‘The Tick’ Resurrected With Amazon Pilot Order, Duo Cast In Comic Book Comedy
Cult live-action comedy
The Tick is making a comeback.
Amazon has ordered a pilot for a new take on
Ben Edlund‘s comic book character with an all-new cast. Edlund, who created the 2001 live-action Fox comedy as well as the 1994 animated series, is back as writer and executive producer as is fellow original exec producer
Barry Josephson.
Griffin Newman (
Vinyl) is set to play Arthur Everest, and
Valorie Curry (
House of Lies, The Following) has been cast as his sister Dot Everest in the pilot, I have learned.
Transcendence helmer
Wally Pfister is in negotiations to direct.
Sony Pictures TV, the studio behind the 2001 series, is producing.
The revival has been in the works for a while — in the summer of 2014, Edlund confirmed that there was an effort to bring the show back when rumors surfaced about a possible new
Tick series at Amazon with Edlund returning alongside Patrick Warburton, who played the title character in the Fox series. Warburton, who stars on NBC’s new comedy series
Crowded, will not reprise his role but is expected to serve as an executive producer on the Amazon pilot. Casting for the lead is currently underway.
The reboot will bring back the eponymous muscle-bound, antennae-sporting superhero, along with his sidekick Arthur (Newman), surrounded by a new host of characters. (The Fox series co-starred Liz Vassey as Captain Liberty and Nestor Carbonell as Batmanuel.)
In the new incarnation, the blue suit-wearing Tick is recovering from a memory loss. He ends up re-teaming with Arthur to fight evil. Newman’s Arthur, played in the Fox series by David Burke, had been labeled as a schizophrenic because of his statements that evil plans to rule the city, and no one believes him until he runs into Tick. Curry’s Dot Everest is a nurse who loves her brother Arthur to death and worries about him.
While
The Tick only lasted for 9 episodes on Fox, it was well received by critics and quickly achieved cult status. Fifteen years later, it is still beloved by fans.
Pfister, director of photography for the
Dark Knight film series, recently directed multiple episodes of the Netflix comedy series
Flaked, starring Will Arnett, including the opening episode.
Edlund most recently served as co-executive producer on the first season of Fox’s DC Comics drama series
Gotham. He previously did stints on NBC’s
Revolution, Fox’s
Firefly as well as
Angel and
Supernatural.
Curry knows a thing or two about cult shows — her first acting gig was a recurring role on
Veronica Mars. She is repped by ICM Partners and Thruline.
