The Present and Future of Teen Drama Reboots

Let's discuss, recommendations are encouraged!

Pretty Little Liars : Original Sin is one of, if not overall, my most anticipated series of 2022. Consider that my toxic trait, if you will. I don’t feel the need to justify this, it’s not as though I’m excited for it because I think it’s going to be Emmy worthy television but it is a necessary preface for this newsletter as it is coming very soon and the catalyst for this topic today.

(Pictured Above : still from Pretty Little Liars : Original Sin, streaming on HBO Max on July 28th, which is tomorrow as I’m posting this issue but depending on if you’re late to reading this, it is now currently streaming and you should go watch it!!! But finish reading first.)

Reboots, remakes, re-imaginings, sequels, spin-offs, adaptations, anything and everything of that liking have always been getting made for as long as media existed, really. But now more than ever, there’s an influx. It impacts all genres, but teen dramas have been prone to revision in the past decade. Actually, Original Sin isn’t even Pretty Little Liars first attempt at new life in the universe. Nor is it the second. Ravenswood was a spin-off that aired during Pretty Little Liars’ original run, and then soon-after Pretty Little Liars’ conclusion they tried to make a Mona/Ali led spin-off called The Perfectionists. Both of which failed to get picked up for season 2 and I only watched one episode of both. Similarly (but also not very similarly) The Vampire Diaries, a teen drama series also adapted from a book series, premiered in 2009 and had shows still airing in its universe up until this year (hence why it’s not similar). Maybe HBO Max is planning to reboot that too, who’s to say. I don’t keep up with the Degrassi Television Universe, but there are several different shows under its umbrella with an HBO Max revival allegedly premiering in 2023.  These are just the most frequent offenders of Teen Drama Rebootisms, there’ve been several and there are more incoming.

I can’t say for sure what started this trend, because I don’t want to do research, but the first one I remember was 90210, which was a reboot of Beverly Hills, 90210 - which was iconic for being the blueprint for Teen Dramas basically. I didn’t watch that or the reboot! I am recognizing its existence now, for preemptive measures. I know some people really stan this show and its universe, I am so sorry to them. For even more preemptive measures, I will also recognize that the original series was rebooted again in 2019, that time with some sort of meta story about the original cast making a reboot, I think. The original series also had a few spin-offs such as Melrose Place which had a spin-off of its own Models, Inc., and was rebooted itself in 2009. Darren Star was and still is a busy man, what can I say.

I’ve been conflating “reboot” and “spin-off” a lot so far. Let me specify that from here on out : I recognize a reboot as, after a series ends, it gets picked up again within the same universe. Sometimes it has the same cast, sometimes it doesn’t - sometimes it erases continuity, sometimes it doesn’t. I use reboot loosely, basically. It can function as a sequel or (and I prefer) it can function as a new take on the original idea without being a total rehash. If this definition doesn’t work for you, I don’t know what to tell you. This is my newsletter. I create my own definitions here.

People hate reboots for a variety of reasons. The whole “everything out right now is either a reboot, remake, or franchise” is one of the more prominent criticisms of our state of media. Any time a new reboot is announced, there’s this sense of people being just tired, but that isn’t really what I’m here to discuss! Well, it is. But most of the time when people criticize how tired they are of seeing the same thing over and over again, they aren’t quite discussing teen dramas, so I’m going to move on now.

Rebooting a teen drama is something I support, and in most cases I will watch. More recently there was the Gossip Girl reboot… if you have kept up with my twitter for over a year, you know I was consistently excited and optimistic about that. The original Gossip Girl is one of my favorite shows of all time, the cast is gorgeous, the trailer looked more than promising… I don’t think the reboot was all bad! But, it certainly fell short from good… but I am still going to watch season 2 in good faith, hopefully it will fix some things (in Hunter Harris we trust)! I do believe it had the right ingredients without the recipe. The Pretty Little Liars : Original Sin trailer has me hopeful that they didn’t fall into this trap, but the Gossip Girl reboot had a great trailer too, so I will reserve judgment for when I actually watch the show itself.

Side-note : I didn’t have anywhere else to fit this in, but the Teen Wolf movie looks terrible, and that’s what they get for how they treated Arden Cho! Speaking of movies, I did watch the Veronica Mars reboot series on Hulu and as much as I would like to see another season of that… I don’t mind pretending the 2014 film was the end of her arc. I prefer it, actually.

All that’s to say is, although there isn’t a solid blueprint for what makes a good teen drama reboot, I like them continuously getting made and to end this unnecessarily long side tangent I decide to answer the question…. What should get rebooted next?

THE O.C.

(Pictured Above : The Core 4 of classic teen drama The O.C)

The O.C is possibly one of the best teen dramas out there or at least one of my favorites… well, that’s a lie. I never watched past the season two finale, but from what I’ve seen I do believe it’s one of my favorites! As such, I would like there to be a new generation The O.C.

I wouldn’t want it to be centered on the original cast because having The O.C original cast without Marissa would be ridiculous, but they could have some familiar faces be supporting or guest roles, legacy parts and such. I know what you’re probably saying, “not j*ss, The O.C without its cast is literally nothing, what would this reboot be? An entirely different show, that’s what!” And, yeah, basically! I think the setting, and if they can recapture the tone this show had, plus a re-recording or cover of the theme song, could work as a new show but with just enough of the beloved qualities that make The O.C iconic to bring back fans and make them re-fall in love with the universe. Think of the 90210 reboot, but I didn’t watch the 90210 reboot so if the 90210 reboot was not like that, don’t think of the 90210 reboot. I think reboots work best when they’re different entities from their predecessors, which is exactly why I think The O.C with a new cast would be a relatively simple template and hard to mess up.

For a final point, wouldn’t it be really cute if Adam Brody and Leighton Meester had reboots of their classic iconic teen shows out at the same time? Think about it!

GLEE.

My toxic trait is that I think we are due time for a Glee reboot.

(Pictured Above : A jumpscare, Glee)

I’ve discussed Glee before, and almost always when I do so it is critical, despite me, shamefully, being a “Gleek”. It was “ahead of its time” in 2009, which means far, far regressed by Today’s standards. I think that’s the reason most people think a Glee reboot would be a bad idea, but actually I think the opposite. Wouldn’t the best show to reboot be the one that has the most to improve upon? I think seeing where its satire aged is the exact reason why we need a Glee for the new generation (not you High School Musical : The Musical The Series)! We need to fix the crimes of the original!

An entirely new cast seems obvious. These people are 45, they are not in the glee club anymore. Set in McKinley High perhaps so there can be callbacks and guest appearances, but I want this to practically be a new show with the same idea. Maybe an original cast member can be the teacher, if they insisted upon it. I know Glee is somewhat of an iconic series that could be hard to live up to in terms of recognizable characters, but I don’t expect reboots to necessarily out-impact the original. When has that ever happened? I do think a Glee reboot could be better than the original in a lot of ways, though. Or at least a worthwhile attempt. I do assume Ryan Murphy would have to be involved because… he created the show, and I just don’t know if I trust his vision. Some things may be better left alone, but if I could have my way for a Glee reboot, it would be good. Trust me. There’s material. You just have to hear me out.

These were the two series that came to mind easily when considering what I think could be rebooted next. I didn’t want to only name two shows, so I got to google and started getting creative!

THE SECRET CIRCLE.

(Pictured Above : The Secret Circle, starring the long suffering Britt Robertson)

You may be reading this and jumped at either this reminder of a forgotten piece of teen drama history, or jumped out of confusion because you’ve never even heard of this. The Secret Circle aired during the height of The Vampire Diaries craze in 2012-2013 on The CW. It was based on the book series by L.J Smith, the author best known for The Vampire Diaries books. Instead of vampires, The Secret Circle was about witches, so naturally I was very drawn to it because I love witchcraft. I cast hexes like no other.

Anyways, I was one of the only television sets tuned in, and since I assume The CW wanted to capitalize and focus on The Vampire Diaries and Supernatural almost exclusively during that era, The Secret Circle never even stood a chance. I mean, I haven’t revisited this since I was 13, so it also could have just been terrible, but let me push narratives. This was my favorite show that year! I deserve my vindication!

Anyways, if you haven’t been noticing, we are sort of in a moment of nostalgic properties that got Less-Than-Good or unsuccessful first runs being picked up again and given their second chances. Shadowhunters got their run on Freeform, Percy Jackson is in development on Disney+, and most relevantly, Vampire Academy is getting another adaptation on Peacock. I think it’s time for a second chance for The Secret Circle. This is one where I think it would be fun if the cast reunited, but I fear there is literally nobody (besides me) calling for that, so an entirely fresh-faced adaptation would work better, and I feel as though fantasy mythology heavy media is having a mini-renaissance so it could be a huge hit this time.

As much as I tried, I couldn’t really come up with another title that I really feel as though could work as a great rebooted series. Or one I care about, at least. I think some shows got canceled too soon, The Society and I Am Not Okay With This particularly deserved their time to grow into future seasons, but I’d rather have had them get picked up by other networks than anything else and I feel as though the time has come and gone for that. Not only is it too recent, the impact just never had a chance to be made. I do wonder what teen dramas will be rebooted either within the decade or in a decade from now. Riverdale, probably. Be prepared for that, the Archie Comic girls will always come out on top!

For closing, I will name a few series that I do not want to be rebooted but with less extensive explanations.

One Tree Hill should never be touched again. Sorry to the cast members that need jobs. It’s over. The final few seasons were a reboot in its own right, and rebooting the series with a new cast wouldn’t work like other shows, such as The O.C. I can’t explain why that is but it makes sense in my head.

Friday Night Lights just doesn’t feel like other teen dramas. It worked as effective Emmy bait in a teen drama costume, so I don’t see much call for a reboot to begin with? But I’m here to reinforce that it should never be rebooted. It wouldn’t make sense! And most of the cast is so employed to the point it would probably be a mostly new cast, and it probably wouldn’t even be as good. Reject reboot culture! I think what this and One Tree Hill have in common is that a lot of the series focuses on sports (FNL more than OTH but still), if they were to reboot it with a new cast that would probably be what they use to justify making it a reboot rather than just a new show, but… sports teen dramas still exist. All American is still on air and has a reboot airing now as well. The sports teen drama demographic is well covered. In fairness, One Tree Hill also has the town of Tree Hill and they could make a new “iconic” sibling duo to center it on, but again… you can’t put on a Scott brother wig and be a Scott brother, it wouldn’t work. If the Friday Night Lights cast somehow did agree to a reunion, I would be tuned in… but a lot of them have jobs (sorry Aimee Teegarden), so I don’t see a point.

Lastly, The Vampire Diaries. I brought this up earlier, there has been shows running in its canon for over a decade. I don’t even think they should make a reboot in a decade or so, I think it’s time we put the series down forever with a white oak stake to the heart. We’ve progressed past the need for another show in its canon. Ever. I have no further elaboration. I fear for the day someone decides to reboot The Vampire Diaries. It shakes me to my core.

Anyways, stream Pretty Little Liars : Original Sin on HBO Max! Or don’t, it could be bad for all I know. I haven’t seen it yet. I sure will be watching regardless though!