‘Dynasty’ Reboot Picked Up To Series At the CW

Dynasty has been the one to beat at the CW this season, emerging as a favorite before the network’s executives had even officially heard the pitch and landed the project for development. It was picked up to pilot in the very first group and has been a front-runner throughout pilot season. Now, Dynasty is the first new series picked up by the CW for the 2017-18 season, with others coming today. It’s been a very competitive season at the CW, with all six pilots coming in strong.

The CW is looking to return to the primetime soap arena in a big way with Dynasty, a reboot of the iconic 1980s soap from Gossip Girl creators Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage and CBS TV Studios and Fake Empire.

In their return to the CW, Schwartz and Savage teamed with Revenge writer-producer Sallie Patrick and the original series’ creators, husband-and-wife duo Esther Shapiro & Richard Shapiro, for a new modern-day reboot of the classic Aaron Spelling-produced ABC series.

Co-written by Schwartz & Savage and Patrick , the new Dynasty stars Grant Show (Melrose Place), Elizabeth Gillies (Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll), Nathalie Kelley (The Vampire Diaries), James Mackay (The Leftovers), Alan Dale (The O.C.), Sam Adegoke (Murder in the First), Robert Christopher Riley (Hit the Floor), and Rafael de la Fuente (Empire).

It follows two of America’s wealthiest families, the Carringtons and the Colbys, as they feud for control over their fortune and their children. The series will be told primarily through the perspectives of two women at odds: Fallon Carrington, daughter of billionaire Blake Carrington, and her soon-to-be stepmother, Cristal, a Hispanic woman marrying into this WASP family and America’s most powerful class.

Schwartz and Savage executive produce through their Fake Empire banner alongside Patrick and the Shapiros. Patrick will serve as showrunner. Fake Empire’s Lis Rowinski is as co-executive producer.

Schwartz and Savage sat with Esther and Richard Shapiro and CBS TV Studios last summer about possibly rebooting Dynasty. Schwartz and Savage then reached out to Patrick, whom they had been fans of.

The original series aired on ABC from 1981-89. It had an inauspicious start the first season before taking off as a ratings and pop culture phenom when Joan Collins joined the cast in a Season 2 revamp as the scheming Alexis. It finished in the primetime top 10 from 1982-86 and was the No. 1 show of the 1984-85 season, edging rival Dallas on CBS.

Schwartz and Savage, who recently became available to other studios after wrapping their overall deal at ABC Studios, have the Marvel’s Runaways series at Hulu.