If there’s one thing that’s been confirmed time and time again over the past decade or so, it’s that people love reboots – so many movies and series have returned in new guises to rave reviews.
The latest to join these ranks is slightly less predictable, but Apple TV+ will hopefully help cement its place as the best streaming service available right now. It revives Time Bandits as a streaming series, starring The friendsLisa Kudrow.
The show was announced a while ago, but now we have the double whammy of both a release date (July 24th, at least for its premiere) and the series’ first teaser image, which you can see above and in the announcement post from Apple below.
Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement reprise the 1981 film about a group of time travelers who make a mistake in history. pic.twitter.com/Fu6yfVg9qeJuly 1, 2024
Apple has already confirmed the masterminds behind the show – Hollywood favorite Taika Waititi and longtime collaborator Jemaine Clement – which should ensure it has plenty of the whimsical and over-the-top charm that marked the original film.
This movie didn’t come out until 1981, so it’s a really respectable age now, but it’s still totally endearing thanks to the loving performances and fun tone. It tells the story of a gang of time-traveling oddballs having fairly low-stakes adventures most of the time, which seems like the perfect setting for Waititi.
Time Bandits However, it is not something to be taken lightly – it has a long-term rating of 91%. Rotten tomatoes true to its name, so this isn’t some obscure franchise that can be revamped as its new showrunners see fit. It will be exciting to see how the team turned things around.
Along with Kudrow, the series has a fairly eclectic cast of smaller names to boast, as well as what Apple calls “special guest appearances from Waititi and Clement” — which should come as no surprise to fans of either two.
We know the show will run for 10 episodes, and that this one has been labeled “Season 1” pretty noticeably, so you’d assume Apple is hoping to do more down the line. It will also help complement Apple TV+’s family-friendly content, which is one area where it has some headway compared to Disney+ and Netflix.
