Another beloved animated sitcom is making a long overdue return to the air. MTV Studios is rebooting the short-lived Clone High, and creators Phil Lord, Chris Miller, and Bill Lawrence are all returning.
The new series will be overseen by Erica Rivinoja, who worked on the original Clone High, as well as South Park and Fox’s Last Man on Earth. Rivinoja will serve as showrunner and also co-write the Clone High revival’s pilot with Lord and Miller.
For those who missed Clone High during its brief, 13-episode run in 2002 and 2003, the series revolves around a group of teenage clones of famous historical figures like Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, Joan of Arc and John F. Kennedy. While created by a sinister cabal of government agents hoping to harness the clones as military assets, the main characters spend most of their time navigating traditional teen problems like dating, studying, school elections, and the pressures of living up to their namesakes. All the while, the school’s evil principal plots to cash in on his students by creating a lucrative theme park called “Cloney Island.”
While critically acclaimed, Clone High was canceled after one season, in part because of international outrage over the show’s depiction of Gandhi.
Binge It! Clone High Is the Funniest High School Comedy You’ve (Probably) Never Seen
According to MTV’s press release, the new Clone High will “re-imagine” the original series, no doubt updating that show’s satire of early 2000’s pop culture with a more 2020-inspired approach. This suggests the new version of Clone High won’t follow up on the unresolved Season 1 cliffhanger, but instead reboot the series from square one.
“We thrilled to reunite with Phil Lord, Chris Miller, and Bill Lawrence to re-imagine this cult classic as we rapidly grow our portfolio of beloved and iconic adult animation series,” said Chris McCarthy, President of ViacomCBS’ Entertainment and Youth Group.
Clone High is the latest in a growing list of animated sitcoms being revived or rebooted for newer audiences. Comedy Central greenlit two new seasons of Beavis & Butt-Head and will also play host to the Daria spinoff Jodie. Other animated sitcom revivals include a new Boondocks series on HBO Max and Netflix’s Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus.
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Lord and Miller are also hard at work on a sequel to 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Miller recently teased the “groundbreaking” new animation techniques being used to bring that sequel to life.
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Source: IGN.com MTV Studios Revives Clone High With Original Creators