ABC
35 years after the original series went off the air, ABC is moving forward with a new version of The Greatest American Hero. The network has ordered a pilot for a reboot of the series, this time focusing on an Indian-American woman.
The Greatest American Hero ran from 1981-1983 and starred William Katt as a hapless schoolteacher named Ralph who is given a suit that gives him superpowers.
Unfortunately for Ralph, he soon lost the instruction booklet for the suit and had to spend the series learning his various abilities on the fly.
The main character on ABC’s new reboot is named Meera, “a 30-year-old woman who loves tequila and karaoke and has spent her life searching and failing to find meaning, much to the chagrin of her traditional Indian-American family.”
Meera’s life is turned upside down when she is entrusted with a superpowered suit, as the fate of the world “has never been in more unreliable hands.”
Fresh Off the Boat executive producer Nahnatchka Khan will produce the new pilot, from a script by Rachna Fruchbom (Parks and Recreation, Fresh Off the Boat).
This isn’t the first time a reboot of The Greatest American Hero has been attempted, nor is it the first time a female lead was considered.
In 1986, a pilot movie was made by NBC under the title The Greatest American Heroine, with Katt and fellow cast members Robert Culp and Connie Sellecca returning.
The network ended up passing on the new series and the pilot was reworked as a new episode of the original series for syndication.
A more traditional reboot was in the works at FOX in 2014, under the guidance of writer Rodney Rothman and filmmakers Chris Miller and Phil Lord (The Last Man on Earth). It would’ve centered on Isaac, an updated version of Katt’s Ralph character.
