Friday Night Lights Fans will be very interested in this.
All TV shows and films are inspired by what has come before them and it’s not hard to think that the beloved 1999 American Football drama Varsity Blues drew some inspiration from Buzz Bissinger’s wonderful book, Friday Night Lights, which itself was turned into a movie and TV show.
In Varsity Blues, the James Van Der Beek-led film revolved around the Texas high school football team, the West Canaan High Coyotes. At the start of the season, the team suffers a serious blow when Paul Walker’s character, quarter-back Lance Harbor, seriously injures his knee.
In steps Jon “Mox” Moxon, the second-string quarterback that has to burden the pressure and responsibility of leading his side. However, Mox is more interested about getting into Brown University and his attitude rubs both his father and the win-at-all-costs head coach Bud Kilmer (Jon Voight) up the wrong way.
Almost 20 years later, Van Der Beek’s “I don’t want your life” speech has taken on a life of its own in meme culture.
Anyway, anyone who has read Friday Night Lights, or watched the wonderful film and TV show referenced above will know that the story of Varsity Blues is eerily similar to what unfolded with the Permian/Dillon Panthers.
And now, Deadline have reported that Quibi, a new streaming platform, will be making a new adaptation and that the film’s original producers are also on board. Quibi is poised to launch next spring.
This isn’t the first time that a Varsity Blues TV show has been in development. In 2016, the Viacom-owned CMT was developing a new take on the project but it failed to materialise.
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