Family Matters alum Bryton James recently revealed he “got pretty far along” on an idea to revive the classic sitcom in a new format featuring original cast members like star Jaleel White.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, the actor — who portrayed youngster Richie Crawford from Seasons 2 through 9 — said he’s “had an idea to take the show and turn it into an animated series,” by “taking the old episodes and modernizing them and kind of starting from scratch for the new generation.”
The Young and the Restless star who recently marked the first crossover with CBS sister sudser Beyond the Gates added that he even got “a production company in line to finance” the animated reboot and was aiming to bring “everybody on board.”
“It’s sitting in Warner Bros.’ hands right now,” the Emmy winner told the outlet. “That plan is still kind of floating around out there, and I’m still trying to pursue it.” Per EW, a source familiar with Warner Bros. Animation said the company is aware of the project but that it has not moved beyond James’ interest.
Airing from 1989 through 1998 on ABC and later CBS and which was spun off of Perfect Strangers, Family Matters centered on the Winslows, a middle class Black family living in Chicago. The series, which was created by William Bickley and Michael Warren and developed by Thomas L. Miller and Robert L. Boyett, launched the careers of Reginald VelJohnson (who played patriarch Carl), White (who played the eventual pop culture mainstay Steve Urkel) and James (who played Carl’s nephew).
Last year, White revealed that he shot down reprising his role of the nerdy next-door neighbor in a possible separate reboot of the sitcom that was part of the TGIF block of programming. “If it’s just a cash grab … I’m not interested in that,” he said at the time. “If I touch anything that’s associated with Family Matters, I want to advance the legacy and I want to help the kids’ careers.”
