'Revenge' Reboot in Development at ABC

ABC is developing a reboot of its beloved soapy Hamptons-set drama Revenge. Deadline reports that original series creator Mike Kelley is working on a new story set in the same universe with a similar premise, but one that sadly doesn’t take place in the Hamptons.

The new series, at this point simply called Revenge, will star a Latinx immigrant who goes to Malibu to avenge her mother, a chemist who was murdered as the result of a corrupt pharmaceutical dynasty. An as-yet unnamed character from the original series will guide her in her quest. Deadline states that the show will also involve a global epidemic that occurred thanks to the pharmacy moguls.

We’re psyched to see Revenge return in any form, but we wish it was in the Hamptons! Also, let’s speculate for a bit on who the returning character will be. The only character that makes sense is Nolan Ross, played by the fabulous Gabriel Mann. He was the right-hand-man and bestie of Revenge 1.0’s Emily/Amanda and used his limitless tech corporation funds to help her on her quest to avenge her father. Mann recently appeared as a minor character in Kelley’s Netflix drama What/If, so it would not be out of the realm of possibility for the two to collaborate again.

For the uninitiated, Revenge aired on ABC from 2011-2015 and starred Emily VanCamp as Amanda Clarke, an angry young woman who came to the Hamptons to avenge the death of her father, who was framed by the wealthy Southampton Grayson family for a domestic terror attack that resulted in a devastating plane crash. Masquerading as socialite Emily Thorne, Amanda infiltrated the Graysons by seducing son Daniel (Josh Bowman), but ran into immediate conflict with matriarch Victoria (the incomparable Madeleine Stowe).

The show started off strong, with a first season filled with fabulous Hamptons parties, snappy dialogue and tight plotting. Unfortunately, after a muddled second season mired in a convoluted conspiracy and low-rent action sequences, Kelley left the show. While we loved the third and fourth seasons—DansPapers.com recapped episodes weekly—they were not nearly as strong and by the end of the show’s run, Revenge had run out of steam. The show was also infamously inaccurate in its portrayal of the East End, but that was part of its charm.

The Revenge reboot is currently in early development and no actors are attached, but we’re thrilled that this popular show, which even spawned a Colombian telenovela adaptation and a Turkish primetime drama, is possibly coming back.