Ally McBeal might be heading back to TV.
TVLine reports that a revival of the ’90s legal dramedy is in the works, with Calista Flockhart returning as the titular star. According to the report, the show is in the very early stages of development with no home attached yet, and while creator David E. Kelley would serve as an executive producer, he would not be the showrunner.
In a 2018 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he said he’d be open to more Ally McBeal, but he didn’t think he should run it.
“If it were going to be done, it really should be done by a woman,” he said. “If it’s going to be new, it should be new and different. And I did it: 100 hours.”
The original series premiered on Fox in 1997 and starred Flockhart as a lawyer who leaves her job due to sexual harassment and joins a new firm with her old law school classmate and ex-boyfriend. In addition to Flockhart, it starred Greg Germann, Jane Krakowski, Gil Bellows, Peter MacNicol, Courtney Thorne-Smith, Portia de Rossi, Lucy Liu and even, for a bit, Robert Downey Jr.
The series was canceled after a low-rated fifth season.
