Home » You’re In Charge Of The Knight Rider Reboot. What’s Your Plan?

You’re In Charge Of The Knight Rider Reboot. What’s Your Plan?

Aa Knight Rider Reboot
ADVERTISEMENT

Knight Rider should require no introduction, but if you’re just emerging from beneath a rock you stowed yourself under back in early 1982, it’s the show where “David Hasselhoff stars as Michael Knight, a sleek and modern crime fighter assisted by KITT, an advanced, artificially intelligent, self-aware, and nearly indestructible car.” That’s in quotes because I lifted it directly from Wikipedia. Said car (which could talk, by the way—kind of a big miss there, Wikipedia) was “played” by the just-released third-gen Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, replete with gloss-black paint, button wheel covers, and a tan interior slathered with switches, 7-segment displays, LEDs, a CRT monitor, and a yoke replacing the steering wheel. Hoff Kitt

KITT was voiced by William Daniels (TV nerds will also recall him as Dr. Craig on St. Elsewhere) to complete the show’s absolutely perfect main-characters casting. Mock the Hoff all you like, but he was indelible as the leather-bejacketed Michael Knight and always played the role completely straight, no matter how absurd the action or ball-crushing the jeans. And wow, could the man sell a Turbo-Boost:

Vidframe Min Top
Vidframe Min Bottom

If you’re watching the video, keep your eyes peeled for later-season jumps executed as miniature effects, and appearances of the easily-spotted rubber-body KITT atop a VW Beetle chassis. As you can easily imagine (but will see captured on video when you click here), actual Pontiac Firebirds couldn’t begin to handle jump landings onto flat ground, hence the model work and novel Bug solutions.
Where was I? Oh, right: rebooting the show. It’s been done before! See Knight Rider 2000 (1991), Knight Rider 2010 (1994), Team Knight Rider (1997), and Knight Rider (2008). Or don’t see them, they’re not good. But now you’re in charge: how would YOU reboot the show? Sky’s the limit, and you have all the budget you need. Who do you cast as Michael Knight? What kind of car is KITT—and who voices it? What kind of show will your Knight Rider be? Prestige limited-series drama? Go for it. Weekly action-adventure for the kids, like the original? Sounds good. Dark and gritty, with a brooding antihero? A bit overdone, but hey, you’re the boss. Maybe Michael is Michelle this time around. Maybe it’s set in the steam-power era, and KITT can speak because of magic, not technology. Anything goes, because

You’re In Charge Of The Knight Rider Reboot. What’s Your Plan?

To the comments!

ADVERTISEMENT
Share on facebook
Facebook
Share on whatsapp
WhatsApp
Share on twitter
Twitter
Share on linkedin
LinkedIn
Share on reddit
Reddit
Subscribe
Notify of
100 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Ranwhenparked
Ranwhenparked
1 year ago

Michael Knight will be replaced with Michelle Knight, there’s still a serious shortage of female action leads, and it would give the new series a distinctive twist over the original instead of feeling like a lazy retread. Also, I’d want to cast someone mostly unknown who hasn’t done a lot of prior TV work, let’s see who’s out there

The car will be from whatever automaker offers the best product placement deal, with whichever model they chose to feature, the props department will be in charge of making whatever it is as cool as possible. Preference for something electric or at least PHEV

Also, she’ll have a platonic male best friend who’s kind of quirky and there for comic relief

Last edited 1 year ago by Ranwhenparked
Cheap Bastard
Cheap Bastard
1 year ago
Reply to  Ranwhenparked

“Also, she’ll have a platonic male best friend who’s kind of quirky and there for comic relief”

Just say gay. Everybody knows the quirky, comic platonic male best friend was totally gay.

The only exception was if it was made VERY clear to the audience he secretly lusted after her but she was way out of his league AND she was a frigid sociopathic workaholic.

Ranwhenparked
Ranwhenparked
1 year ago
Reply to  Cheap Bastard

That’s not going to be made clear in the first season though

Holly Birge
Holly Birge
1 year ago
Reply to  Ranwhenparked

Another commenter was saying that the creator of the 2003 Battlestar Galactica should do this which made me think that Katee Sackhoff needs to be Michelle Knight.

StillNotATony
StillNotATony
1 year ago

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: if there’s no turbo boost over a canyon, what are we even doing here?

Bob Boxbody
Bob Boxbody
1 year ago

Keep the Hoff, but he’s not a character, it’s just modern-day David Hasselhoff, and the car’s voice is only in his imagination. He goes out and “solves crimes”, but it turns out he’s delusional, so the cliffhanger at the end of season one would be that he’s been arrested for all the mayhem he has caused.

ADDvanced
ADDvanced
1 year ago

Since Hollywood has to change genders on things these days, the main character HAS to be a woman. I’d do with Millie Bobbie Brown from Stranger Things, since she already has an 80s vibe from that show. Set it up so her parents get killed, she moves out to a small town to some distant relatives house, and finds a derelict KITT in a barn, but it just looks like a shitty old firebird, hiding under a bunch of garbage.

She and a friend get the car running again, and it’s a total POS and again, a normal firebird. Something happens where her life is in danger, and the car ‘activates’ and interior transforms, becomes sentient and saves the day. She later learns her uncle or something was Hoff and somethign related to him is what killed her parents or something? Idk. Important part is the car could bounce between being a total piece of shit and being awesome depending on what the story needed. Could be entertaining.

Last edited 1 year ago by ADDvanced
Mark Tucker
Mark Tucker
1 year ago
Reply to  ADDvanced

I’m with you, except I nominate Summer Glau for Michelle Knight.

Ben
Ben
1 year ago
Reply to  Mark Tucker

What ever happened to Summer Glau? She was like the nerd crush for a while there and now I can’t remember seeing her in anything since Sarah Connor Chronicles.

...getstoneyII
...getstoneyII
1 year ago

This one is easy! Micheal is a student driving instructor that only teaches after sunset. All sorts of hijinx ensue from buying vape pods, CBD gummies, and kegs of beer for his students, among other things. Micheal spends most of the time bitching about how much the VPN service and the optional heated ejector seats cost every month, hence the side hustle.

It’s basically Burn Notice if Michael Weston had to deal with supply chain issues.

Col Lingus
Col Lingus
1 year ago
Reply to  ...getstoneyII

Would watch that.

Col Lingus
Col Lingus
1 year ago

That show sucked the big one. Only watched it once or twice, thankfully the opiates kicked in and I fell asleep.
Reboot?
George Costanza in a leased Prius works for me.
Reboots? No. Someone needs to grow an imagination.

Last edited 1 year ago by Col Lingus
Ranwhenparked
Ranwhenparked
1 year ago
Reply to  Col Lingus

Imaginations are risky, there’s no room for risk in business. Sequels, prequels, spinoffs, remakes, and reboots of things that were already proven popular and profitable is where it’s at

Maymar
Maymar
1 year ago

The Hummer EV is fantastically stupid, but it also has t-tops and a stupid amount of power. After however long we’ve had Siri and Alexa (and Cortana fictionally), I’m assuming we’re casting a woman to voice new-KITT – I’m blanking on someone suitably aloof and academic-sounding to suit it, but TV-grade Cate Blanchett? It doesn’t matter who plays new-Michael Knight is, the whole point is to get someone pretty and let the car handle the acting. I’m not sure Taylor Lautner has done anything recently, so, why not?

4jim
4jim
1 year ago

Use the writers strike to ditch the whole reboot idea in the dustbin of intentionally forgotten history and when the strike is over hire someone to write and original car based idea for a show.

Mr Sarcastic
Mr Sarcastic
1 year ago
Reply to  4jim

What? There is a writers strike? But the TV shows are all reality and they all suck. When did this happen 1998?

MaximillianMeen
MaximillianMeen
1 year ago

Since I’m only this for the money, I’m looking for endorsement bucks. So while a Tesla Model S with the yoke and FSD might be closest existing vehicle to KITT, I’m not gonna see one fucking cent from eMusk. So piss off Tesla!Your supposedly bulletproof, supposedly existing Cybertruck is not getting on the show!

Hmmm, what manufacturer has a steering yoke, a high-powered, 2-door GT, and never says “No” to an endorsement deal?

KnightRider 2030, starring a Lexus RC as KITT
Jodie Comer as Michelle Knight
Jodie Comer as the voice of KITT (you see Killing Eve? She can do both! Plus, I’m in this for the $$$, so one less actor to pay!)

Chris Stevenson
Chris Stevenson
1 year ago

KITT has to be a blacked-out Corvette Z06.

10001010
10001010
1 year ago

I swear, if this doesn’t come up soon on their youtube channel I’m going to be disappointed.

10001010
10001010
1 year ago

What kind of car is KITT and who voices it? That’s easy, the car is a third-gen Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, replete with gloss-black paint, button wheel covers, and a tan interior slathered with switches, 7-segment displays, LEDs, a CRT monitor, and a yoke replacing the steering wheel and he’s voiced by William Daniels.

Why did the previous remakes all fail? Because they changed the damn car! YOU NEVER CHANGE THE CAR!!! Look at the Dukes of Hazzard remake from several years back, sure it was stupid and not well received but it didn’t generate any hate. Why? Because they kept the General intact, troublesome roof art and all. Remember that A-Team movie a while back? No, nobody does, but same thing, they kept the cars the same and nobody hated it. Now, remember the Ghostbusters reboot a while back with half the cast of SNL in the lead roles? Remember everyone hating it? Remember all the negative headlines before it even came out? Story-wise it really wasn’t that bad but they changed the damn car and what have we learned? YOU NEVER CHANGE THE CAR!!! That’s right, just look at the subsequent Ghostbusters sequel that came out last year. They brought back the original Ecto-1 and everyone loved it.

As for who plays Michael Knight? He may be getting older but damnit I say stick with the Hoff, and if he’s not available, Peter Dinklage.

Last edited 1 year ago by 10001010
10001010
10001010
1 year ago
Reply to  Peter Vieira

He’s getting up there, KITT might sound a little geriatric, but he’s still kicking!

Col Lingus
Col Lingus
1 year ago
Reply to  10001010

You ever see the video of a drunk Hoff thing to eat a hamburger? Frickin’ awesome.

Mr Sarcastic
Mr Sarcastic
1 year ago
Reply to  Col Lingus

Which of us hasn’t been there with their own preferred food. Or worse hugging a toilet bowl? Except no daughter to take video and be cut out of the will? Hey maybe a drunk out of shape Hoff that team members have to stuff in to too tight jeans, remotely drive the car but pretend he is still great to get the program refunded?

Col Lingus
Col Lingus
1 year ago
Reply to  Mr Sarcastic

So a ‘reality’ show?

Ranwhenparked
Ranwhenparked
1 year ago
Reply to  10001010

Or, have the original car in the first episode, it gets destroyed at the end somehow, and the second episode introduces the 2023 Trailblazer replacement in a passing the torch thing

10001010
10001010
1 year ago
Reply to  Ranwhenparked

That’s how you generate hate mail.

BigThingsComin
BigThingsComin
1 year ago

Two words: Timothée Chalamet

D.B. Platypus
D.B. Platypus
1 year ago

Bad guy is an evil billionaire who runs the world’s top electric car company. They have a secret project to develop a car that is not only self-driving, but sentient. The prototype escapes from their research lab and joins up with the hero to go on adventures, but the big bad guy’s robot goon cars are always hot on their tail.

Bomber
Bomber
1 year ago

I’m in charge of the Knight Rider reboot…what do I do? Absolutely nothing. Come one? We are all tired of of reboots and rehashes of old stuff.

Angrycat Meowmeow
Angrycat Meowmeow
1 year ago

KITT to be voiced by H. Jon Benjamin

Taargus Taargus
Taargus Taargus
1 year ago

This is the way. He could basically just do Archer as a car and it would work.

David Lopan
David Lopan
1 year ago

Nice try, Warner Bros. There’s a writer’s strike on. I don’t cross picket lines.

Drew
Drew
1 year ago

Jack Black. On a Grom. Voiced by Alan Tudyk.

10001010
10001010
1 year ago
Reply to  Drew

Holy shit I’d watch that

Maymar
Maymar
1 year ago
Reply to  Drew

You’re this close to suggesting they dust off Heat Vision and Jack, except it was Jack Black on a Sportster voiced by Owen Wilson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lWgXDOAJ5s

Eric Busch
Eric Busch
1 year ago
Reply to  Drew

Actually, I’d dig Tenacious D with Kyle (in an over the top mullet wig, of course) as Michael and Jack as the voice of KITT.

Solving crimes by day in a Prius, and singing aTribute to the Trans Am by night.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=tribute+tenacious+d

The greatest car ever made.

Fuzzyweis
Fuzzyweis
1 year ago

Hyundai Ioniq 5 gets damaged and they rebuild it as an N Vision 74 with fuel cell ‘turbo boost’. Voiced by David Hasselhoff, the lead actRESS is his daughter(Plot twist!) played by his daughter Hayley.

Mr Sarcastic
Mr Sarcastic
1 year ago
Reply to  Fuzzyweis

No DT plugs his I3 in a European electrical socket. He melds with the car. Of course on Torch can drive him.

Jayson Elliot
Jayson Elliot
1 year ago
Reply to  Fuzzyweis

I wrote my comment before reading yours – I also picked an N Vision 74 for KITT!

Best choice, IMO

Canopysaurus
Canopysaurus
1 year ago

Daniels was NOT Higgins on Magnum PI, that was John Hillerman.

As for reboot, I’d cast Hoff driving a Tesla and have both car and driver obliterated in a self driving mishap in the first (and last) episode. Two birds with one stone.

Mr Sarcastic
Mr Sarcastic
1 year ago
Reply to  Canopysaurus

Ooh tesla self driving accident ss a drunken Hoff is eating a cheeseburger. Car voice played by Sheldon Jim Parsons, who threatens suicide because he is making a mess of the dashboard. Then crash was it suicide by car or murder by nerd code

Peanut
Peanut
1 year ago

Higgins was played by John Hillerman, not William Daniels.

Data
Data
1 year ago
Reply to  Peanut

Absolutely! Hillerman was so good as Higgins you never realize he is not British, but from Texas. Even the British didn’t realize it.

DadBod
DadBod
1 year ago
Reply to  Data

He leans in to his Texas accent in Blazing Saddles

LBA Oak
LBA Oak
1 year ago

I wouldn’t reboot it. It will never live up to the perfection the original was to my 6 year old self. Also, Higgins on Magnum PI was played by John Hillerman, not William Daniels. Although he (William Daniels) was Mr. Feeny oh Boy Meets World.

Anoos
Anoos
1 year ago

Don’t do it. We’ll all have to argue with our ChatGPT-powered vehicles soon enough.

Mark Tucker
Mark Tucker
1 year ago

Ok. KITT is a Chevy Impala, and Michael is actually two brothers, and instead of fighting crime, they fight demons.
…nah, it’s been done.

Stef Schrader
Stef Schrader
1 year ago

YOU’RE ASKING ME TO REPLACE THE HOFF?!

HERESY!

1 2 3
100
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x