Producer of new Goonies series teases remake’s story setting

If everything works out, a shot-by-shot remake of the 1985 kid adventure comedy film The Goonies will finally be streaming on Disney+.

Now, this isn’t the first time someone had tried to revive the treasure-hunting adventures of the kids from ‘Goon Docks’. The most recent attempt was in 2020, when news broke that Fox was attempting a Goonies-inspired story in which three students and their teacher tries to remake the classic. It was cancelled in 2021 as Fox deemed it “a little bit too young” for its audience. That show was created and written by Sarah Watson (The Bold Type).

When Fox cancelled its show, the development team tried to find a new home for the story idea and it seemed that it has now found one at Disney+. In December 2021, Variety reported that the new series, called Our Time is being redeveloped at Disney+, with The Donners’ Company and Amblin on board.

The original 1985 movie was directed by Richard Donner from a screenplay by Chris Columbus, based on a story by Steven Spielberg. It stars Josh Brolin, Sean Astin, Martha Plimpton, Corey Feldman, Kerri Green, Jonathan Ke Quan, Jeff Cohen, Joe Pantoliano, and Robert Davi.

This new Goonies show is a joint venture with Gail Berman, Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment, and Richard’s wife, Lauren Shuler Donner as executive producers. The show creator is still the same Sarah Watson. However, the story has been revised from the earlier Fox version.

Here is what Gail Berman said:

“This is a partnership between me, Amblin, and Lauren Shuler Donner. When I was at Paramount, there were these young boys doing this movie about Raiders of the Lost Ark, a shot-by-shot remake. It got some press at the time, and the studio was very upset about it. I thought it was an amazing idea, and it always stood in my head of — how can you take an idea like that and turn it into a TV series?

"We needed a terrific writer and great partners, so we brought the idea to Amblin and those guys loved it. Sarah Watson is our creator. The series is a story of a town and a family in the lens of Friday Night Lights, and within that they tell a story of a shot-by-shot remake of The Goonies.

"We had to go to Warner Bros., to Toby Emmerich, and ask if we could have rights [to The Goonies]. They said yes, obviously, because of Mr. Spielberg and the Donners. We’re now doing this for Disney+.”

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Friday Night Lights was a 2006 series that follows a high school football team in a small, close-knit fictional town, touching on contemporary American culture and issues.

By mentioning this, Gail seems to hint that Our Time, the new Goonies show, will retain the core essence of the original, with it being set against a small-town backdrop and dealing with issues faced by a small community. Sarah’s idea of a shot-by-shot remake of The Goonies also remains, but this time possibly revolving around a family instead.

Details are still scarce for the show but it seems that after more than three decades, a new Goonies show with a brand new cast might actually see the light of day. “Goonies never say die” indeed.

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This article was first published in Geek Culture.