Hannibal creator Bryan Fuller is returning to NBC, a move that suggests that all his claims about bearing the network no ill-will for canceling his cult-favorite series were actually true—or at least that Stockholm syndrome might have set in. Fuller is set to write and executive produce a reboot of Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories, thus allowing NBC to check both the “remake” and “anthology series” entries off on its list of 2015 TV production trends. (If Amazing had ever made it into theaters, too, this thing would be on people’s screens tonight.)
Produced by Amblin Entertainment, the original Amazing Stories ran from 1985 to 1987, garnering five Emmy Awards during its two-season run. Eschewing the strict genre limits of horror anthologies like The Twilight Zone or Outer Limits, the series bounced from horror to science fiction to fantasy, tapping Spielberg’s Rolodex of famous acquaintances—including Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, and Gremlins’ Joe Dante—to helm an episode apiece.
Spielberg won’t be involved with the new series, sadly, although Amblin is still producing. Even so, the thought of a visually oriented fantasist like Fuller—whose previous credits include plenty of high-concept, anthology-friendly ideas like Dead Like Me and Pushing Daisies—getting his hands on a platform like this, is exactly the sort of sumptuous bait to lure Fuller—and us—back into the waiting jaws of NBC’s next heart-breaking cancellation trap.