Netflix Plans ‘T.J. Hooker’ Movie Adaptation

Jarrad Paul and Andy Mogel are aboard to write the script for the new movie, which will adapt the series that starred William Shatner post-‘Star Trek’.

(L to R) Heather Locklear, James Darren and William Shatner in 'T. J. Hooker'. Photo: Spelling-Goldberg Productions.

Preview:

A comedy action movie based on ‘TJ Hooker’ is in the works.
It’ll give the basic cop show concept a fresh spin.
Netflix is backing the new movie.

If you were to ask people what William Shatner is most famous for, we’d imagine majority would point to ‘Star Trek’s Captain Kirk? But not far behind would be 1980s cop series ‘T.J. Hooker’.

Now, on the back of ‘The Naked Gun’ doing decent business in theaters and ‘Happy Gilmore 2’ launching to big numbers on its own streaming service, Deadline brings word that Netflix is looking to adapt the show as a comedy action pic.

The move would seem to be the right once, since doing a straightforward ‘T.J. Hooker’ movie likely wouldn’t work for today’s audiences (more on that below).

What’s the story of ‘T.J. Hooker’?

(L to R) Adrian Zmed, William Shatner, James Darren and Heather Locklear in 'T. J. Hooker'. Photo: Spelling-Goldberg Productions.

The original show launched in March 1982 on ABC and ran for five seasons, with the final batch of episodes switching to CBS.

‘T.J. Hooker’ starred Shatner as a titular sergeant of the LCPD, a hard-nosed veteran reeling from a divorce from his wife and the loss of his partner in the line of duty.

Principled, moral, and driven to fight crime, the former plainclothes detective returns to uniform to train recruits and clean up the streets of criminals like the kind who killed his partner. Heather Locklear, Adrian Zmed and James Darren also starred.

Jarrad Paul and Andy Mogel, who have worked on the likes of TV’s ‘The Grinder’, movies including ‘Yes Man’ and ‘The D Train’, and are in development with ‘Bert’, a Netflix comedy series starring comedian Bert Kreischer that they co-created.

As for the angle on the new movie? Expect Hooker’s all-action style to be gently spoofed, since he was an unreconstructed ‘80s man with all the attitudes that implies.

Will Shatner or Locklear show up in cameos? It might depend on whether they want to/Netflix backing dump trucks of money up to their houses –– they’re not made of stone.