Hello (Again) Wisconsin! Netflix’s ‘That 70s Show’ Spinoff Will Feature Red and Kitty Navigating the 90s
Kids didn’t stop being dumbasses in the 70s.
Netflix, which is rebooting Fox’s hit That 70s Show, but this time the characters will be rocking out to Alanis and Radiohead, not Peter Frampton or Cheap Trick this time.
Netflix has ordered That ’90s Show, which will star Kurtwood Smith and Debra Jo Rupp, who played parents Red and Kitty Forman in the original series. Netflix has ordered 10 episodes of the show, which will be a multi-cam sitcom like the original.
In the new series, it’s 1995 and Leia Forman, daughter of Eric and Donna, is visiting her grandparents in Point Place, Wisconsin, for the summer, where she will bond with a whole new group of teenagers. Viewers of the original show will remember how when Eric and Donna were dating, she dressed up as Princess Leia from Star Wars, which he, um, really really liked.
That ’70s Show debuted on Fox in 1998, running for eight seasons and 200 episodes. The show served as an early starring vehicle for actors like Topher Grace, Laura Prepon, Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, and Wilmer Valderrama. Along with Rupp and Smith, the rest of the cast also included Don Stark, the late Tanya Roberts, and Tommy Chong.
No other original cast members have bee signed to reprise their roles (yet). It’s not the first time the original series has jumped decades, either. In 2002, Fox ran 13 episodes of That 80s Show, starring Glenn Howerton as Corey Howard, Eric Forman’s cousin in San Diego. It was obviously not a success.
Original series creators Bonnie Turner and Terry Turner and their daughter Lindsey Turner are writing and executive producers. That 70’s Show alum Gregg Mettler will also write and serve as executive producer and showrunner. Smith and Rupp will executive produce in addition to starring. Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner of The Carsey-Werner Company, who executive produced the original show, will also executive produce the followup.
Updating That ’70s Show has been on Netflix’s drawing board for years. That ’70s Show drew a substantial number of viewers on the platform before it left in September 2020. The premise by Mettler and the Turners started drawing more interest from execs, and the project quickly was set up for development at Netflix.