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Television Q&A: Will viewers take another trip to 'Fantasy Island'?

Rich Heldenfels, Tribune News Service on

Published in Entertainment News

You have questions. I have some answers.

Q: There was a newer version of “Fantasy Island” with a lady in charge. Is it ever coming back?

A: “Fantasy Island,” an anthology drama about a resort where people could act out their fantasies, was a substantial hit for ABC from 1978 to 1984. Ricardo Montalban played the island’s owner, Mr. Roarke, and Hervé Villechaize was his original aide, Tattoo. (Villechaize’s cry of “The plane! The plane!” as guests arrived was much imitated.)

While that series ended, the idea of it continued to intrigue producers. There was a revival in 1998 with Malcolm McDowell as Mr. Roarke, with “a strong sense of the supernatural,” as one reference book has it; the show lasted a single season. The horror company Blumhouse released a big-screen version in 2020, this time with Michael Peña as Mr. Roarke. Then, in 2021, came another TV incarnation, the one which you remember, where Roselyn Sanchez played Elena Roarke, a descendant of the original Mr. Roarke. It ran for two seasons and a total of 23 episodes, ending in 2023. I know of no plans to bring it back. But it seems likely someone will take us back to yet another “Fantasy Island.”

Q: Any chance there will be additional seasons of “The Mandalorian”?

A: Maybe, and I’d sure like more of the Disney+ series set in the “Star Wars” universe. There are reportedly scripts for a fourth season of the show, the Walt Disney Company instead announced in January 2024 that there will be a big-screen movie about the Mandalorian and Grogu (known to many of us as Baby Yoda). “Mandalorian” creator Jon Favreau directed, filming was completed in December 2024, and the movie is expected in theaters in 2026. Then we may see if and how Mando and Grogu come home to Disney+.

 

Q: I've recently finished seeing all six years of “The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp” and have been pleasantly surprised by not only how the show improved over time, but also how mature many of its plots were. But the final episode leaves several things unresolved, including the future of the Earps and Doc Holliday. Did the series end unexpectedly? Were loose ends ever tied up?

A: The 1955-61 series starring Hugh O’Brian as Earp ends on a cliffhanger, with Earp in trouble after the gunfight at the O.K. Corral; O’Brian’s last scene has him saying “We aren’t dead yet” and going for something to eat. In a 2005 Television Academy interview, O’Brian says the producers decided six years of the show was enough — that they had other projects to pursue and did not want to take on the financial cost of going to color episodes instead of black-and-white. We’re left to wonder, well, what did Wyatt Earp wind up eating? O’Brian’s later projects did include “Wyatt Earp: Return to Tombstone,” a 1994 sequel.

And while we’re talking about Wyatt Earp, I must note the recent passing of Val Kilmer, whose wide-ranging career included his great performance as Doc Holliday in “Tombstone,” the 1993 movie starring Kurt Russell as Earp. Rolling Stone recently called Kilmer’s work “a magnetic, Oscar-worthy performance — the fact that he wasn’t nominated remains one of the Academy’s all-time flubs.” If you don’t have a copy of the movie — and you should — there’s a new 4K/Blu-ray release coming on April 22.

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©2025 Tribune News Service. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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