Posted in: Movies, Warner Bros | Tagged: david hasselhoff, james wan, KITT, knight rider, Michael Knight, nbc, nbc universal, NBCU, variety, william daniels

Knight Rider: James Wan Producing Film Adaptation of Television Series

Given the massive success of the Fast and the Furious franchise and the overabundance of nostalgia, it's surprising how Knight Rider didn't get adapted to live-action film sooner. Director James Wan is looking to adapt the popular television franchise to the big screen producing through his production company Atomic Monster with Michael Clear and Judson Scott in executive producer roles. Spyglass Media group, according to Variety. The original NBC sci-fi TV series created by Glen A. Larson followed the adventures of Michael Knight (David Hasselhoff), a former police detective under a new identity to be the primary field agent for a pilot program for the Foundation for Law and Government (FLAG). Helping him on his missions is Knight Industries Two-Thousand (KITT), an artificial intelligence affixed to a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. William Daniels provided the voice of KITT, not only providing the espionage feel to the action series but also had the scathing wit of a 007…if he was a car.

Knight Rider premiered on NBC in 1982, running for four seasons and 90 episodes. The series also starred Edward Mulhare, Patricia McPherson, Rebecca Holden, Peter Parros, and Richard Basehart. The franchise spawned three TV spinoffs, three made-for-TV films, and five videogames. TJ Fixman will pen the screenplay. He's primarily known for his work in video games from his work in Sony's Ratchet and Clank and Resistance: Fall of Man for their PlayStation brand. He also wrote The Rubber Guns for Scott Free at CBS and Unboxing for Paramount Players. Wan's Atomic Monster is already producing CBS's MacGyver remake with star Lucas Till. Already directing Aquaman (2018) to a massive success, he's working on its sequel for Warner Bros. Spyglass is currently working to reboot the horror franchise Scream with Courtney Cox and David Arquette set to reprise their roles. Ready or Not directors Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett are taking over for creator, the late Wes Craven, who passed in 2015.

Knight Rider could go in a few interesting directions. It could retain the previous canon and bring back Hasselhoff into the role of Michael or perhaps pass the alias to another taking on the Wilton Knight role (Basehart) in the original pilot. Michael's original name in the TV series is Michael Arthur Long. Wilton saved Michael before getting killed himself in the pilot. It's also not far-fetched to see the 68-year old Hasselhoff at least go one last hurrah or two before passing the torch. I don't expect Daniels at 92 to make anything more, at best, a cameo. Should the Hoff stay as Michael Knight, or should another actor take over?

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