When it comes to reboots, no network has a better track record for bringing back beloved former series than CBS. The network has enjoyed a wave of success in the last several years bringing back iconic former series such as Hawaii Five-0, MacGyver, and SWAT, with reboots that have become just as beloved by today’s audience as their predecessors were decades ago. Next fall, CBS will bring yet another reboot into the fold with its Kathy Bates-led Matlock reboot and it seems Matlock isn’t the only reboot CBS is working on at the moment!
As first revealed by Deadline, CBS is currently working with Warner Bros. TV on rebooting Cold Case with early negotiations underway to bring the beloved series back to the airwaves over a decade since the original series wrapped in 2010.
While Deadline notes that talks are still in the early stages and a deal is still a ways off, the groundwork is already in place for the show to return in what appears to be a hybrid reboot similar to Hawaii Five-0, which shared connections to the original series.
CBS’s Cold Case revival will feature a new cast with familiar faces returning
Not only is the reboot going to be set in the same universe, but it seems the current plan would see original cast member Danny Pino reprising his role as Detective Scotty Valens in what is being described as a “significant way.” Pino played Scott across all seven seasons of the series and was a fan-favorite across the show’s run, so the fact that CBS is looking to bring him back for the reboot is sure to draw in fans of the original series!
Outside of Pino, no other former cast members are attached to the new series though Deadline has reported that Kathryn Morris could appear in a limited capacity reprising her role as Detective Lilly Rush, who was the heart and soul of the original series. Lilly partnered with Pino’s character across the show’s run and was the lead of the series as a homicide detective with the Philadelphia Police Department who specialized in cold cases.
The new series is said to be set 15 years after the events of the original series and will follow a new team of detectives working to “investigate cold cases across the Southwest.” No casting announcements have been made, but the tease of the show being set in the Southwest does reveal we’ll be seeing a change of scenery as the original series was set in Philly.
Cold Case was unlike any other crime drama as it leveraged flashbacks to help tell its case-of-the-week stories giving fans glimpses into the backstory of the victim as the detectives revisited the cases. The episodes culminated with the killer being caught – most of the time anyway – in which we’d see how the victim was killed followed by a montage of the characters connected to the case which weaved together.