Fans of the 1992 romantic comedy “Boomerang” who are looking to see the original film’s cast appear on BET’s upcoming sequel series shouldn’t hold their breath.
Well, no, you might see executive producer Halle Berry reprising her role. But as far as everyone else goes? We’ll have to wait and see, because Berry hasn’t asked her former co-stars to appear on Lena Waithe’s updated take on “Boomerang.”
“You might see me at some point,” Berry told reporters during the Television Critics Association press tour Monday, with a little laugh.
“I can’t speak for anybody else from the cast, I can only speak for myself,” she said. “And I’m so proud of the show. And you might she me, you might see me — for sure.”
Executive produced by “The Chi” creator Waithe and Berry, the series will follow “Everybody Hates Chris” alum Tequan Richmond and his “All Night” co-star Tetona Jackson, as the son and daughter, respectively, of the characters played by Eddie Murphy and Robin Givens in the ’90s flick, as they try to step out of their parents’ shadows and make a legacy of their own.
Along with Murphy, Givens and Berry, the original film’s cast included David Alan Grier, Martin Lawrence, Grace Jones, Geoffrey Holder, Eartha Kitt, Chris Rock, Tisha Campbell-Martin, and Reginald Hudlin, among many others.
Berry says she hasn’t spoken to anyone else from the group about coming back, telling reporters: “Lena came to me, this was her passion, she just was– she said, ‘I gotta do this and I really wanna team up with you, please.’… And she said, ‘I have to bring a modern version of this story to our people. Please do this with me.’ So that’s all I know. I didn’t speak to anybody else. Lena came to me with her art, her passion, and a real desire to do it and I said yes before knowing how any of my other co-stars felt about this.”
Waithe, who co-wrote the pilot with executive producer/showrunner Ben Cory Jones, knows that “a lot of people are definitely asking” if the OG cast will return.
“But I always tell people, ‘If you wanna see Grace Jones, and Eartha [Kitt] — may she rest — and Halle and Eddie and Robin, go watch the movie,” she said. “If you wanna see some fresh faces and a new take on the movie, come watch the show.”
Waithe says she hopes the “Boomerang” cast will “see it and they’ll say, ‘Oh, this is so dope. I’m gonna make sure I’m on Season 2.'”
“That’s a goal,” she continued. “I was like, ‘I wanna make something so good that Eddie is like, ‘Alright, yeah, that’s lit, that’s lit.’ But I hope he knows that to me it’s, like, we wanted to be– we wanted LeBron James to be to the series what Michael Jordan is to the movie. You know what I’m saying? It’s like, we may not be that, but you can see in the way we move, in the way we shoot, in the way we run, we’re very inspired by those that came before us.”
“And the reason why all of us are standing tall is because we’re standing on Eddie’s shoulders, Reginald Hudlin’s shoulders, Robin Givens’ shoulders, Halle Berry’s shoulders, Martin, David Alan Grier, Chris Rock, Eartha Kitt, Grace Jones — we’re standing on their shoulders,” she added. “‘Cause they really stood up, they did something that nobody else was doing and we all were little tykes watching it going, ‘Oh, we wanna be like that when we get older.'”
Waite says “we have that swag and that confidence because they showed us how to walk.”
“Boomerang” premieres Tuesday, Feb. 12 at 10/9c on BET.
22 TV Shows That Found New Homes After Cancellation, From 'Lucifer' to 'Magnum P.I.' (Photos)
One man's trash is another man's treasure. OK, no show wants to be called "trash," but if it means you're getting picked up by another network or platform after cancellation at your original home, you probably won't mind it too much.
Netflix
"One Day at a Time" -- The sitcom revival ran for three seasons on Netflix from 2017 to 2019 before being canceled in March 2019. Pop TV then picked up "One Day at a Time" for a fourth season, which began airing last year. The cable channel canceled the series in November.
Netflix
"Brooklyn Nine-Nine" -- The Andy Samberg comedy ran from 2013 to 2018 on Fox and was picked up for a sixth season by NBC one day after being canceled by its original network. The show's seventh season aired in 2020, and the eighth and final season will premiere this summer.
Universal
"Designated Survivor" -- The Kiefer Sutherland drama ran for two seasons from 2016 to 2018 on ABC. The series was picked up by Netflix for a third season, which ran in 2019. The show then got canceled again.
ABC
"Lucifer" -- The drama ran for three seasons on Fox, from 2015 to 2018, and was picked up by Netflix for a fourth season in June 2018. Season 4 launched on the streaming service in 2019, while the first half of its fifth season premiered last August and the second half at the end of May. Netflix still has the sixth and final season left to debut.
Fox
"Nashville" -- The country music drama aired from 2012 to 2016 on ABC, then got picked up by CMT for two more seasons from 2016 to 2018.
CMT
"Cougar Town" -- Ran on ABC from 2009 to 2012, then on TBS from 2013 to 2015.
TBS
"Arrested Development" -- The comedy aired on Fox from 2003 to 2006 and then moved to Netflix in 2013 for a fourth season. A fifth season rolled out in 2019.
Netflix
"The Expanse" -- The sci-fi series aired from 2015 to 2018 on Syfy and was canceled before being picked up by Amazon Prime Video for two more seasons. Ahead of the fifth season's December 2020 premiere, the streaming service ordered a sixth and final season.
Syfy
"Futurama" -- The animated comedy ran on Fox from 1999 to 2003, then moved to Comedy Central from 2008 to 2013.
Fox
"Gilmore Girls" -- The dramedy aired from 2000 to 2007 on The WB, which became The CW in the show's final season. It was revived by Netflix in 2016 for a special four-episode miniseries, "Year in the Life."
Warner Bros
"Community" -- The sitcom ran on NBC from 2009 to 2014 and aired its sixth and final season on Yahoo! Screen in 2015.
Sony
"Scrubs" -- The hospital-set sitcom aired seven seasons on NBC from 2001 to 2008, then moved to ABC for two more seasons.
ABC
"The Mindy Project" -- Mindy Kaling's comedy ran on Fox from 2012 to 2015, then moved to Hulu from 2015 to 2017.
Hulu
"Diff'rent Strokes" -- The classic comedy started its long run on NBC from 1978 to 1985, then moved to ABC from 1985 to 1986.
NBC
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" -- The cult classic aired from 1997 to 2001 on The WB before moving to UPN for its final two seasons, which aired from 2001 to 2003.
20th Century Fox
"Roswell" -- The sci-fi teen drama first ran on the WB from 1999 to 2001, then moved to UPN from 2001 to 2002. (A reboot, titled "Roswell, New Mexico," premiered on The CW in 2018.)
20th Century Fox
"Veronica Mars" -- The Kristen Bell show ran on UPN from 2004 to 2006, then moved to The CW for a final season from 2006 to 2007. And then Hulu released a revival in 2019.
Warner Bros
“Stargate SG-1” -- The sci-fi series started on Showtime from 1997 to 2002, then moved to Sci Fi (later Syfy) from 2002 to 2007.
Showtime
"Project Runway" -- The fashion competition series first ran on Bravo from 2004 to 2008, then moved to Lifetime from 2009 to 2018, and then returned to Bravo in 2019 for a new season with Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn replaced by Karlie Kloss and Christian Siriano.
Lifetime
"JAG" -- The procedural ran for one season from 1995 to 1996 on NBC, before CBS picked it up from 1997 to 2005.
CBS
"Last Man Standing" -- The Tim Allen sitcom ran for six seasons from 2011-2017 on ABC, then got picked up by Fox in 2018 and aired Seasons 7 and 8 on its new network. The show's ninth and final season concluded on Fox in 2021.
Fox
"Magnum P.I." -- The reboot of the Hawaii-set crime procedural ran for four seasons with Jay Hernandez taking on the title role held by Tom Selleck in the 1980s. But after CBS canceled the show in 2022, NBC picked it up for at least 20 more episodes.
CBS
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TheWrap rounds up more crews who have been saved
One man's trash is another man's treasure. OK, no show wants to be called "trash," but if it means you're getting picked up by another network or platform after cancellation at your original home, you probably won't mind it too much.