent who now looked like Hasselhoff. Talk about an upgrade!
So, the notion of Michael getting a talking car, which also had amazing turbo boosts, is truly the second most outrageous thing about the show. The third most outrageous thing about Knight Rider is probably the fact that all of his most important missions are within driving distance.
What will the Knight Rider reboot be about?
As of this writing, it’s not yet public knowledge what direction the Knight Rider reboot movie will take. It’s also unclear whether Hasselhoff will be involved. “The new take is being kept in the back of a semi-trailer, but expect the unexpected when it comes to the Cobra Kai creators,” THR writes.
Of note, the original creator of Knight Rider, Glen A. Larson, also created Battlestar Galactica, The Fall Guy, and Magnum P.I.; all of which have enjoyed contemporary reboots, with varying degrees of success. Perhaps the new Knight Rider will feel more like the 2024 Ryan Gosling-led Fall Guy, not a direct adaptation of the old TV show, but maybe a bigger, funnier swing, which captures the swagger of the ’80s series.
Casting a new Michael Knight will be tricky, of course. But if the theme song (composed by Stu Phillips) remains the same, and the car is still slick, this is one reboot that could be incredible.
The biggest challenge? Knight Rider was cool because it was weird. Hasselhoff was a great leading man because he was also a little goofy. Knight Rider was a show about talking car that also wasn’t getting too deep about artificial intelligence. The show became a classic because of these contradictions, and creating a movie version that caputres all of those conflicting tones and ideas will be harder than driving a car with no hands.
Knight Rider (1982) streams on the Roku Channel.
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