We first brought you news of the Murder She Wrote back in October, when we heard NBC were planning on rebooting the much loved programme. However, reports today have suggested that NBC have scrapped the idea. Wise move NBC.
Deadline reported that the network decided to not go ahead with plans to launch an updated version of the mystery drama. The executives had planned to relaunch the show but with a new female lead, to be played by Octavia Spencer. Spencer was to play 'a hospital administrator and amateur sleuth who self-publishes her first mystery novel... [and her] avid fascination with true crime leads her to become an active participant in the investigations.' However someone has obviously had a rethink of the relaunch and decided to table the pilot until they find a different angle to the show. That's if it happens now at all.
The plans for a reboot were met with a lot of criticism including from original star Angela Lansbury, who said, 'I think it’s a mistake to call it Murder, She Wrote, because Murder, She Wrote will always be about a Cabot Cove and this wonderful little group of people who told those lovely stories and enjoyed a piece of that place, and also enjoyed Jessica Fletcher, who is a rare and very individual kind of person.'