Even though The Expendables 3 was cited as a misfire by the film community, that hasn’t stopped Lionsgate from ploughing ahead on further ensemble adventures. The Sylvester Stallone-led action franchise is now making the transition to the small screen for an event series in development over at Fox.
Per Deadline, The Expendables TV show will be presented as “a fun action drama.” While that brief description shares a passing resemblance to the films, the action movie star ensemble will be traded for a group of “iconic TV stars” who will pose “as a new team of highly-skilled heroes who are on a mission to stop a dangerous terrorist.”
Stallone, who starred in and penned the big screen outings, is executive producing alongside the films’ producer Avi Lerner and NCIS exec, Shane Brennan, who will also serve triple duty as showrunner and co-writer.
The network has so far only ordered a pilot script for the series, with Ride Along scribe Greg Coolidge, Kirk Ward and previously-mentioned Brennan collaborating on a first draft. Going on the strength of the movie franchise and its exponential pulling power, the decision to order a full series seems like an inevitability. Plus, the wealth of strong TV talent that Fox could select to steer the property into a new frontier is endless; meaning there’s the potential for even more TV spinoffs.
The explosive action franchise has so far netted around $800 million at the box office from its first three instalments. While the second sequel received a smattering of critical derision due to its PG-13 rating, Stallone has promised that won’t occur for the follow-up. Even with a small screen spinoff cooking up, that doesn’t change the studio’s desire for further big screen sequels. A fourth and fifth instalment are both currently in development, as is an all-female spinoff dubbed The Expendabelles.
